prominent deity in the Rigveda, having only three entire hymns addressed to him. The personification is more developed under the name of Vāyu, who is mostly associated with Indra, while Vāta is coupled only with the less anthropomorphic rain-god, Parjanya. Vāyu is swift as thought and has roaring velocity. He has a shining car drawn by a team or a pair of ruddy steeds. On this car, which has a golden seat and touches the sky, Indra is his companion. Vāta, as also the ordinary designation of wind, is celebrated in a more concrete manner. His name is often connected with the verb vā "to blow," from which it is derived. Like Rudra, he wafts healing and prolongs life; for he has the treasure of immortality in his house. The poet of a short hynm (x. 168) devoted to his praise thus describes him:—
- Of Vāta's car I now will praise the greatness:
- Crashing it speeds along; its noise is thunder.
- Touching the sky, it goes on causing lightnings;
- Scattering the dust of earth it hurries forward.
- In air upon his pathways hastening onward,
- Never on any day he tarries resting.
- The first-born order-loving friend of waters,
- Where, pray, was he born? say, whence came he hither?
- The soul of gods, and of the world the offspring,
- This god according to his liking wanders.
- His sound is heard, but ne'er is seen his figure.
- This Vāta let us now with offerings worship.
Another deity of air is Parjanya, god of rain, who is invoked in but three hymns, and is only mentioned some thirty times in the Rigveda. The name in several passages still means simply "rain-cloud." The personification is therefore always closely connected with
