The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c16.s4.2

v1.c16.s4.2

⁴ Nir. xii. 19. Rarely they are on earth, RV. i. 155. 4; vii. 100. 3; hence Hopkins (JAOS. xvi. p. cxlviii) makes them from horizon to horizon. Veneration of the footstep appears in i. 22 and 154; there is use in cult of the hoof of the horse in the piling of the fire, and of the footprint of the Soma cow; Hillebrandt, *Ved. Myth.* ii. 80; i. 73; iii. 353. Localization of Viṣṇu's step in Nir. xii. 19 (IA. xlvii. 84) is speculative. BDS. ii. 5. 9. 10, where an extended list of Viṣṇu's names is given, is an obvious late interpolation as are the planets preceding. Cf. A. C. Das, *Rig-Vedic India*, i. 544 ff., against Tilak, *Arctic Home in the Vedas*, p. 328, who both drag Çipiviṣṭa into the connexion.