The Hindu Temple v2.c12.330

v2.c12.330

Viṣṇu, with three strides covers the whole universe. Incarnated as a dwarf, Vāmana, he had asked Bali, King of the Asuras, for a boon; he wanted only as much land as to step on. This scene fills the right corner, at the bottom. Then he takes his strides across all space, a cosmic movement in which the image of Viṣṇu is a counter-part in its own right, to that of Śiva Naṭarāja. The thrust of his left leg extends to the "Face above", to Rāhu (Viṣṇudharmottara III. ch. LXXXV. 53-57).