Aditya 12 of 12 · Presides over Pausha (Dec-Jan)
Trivikrama
त्रिविक्रम
Vishnu's solar form — Vamana avatar covering three worlds in three strides
Mantras
Benefit of worship
Liberation from bondage (like Bali), removes ego-pride, blessing for spiritual ascension
Story / Origin
Vishnu's Vamana avatar grew to cosmic size and covered earth, sky, and heaven in three strides — earning name Trivikrama. As an Aditya, he represents the all-pervading nature of sunlight that reaches every world. The Pausha month sun (weakest of year) is invoked as Trivikrama to remind devotees that even the dimmest sun pervades all directions.
Vrata practice
Onam (Vamana Jayanti) — recite Vamana Stuti; Pausha month Sundays for solar weakness recovery
Associated temple
Trivikrama Perumal temple, Tirukkovilur (Tamil Nadu)
See 12 sacred tirthas and Nava Graha for full graha-grid.
Plan a Surya puja
Cannot travel? Book a remote Trivikrama puja with video proof. For Ratha Saptami + Makar Sankranti dates see Hindu festival calendar 2026.
About Trivikrama
Trivikrama, the three-strider, is the twelfth Aditya and is associated with the month of Pausha. The name belongs to Vishnu in his Vamana form: as the story goes, a dwarf brahmin asked King Bali for as much land as he could cover in three steps, then grew to a cosmic size and crossed the earth and the sky in two strides. The oldest hymns of the Rig Veda already speak of Vishnu's three steps, and tradition reads that image as the sun's passage through the sky, rising, climbing and setting.
This is why Vishnu appears among the Adityas, and why the list closes with a figure whose light is all-pervading, reaching every corner of the three worlds. The month of Pausha falls in the weak winter sun, and the association is often explained as a reminder that even a pale sun still reaches everywhere. Different Puranas give different lists of the twelve, and in some Trivikrama is replaced by Vishnu or by another name, so his place at the end is one arrangement among several.
The tale does not end in the third step: Bali offers his own head as the place for it, and tradition remembers him as a ruler honoured for keeping his word. Festivals such as Onam and Vamana Jayanti keep this story alive, and the Trivikrama Perumal temple at Tirukkovilur in Tamil Nadu is the shrine most associated with the form.
Common questions
- Why is Vishnu counted among the Adityas?
- Vishnu is a son of Aditi in Puranic accounts, and the Vedic image of his three strides is read as the sun crossing the sky. This links the Vamana form to the twelve.
- What does Trivikrama mean?
- It means the one of three great strides. It refers to Vamana's cosmic steps across the worlds in the story of King Bali.