Part 20 - Viṣṇu (the Deity with Three Strides)

Viṣṇu is regarded as the solar deity. The Sun-god, representative of the sunbeam is called Viṣṇu in the Vedas. Viṣṇu is the god of wide space.^[1]

The Nirukta states,

atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣṇurbhavati/ viṣṇurviśatervā/ vyaśnotervā,^[2]

i.e.—that, which is set free becomes Viṣṇu. The term viṣṇu is derived from the root viś to pervade or from vy-aś to interpenetrate.

Several times in the Vedas, he is mentioned with his three strides.^[3] The strides of Viṣṇu are nothing but the elemental rays, which are also mentioned in connection to Sūrya also.^[4] These rays give heat and rain and crops, by means of what the whole world sustains. Viṣṇu is described as traversing the earth or terrestrial spaces with his three steps.^[5]

His two steps are visible to men, but the third or the highest step is mentioned as beyond the flight of birds or mortal ken:

dve idasya kramaṇesvardṛśoʹbhikhyāya marto bhūraṇyati/ tṛtīyamasya nakirā dadharṣati vayaścana patayantaḥ patatriṇaḥ//^[6]

With the first two strides, Viṣṇu traverses the earth and the firmament. But with the third, he has attained the utmost limit of magnitude and upheld the vast and beautiful heaven.^[7] The highest step of Viṣṇu is regarded as his ultimate abode. He is called giriṣṭhā, girikṣit, etc., which mean dwelling in the highest position.^[8]

Sāyaṇācārya, in his commentary on the respective passages interprete the two terms thus:

giriṣṭhā giristhāyī giriḥ parvataḥ samudgīrṇo bhavati parvavān parvataḥ parva punaḥ pṛṇāteḥ pṛṇātervā iti, and girikṣite vāci girivadunnatapradeśe vā tiṣṭhate/

Viṣṇu, in his heavenly form is conceived as an eye fixed on the heaven.^[9]

According to some scholars, these three steps of Viṣṇu are nothing but the three positions of the Sun in the sky, i.e. the Sun in his rising, in his culminating and in his setting.^[10] But according to some others like Śākapūṇi, etc., the three steps represent the course of the solar deity through the three divisions of universe.^[11] The Brāhmaṇas also mention Viṣṇu with his three strides, i.e. one in earth, one in air and the other in the heaven that is recognized as the Sun, the goal, and the safe refuge of the refugee.^[12] The myth of Viṣṇu as a dwarf that recovered the earth for the gods from Asuras by three strides is familiar in the Vedic literature.^[13]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

cf. dve indrasya kramaṇe svardṛśoʹbhikhyāya martyo bhuraṇyati/ tṛtīyamasya nakirā dadharṣati vayaścana patayantaḥ patatriṇaḥ// Ibid., 1.155.5

viṣṇuṃ stomāsaḥ purudasmamarkā bhagasyeva kāriṇo yāmani gman/ urukramaḥ kakuho yasya pūrvīrna madhanti yuvatayo janitrīḥ// Ibid., 3.54.14

[2]:

Nirukta, 12.18

[3]:

cf., yasya tripūrṇā madhunā padānyakṣīramānā svadhayā madanti/ ya u tridhātu pṛthivīmuta dyāmeko dyādhāra bhūvanāni viśvā// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.154.4

[4]:

cf., catvāra iṅ bibhrati kṣemayanto daśa garbhaṃ carase dhāpayante/ tridhātavaḥ paramā asya gāvo diraścaranti pari sadyo antān// Ibid., 5.47.4

[5]:

cf., yaḥ pārthivāni tribhiridvigāmabhiruru kramiṣṭorugāyāya jīvase/ Ibid., 1.155.4

[6]:

Ibid., 1.155.5

[7]:

cf., paro mātrayā tanvā vṛdhāna na te mahitvamanvaśnuvanti/ubhe te vidma rajasī pṛthivyā viṣṇo deva tvaṃ paramasya vitse//na te viṣṇo jāyamāno na jāto deva mahimnaḥ paramantamāpa/ udastabhnā nākamṛṣvaṃ bṛhantaṃ dādhartha prācīṃ kakubhaṃ pṛthivyāḥ// Ibid., 7.99.1,2

[8]:

cf., pra tadviṣṇuḥ stavate vīryeṇa mṛgo na bhīmaḥ kucaro giriṣṭhāḥ/ Ibid., 1.154.2 pra viṣṇave śūṣametu manma girikṣita urugāyāya vṛṣṇe/ Ibid., 1.154.3

[9]:

cf., tadviṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padaṃ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ/ divīva cakṣurātatam// Ibid., 1.22.20

[10]:

cf., idaṃ viṣṇurvi cakrame tredhā ni dadhe padaṃ/ samūlhamasva pāñsure// yadidaṃ kiṃ ca tadvikramate viṣṇuḥ/ tridhā nidhatte padam/ pṛthivyāmantarikṣe divīti śākapuṇiḥ/ samārohaṇe viṣṇupade gayaśirasītṣaurṇavābhaḥ/… Nirukta, 12.19

[11]:

Ibid.

[12]:

Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 1.9.3.9-15; Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa, 3.1.2.7

[13]:

Taittirīyasaṃhitā, 2.1.3.1; Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa, 1.6.1.5; Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 1.2.5.5