page_title: Vamana
section_title: Samhita
hierarchical_section_title: Vamana / The Vedas / Rig Veda / Samhita
caption_attribution_description: English: The Vedas are scriptures of Hinduism. The Rigveda samhita is dated between 1500 to 1200 BCE, while the others to between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Each Vedic samhita consists of books. These texts are in the archaic Sanskrit language and include four layers of texts, samhita being one layer of the Vedic literature. They contain hymns that cover a wide mix of topics: benedictions, mythologies, questions and riddles, the methodology for yajna sacrifices, potions and incantations, drama and poems, samskara (rites of passage verses), philosophy and mystical speculations. The hymns are set in the form of dialogues, dramatic play, or pedagogic style. The corpus of Vedic texts, as well all post-Vedic texts, are generally accepted to have been orally transmitted from generation to generation for over a millennium, till about the start of the common era. In Sanskrit, they were written in many Indic scripts. The scripture was written on palm leaf manuscripts, copied for preservation in Hindu temples and monasteries. Later paper and cloth versions were produced, where the page size was similar to the heritage palm leaf-like long pages. The above image is from Mandala 1. ऋग्वेदसंहिता । अथ प्रथमं मण्डलम्। अथ प्रथमोऽष्टकः। These manuscripts are preserved at the Lalchand Research Library, Ancient Indian Manuscript Collection, DAV College Digital Library Initiative, Chandigarh India, in association with SP Lohia and Indorama Charitable Trust. The texts are over 2000 years old, the re-copying into this particular manuscript is a pre-1890 reproduction. The manuscript shows decay and damage on the sides and its edges. Language: Sanskrit Script: Devanagari Script style: pre-14th century (Northern / Western) The photo above is of a 2D artwork of a text that is over 2,000 years old, from a manuscript that was produced decades before 1923. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.
context_page_description: Vamana, also known as Vāmanadeva, Trivikrama, Urukrama, Upendra, Dadhivamana, and Balibandhana is a Brahmin avatar of the supreme almighty god Vishnu.
  Originating in the Vedas, Vamana is most commonly associated in the Itihāsa and Puranas with the legend of taking back the three worlds from the Asura-king Bali in three steps to give back to Indra. Vamana is listed as the fifth incarnation of the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu.
context_section_description: Roy states that the 'RigVedic passages referring to Visnu's three strides are obviously the nucleus, out of which the legend of the Dwarf was created. But the RigVeda, however, does not describe Visnu as dwarf or Vamana'. W.J. Wilkins agrees, stating that in regards to the Vishnu Strides of the RigVeda, 'in these verses there is probably the germ of the Dwarf Incarnation'.
  In regards to the above-quoted verses, it is commonly accepted that there are 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 - Mt. 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'.
  In regards to the three steps of Vishnu, Glucklich points out that in some legends of Vamana and the Asura-king Bali, that 'the first [step] covered the entire earth, the second covered the atmosphere, and the third measured heaven in its entirety'. 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). 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).
  Notably, Muir also states that although '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'.
caption: Rigveda page in Sanskrit.
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