I think it's too simple to see Vishnu as a mere "solar deity". Vishnu has solid PIE traits shared with Norse Vidarr, for example: a very strong god whose presence is decisive in the Great Ragnarok-like Final Battle against enemies; a god who can grow, becoming a giant, with his three steps.
I can see many common traits in Hesiodic Briareos and even in the cosmic roles of Herakles (mainly in Orphic hymns); his epic "avatar" could be Akhiles or his son Pyrrhos.
This PIE Proto-Vishnu is complementar and a bit opposite to PIE Proto-Rudra (Rudra, Apollon, Vali), an archer, wild and fierce; Lord of the North; master of the medicine and the diseases.
Joao SL
----- Mensagem original ----
De: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...>
Para: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Enviadas: Terça-feira, 8 de Maio de 2007 9:26:11
Assunto: [tied] Re: Vishnu PIE traits
--- In cybalist@... s.com, "mkelkar2003" <swatimkelkar@ ...> wrote:
> I do not think Vishnu has any IE analogies.
I agree. Vishnu is a purely Brahmanical Hindu development of a figure
of Vedic solar god, just one out of 12 Adityas, whose most celebrated
feat in the Vedas is the 'three steps' by which he strode over the
entire universe (with this anticipating his later personality as
the 'Ruler of Space').
Regards,
Francesco