In Jaan Puhvel's COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY, pg
56:
"There is a remarkable onomastic and mythical
parallel to Vishnu in the Germanic god Vídhárr of Norse Tradition, whose very
name also contains the exhortation 'wider!' (Vídharr = vitarám) (...), even as
Vishnu- is plausibly analyzable simply as 'Wide' (...)"
I propose this PIE god (ancestor of both Vishnu and
Vidarr), a size-expanding god that encompasses all universe with his footsteps,
whose fate is to save the world from Apocalyptical end, influenced the 100-armed
Greek giant Briareos (converted in a trinity, the Hekatogkheires)
and Herakles . Briareos was a giant that saved the gods, helping Zeus to
defeat the Titanes. Herakles played the same role in some myths, and I think
Briareos and Herakles in a distant time was the same character. Briareos was the
only Hekatogkheir that had some "individuality", he appeared alone in Homeric
Iliad.
Joao SL
Rio