Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.20

c8.s1.20

*Trivikrama*, the Three Steps of Viṣṇu, was a Vedic motif transferred to the Purāṇic legend of Vāmana and Virāṭ, equally a theme of art and poetry. It is the symbol of triple motion, viz. centripetal and centrifugal and the principle of rest abiding in the centre. Movement is essential for life. It is the same as Time whose dynamism is pushing the worlds ahead. Life is governed by the three steps of past, present and future and each unit of time both big and small has these three divisions visualised as the process of growth. By this irresistible process the dwarf (*Vāmana*) becomes the giant (*Virāṭ*). Where life functions growth is inevitable, typified as the presence of Trivikrama Viṣṇu.