vi map question

[utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!dmy]

Does anyone know how to get vi to understand <CONTROL-V> in a map command 
issued in .exrc or EXINIT?  I want to map <TAB> into eight <SPACE>s, but so far
I can only do this by typing :map <V><V><TAB><SPACE><V><V><SPACE>s<RETURN>
directly to vi, not from .exrc or EXINIT.  I tried using all reasonable numbers
of <CONTROL-V>s rather than two (e.g. 0,1,3,and 4) but no luck -- vi seems to
be throwing them (and consequently the important 'whitespace') on the floor.

Any suggestions?

--dmy--