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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s7: § 7. Vāyu and Vāta

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s7

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§ 7. Vāyu and Vāta

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The real wind gods of the Rigveda are Vāyu and Vāta, who differ however quite distinctly in character and in importance. Vāyu has one whole hymn¹ addressed to him, and shares half a dozen with Indra, while Vāta has only two short hymns in the tenth book.² The former is the more anthropomorphized of the two gods ; hence he is joined with Indra, while Vāta is associated with Parjanya, who in comparison with Indra is an elemental deity. The close connexion of Indra and Vāyu is seen in the fact that Yāska³ gives Vāyu, or Indra, as the second member of the triad of gods, into which the Nairuktas reduced the Vedic pantheon.

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¹ RV. iv. 46. For the Indo-European gods of wind, cf. Carnoy, *Les Indo-Européens*, pp. 208 ff.

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² RV. x. 168 and 186. In the Avesta Vāto appears only as a demon, like Indra and Saurva ; von Schroeder, *Arische Religion*, i. 285.

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³ Nir. vii. 5.

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Vāyu is beautiful, touching the sky, thousand-eyed : he travels on his impetuous course in a car with 99, 100, or 1,000 steeds yoked by his will. Indra rides with him in his car. He is said to have been generated by the two worlds for wealth, and to be the son-in-law of Tvaṣṭṛ, but the name of his wife is not given. He is also said to have generated the Maruts, and is once accompanied by them, but he has otherwise little connexion with them. In the Puruṣasūkta he is born of the giant’s breath. Like his friend Indra, he is fond of the Soma, which he drinks in its pure form and which he protects. He is entitled to the first draught of the Soma as the swiftest of the gods : when the gods race, the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa⁴ makes him come first, then Indra second. Like the other gods he is asked to grant fame, children and riches, and to protect the weak, but these are quite secondary traits.

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⁴ ii. 25.

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Vāta is merely the wind in its power, sweeping along great clouds of dust, shattering and thundering : his form cannot be seen by the mortal eye, though his roaring is heard, nor is the place of his birth known. He is the breath of the gods and the recipient of oblations. Stress is laid on his whiteness, and, as the wind heralds lightning and the appearance of the sun, Vāta is said to produce ruddy lights and to make the dawns to shine. His roaring is often alluded to, and he is credited with healing power, doubtless from the purifying effect of his blasts.

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In the ritual the offerings especially of animal victims are made mainly to Vāyu: Vāta has a few offerings only made to him. The latter literature adds nothing of importance to the characterization of either god: stress is laid on the power of the god, Vāyu, to diminish the heat of the sun, and in the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka¹ 11 male and 11 female powers are given to him as attendants.²

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¹ i. 9. 2.

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² Hillebrandt, *Ved. Myth.* iii. 329–31.

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The identification of the name Vāta with Wodan is open to the most grave objection on the score of form, nor is the parallelism in character of decisive importance.³

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³ *Cf.* Feist, *Kultur der Indogermanen*, p. 343, who accepts connexion of Wodan with *vates* and Irish *faith* and treats him as a god of spirits, in accordance with his belief that the gods are sprung from spirits. Helm (*Altgerm. Rel.* i. 260 f.) regards Wodan as a wind and spirit god. Cf. von Schroeder, *Arische Religion*, i. 127 f., 488; Rhys, *Celtic Heathendom*, pp. 278, 280 ff.

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