The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s7.1

v1.c17.s7.1

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.