Editing Vamana (section)

==== Samhita ====
{{Verse translation|ato devā avantu no yato viṣṇurvicakrame {{!}}
pṛthivyāḥ saptadhāmabhiḥ {{!}}{{!}}

idaṃ viṣṇurvi cakrame tredhā ni dadhe padam {{!}}
samūḷhamasya pāṃsure {{!}}{{!}}

trīṇi padā vi cakrame viṣṇurghopā '''adābhyaḥ''' {{!}}
ato dharmāṇi dhārayan {{!}}{{!}}|The Gods be gracious unto us even from the place whence [[Vishnu]] strode
Through the seven regions of the earth!

Through all this world strode Vishnu; thrice his foot he planted, and the whole
Was gathered in his footstep's dust.

Vishnu, the Guardian, he whom '''none deceiveth''', made three steps; thenceforth
Establishing his high decrees.|lang=en|attr1=RigVeda [[transliteration]] of Book 1, Hymn 22, Verses 16-18<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rvsan/rv01022.htm|title=RigVeda Book I XXI 'Aśvins and Others' (Sanskrit and Transliteration)|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>|attr2=RigVeda [[translation]] by Ralph T.H. Griffith (1896) of Book 1, Hymn 22, Verses 16–18<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv01022.htm|title=RigVeda Book I XXI 'Aśvins and Others'|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref>}}

[[File:1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample ii, Sanskrit, Devanagari.jpg|left|thumb|[[Rigveda]] page in [[Sanskrit]]]]
Roy states that the [[Rigvedic]] passages referring to [[Vishnu]]'s three strides are obviously the nucleus, out of which the legend of the Dwarf was created. But the Rigveda, however, does not describe Vishnu as dwarf or ''Vamana''<nowiki/>'.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Janmajit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lr9pFQPwhXYC&q=dwarf&pg=PA95 |title=Theory of Avatāra and Divinity of Chaitanya |date=2002 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-269-0169-2 |pages=24, 102 |language=en}}</ref> W. J. Wilkins agrees, stating that in regard to the Vishnu strides of the Rigveda, 'in these verses there is probably the germ of the Dwarf Incarnation'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilkins|first=W. J.|url=http://archive.org/details/HinduMythology|title=Hindu Mythology|date=1913|pages=126–127}}</ref>

In regard to the above-quoted verses, it is commonly accepted that there are [[Continent|Seven Continents]] or 'regions of the earth'. A. Glucklich adds that 'In the [[Matsya Purana]], for instance, there is a seven-part map of the world ... [it has] one centre, where an immense mountain – [[Mount Meru]] (or Maha Meru, Great Meru) – stands ... The continents encircle the mountain in seven concentric circles ... It seems clear that the Himalayas were the approximate location of Mt. Meru'.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Glucklich|first=Ariel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtLScrjrWiAC&q=vishnu+seven+strides+seven+continents&pg=PA153|title=The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective|date=2008-05-09|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971825-2|pages=4, 153|language=en}}</ref>

In regard to the three steps of [[Vishnu]], Glucklich points out that in some legends of Vamana and the [[Asura]]-King [[Mahabali|Bali]], that 'the first [Step] covered the entire earth, the second covered the atmosphere, and the third measured heaven in its entirety'.<ref name=":9" /> [[Martin Haug|M. Haug]], in his translation of the [[Aitareya Brahmana]] (1.1.5) of the [[Rigveda]], clarifies that the 'three worlds' often means the Ground (Earth), the Air (Atmosphere), and the Sky (Heavens).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haug|first=Martin|url=http://archive.org/details/aitareyabrahmana04hauguoft|title=The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda|date=1922|publisher=Bahadurganj, Allahabad Sudhindra Nath Vasu|others=Robarts – University of Toronto|pages=9}}</ref> Three steps thus encompasses all of physical existence (although in some [[Puranic]] accounts Vamana does so in only two steps). D. Goodall also relates more a [[mystical]] interpretation of what 'three worlds' symbolises, as provided by the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]], including [[Mind]], [[Speech]], and [[Breath]] (see [[Upanishad]] section, below).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goodall|first=Dominic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKUteclXOK8C&q=hinduism+three+worlds+mind&pg=PA54|title=Hindu Scriptures|date=2001|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-1770-8|pages=53–55|language=en}}</ref>

Notably, Muir also states that although '<nowiki/>''Adabhya'''  can be translated as 'who cannot be deceived' (as provided by Griffiths, above), it can also be translated as  'the unconquerable preserver', and notes that the 'idea of Vishnu being preeminently the preserver of the universe, which became current in later times [i.e. in the [[Trimurti]]], may possibly have been derived from this verse'.<ref name=":16" />