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{{Short description|Hindu god of the wind}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Hindu
| image = Vayu deva.JPG
| caption = Vayu, on his mount, [[gazelle]]
| name = Vāyu
| other_names = Anil, Pavan, Vyān, Vāta, Tanun, Mukhyaprana, Bharati Ramana, Bheema
| Devanagari = वायु
| Sanskrit_transliteration = ''Vāyu''
| affiliation = [[Deva (Hinduism)|Deva]], [[Mukhyaprana]] and [[Pavamana]]
| god_of = God of the [[Wind]] and [[Breath]]
| member_of = the [[Pancha Bhoota]]
| abode = Pawanloka
| mantra = Om Vayave namaha
| weapon = [[Goad]]
| consort = Bharati or Svasti<ref>{{cite book|title=Purandara and the Haridasa Movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MK5WAAAAMAAJ|page=200|author=M. V. Krishna Rao|publisher=Karnatak University|year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kindler|first=Babaji Bob|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UP5-AwAAQBAJ&q=Vayu&pg=PT128|title=Twenty-Four Aspects of Mother Kali|date=1996-07-04|publisher=SRV Associations|isbn=978-1-891893-17-9|language=en}}</ref>
| parents =
| mount = [[Gazelle]]
| children =[[Hanuman]] and [[Bhima]] (spiritual sons)
}}
'''Vayu''' ({{IPA-sa|ʋaːjʊ}}, {{lang-sa|[[wikt:वायु|वायु]]}}, {{IAST3|Vāyu}}) is a primary [[deva (Hinduism)|Hindu deity]], the lord of the winds as well as deity of breath and the spiritual father of [[Hanuman]] and [[Bhima]]. He is also known as '''Anila''' ('air, wind'), '''Vyāna''' ('air'), '''Vāta''' ('airy element'), '''Tanuna''' ('the wind'), '''Pavana''' ('the purifier'),<ref name="jansen1993">{{Citation | title=The book of Hindu imagery: The Gods and their Symbols |author1=Eva Rudy Jansen |author2=Tony Langham | year=1993 | publisher=Binkey Kok Publications | isbn=978-90-74597-07-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1iASyoae8cMC | quote=God of the wind ... also known as Vata or Pavan ... exceptional beauty ... moves on noisily in his shining coach ... white banner ...}}</ref> and sometimes '''Prāṇa''' ('the [[Energy (esotericism)|life force]]').

Indian author Vanamali says, "[[Vaishnavite]]s or followers of [[Vishnu]], believe that the wind god Vayu underwent three incarnations to help Lord Vishnu. As [[Hanuman]] he helped [[Rama]], as [[Bhima]], he assisted [[Krishna]], and as [[Madhvacharya]] (1238 - 1317) he founded the Vaishnava sect called [[Dvaita]]".{{Sfn|Vanamali|2010|p=14}} [[Indologist]] and author G. R. Sholapurkar says, "It is said that the philosophy propounded by [[Madhvacharya]] was originally handed over by Vayu to his son [[Hanuman]], who gave it to [[Bheema]] and in the end was received by Anand Teertha or Madhvacharya.{{Sfn|Sholapurkar|1992|p=308}}

==Connotations==
The word for [[air (classical element)|air]] (''vāyu'') or wind (''pavana'') is one of the [[Classical element#Classical elements in Hinduism|classical elements in Hinduism]]. The [[Sanskrit]] word ''Vāta'' literally means '[[:wikt:blown|blown]]'; ''Vāyu'', '[[:wikt:blower|blower]]' and ''Prāna'', '[[:wikt:breathing|breathing]]' (viz. the breath of life, cf. the *''an''- in [[:wikt:animate|''animate'']]). Hence, the primary referent of the word is the 'deity of life', who is sometimes for clarity referred to as Mukhya-Vāyu (the chief Vayu) or Mukhya Prāna (the chief of life force or vital force).<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSbgGLdGSRIC|page=7839|author=Subodh Kapoor|publisher=Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd|year=2002|isbn = 9788177552577|quote=Mukhya Prana - The chief vital air}}</ref>

Sometimes the word ''vāyu'', which is more generally used in the sense of the physical air or wind, is used as a synonym for ''prāna''.<ref name=Raju1954>{{Citation | author = Raju, P.T. | year = 1954 | title = The concept of the spiritual in Indian thought | journal = Philosophy East and West | volume = 4 | issue = 3 | pages = 195–213 | jstor = 1397554| doi = 10.2307/1397554 | postscript = .}}</ref> Vāta, an additional name for the deity Vayu, is the root of ''vātāvaranam'', the Sanskrit and Hindi term for 'atmosphere'.<ref name="ghose1992">{{Citation | title=Tirtha, the treasury of Indian expressions |author1=Vijaya Ghose |author2=Jaya Ramanathan |author3=Renuka N. Khandekar | year=1992 | publisher=CMC Limited | isbn= 978-81-900267-0-3| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_v1tAAAAMAAJ | quote=... God of the winds ... Another name for Vayu is Vata (hence the present Hindi term for 'atmosphere, 'vatavaran). Also known as Pavana (the purifier), Vayu is lauded in both the ...}}</ref>

==Hindu texts and philosophy==
[[File:Kanishka I and Oado.jpg|thumb|260px|[[Kushan]] ruler [[Kanishka I]] with deity ''Oado'' (Vayu-Vata) on the reverse. Circa 120-150 CE]]
In the ''[[Rigveda]]'', Vayu is associated with the winds, with the Maruts being described as being born from Vayu's belly. Vayu is also the first god to receive [[Soma (drink)|soma]] in the ritual, and then he and Indra share their first drink.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0190633394|page=47}}</ref>

In the hymns, Vayu is 'described as having "exceptional beauty" and moving noisily in his shining coach, driven by two or forty-nine or one-thousand white and purple horses. A white banner is his main attribute'.<ref name="jansen1993" /> Like the other atmospheric deities, he is a 'fighter and destroyer', 'powerful and heroic'.<ref name="bhattacharji1984">{{Citation | title=Literature in the Vedic age | author=Sukumari Bhattacharji | year=1984 | publisher=K.P. Bagchi | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v7soAAAAYAAJ | quote=... The other atmospheric gods are his associates: Vayu-Vatah, Parjanya, the Rudras and the Maruts. All of them are fighters and destroyers, they are powerful and heroic ...}}</ref>

In the [[Upanishads]], there are numerous statements and illustrations of the greatness of Vayu. The ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' says that the gods who control bodily functions once engaged in a contest to determine who among them is the greatest. When a deity such as that of vision would leave a man's body, that man would continue to live, albeit as a blind man and having regained the lost faculty once the errant deity returned to his post. One by one the deities all took their turns leaving the body, but the man continued to live on, though successively impaired in various ways. Finally, when Mukhya Prāna started to leave the body, all the other deities started to be inexorably pulled off their posts by force, 'just as a powerful horse yanks off pegs in the ground to which he is bound'. This caused the other deities to realize that they can function only when empowered by Vayu, and can be overpowered by him easily. In another episode, Vayu is said to be the only deity not afflicted by demons of sin who were on the attack. The [[Chandogya Upanishad]] says that one cannot know [[Brahman]] except by knowing Vayu as the ''udgitha'' (the mantric syllable ''[[om]]'').<ref>Chandogya Upanishad, Adhyaya XVIII, Verse 4; http://www.swamij.com/upanishad-chandogya.htm</ref>

==Avatars==
[[File:Vayu, the god of wind Statue at Gokarneshwor Mahadev Temple Premises, Gokarna, Kathmandu.jpg|thumb|Vayu sculpture, Gokarneshwor Mahadev Temple, Gokarna, Kathmandu]]
American Indologist [[Philip Lutgendorf]] says, "According to [[Madhva]] whenever [[Vishnu|Lord Vishnu]] incarnates on earth, Mukhya Prana/Vayu accompanies him and aids his work of preserving dharma. Hanuman the friend and helper of [[Rama]] in the [[Treta Yuga|treta yuga]], the strongman [[Bhima]] in [[Mahabharata]], set at the end of [[Dwapara Yuga|dwapara yuga]] and [[Madhva]] in the [[Kali Yuga|kali yuga]]. Moreover, since the Lord himself does not appear on earth until the end of kali age, the incarnate Vayu/[[Madhva]] serves during this period as the sole 'means' to bring souls to salvation".{{Sfn|Lutgendorf|2007|p=67}}

Pavana played an important role in [[Añjanā|Anjana]]'s begetting Hanuman as her child so Hanuman is also called Pavanaputra 'son of Pavana' and Vāyuputra. Today, Pavan is a fairly common [[Hindu]] name.

In the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', Bhima was the spiritual son of Vayu and played a major role in the [[Kurukshetra War]]. He utilised his huge power and skill with the mace for supporting Dharma.

* The first [[avatar]] of Vayu is considered to be [[Hanuman]]. His exploits are elucidated in ''[[Ramayana]]''.
* The second avatar of Vayu is [[Bhima]], one of the [[Pandavas]] appearing in the epic the ''[[Mahabharata]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01068.htm | title=The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section LXVII}}</ref>
* [[Madhvacharya]], is considered as the third avatar of Vayu. Madhva declared himself as an avatar of Vayu and showed the verses in [[Rigveda]] as a proof.<ref>''History of the Dvaita School and Its literature'', pg 173</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://raghavendramutt.org/articles/balittha-suktha-text|publisher=raghavendramutt.org|title=Balittha Suktha -Text From Rig Veda|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924052648/http://raghavendramutt.org/articles/balittha-suktha-text|archive-date=24 September 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Author C. Ramakrishna Rao says, "Madhva explained the Balitha Sukta in the Rigveda as referring to the three forms of Vayu".<ref>{{cite book|title=Madhva and Brahma Tarka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiA1AAAAIAAJ|page=9|author=Chintagunta Ramakrishna Rao|publisher=Majestic Press|year=1960}}</ref>

== Buddhism ==
In East Asian Buddhism, Vayu is a ''[[dharmapāla]]'' and often classed as one of the {{interlanguage link multi|Twelve Devas|ja|十二天}} ({{lang-ja|十二天|translit=Jūniten}}) grouped together as directional guardians. He presides over the northwest direction.<ref>[http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100031/000/000?mode=detail&d_lang=en Twelve Heavenly Deities (Devas)] Nara National Museum, Japan</ref>

In Japan, he is called '''Fūten([[:ja:風天|風天]])'''. He is included with the other eleven devas, which include Taishakuten ([[Śakra (Buddhism)|Śakra/Indra]]), Katen ([[Agni]]), Enmaten ([[Yama]]), Rasetsuten ([[Nirṛti (god)|Nirṛti]]/[[Rakshasa|Rākṣasa]]), Ishanaten ([[Ishana|Īśāna]]), Bishamonten ([[Vaiśravaṇa|Vaiśravaṇa/Kubera]]), Suiten ([[Varuṇa]]) Bonten ([[Brahmā]]), Jiten ([[Pṛthivī]]), Nitten ([[Sūrya|Sūrya/Āditya]]) and Gatten ([[Candra]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=juuniten 十二天 |url=http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/j/juuniten.htm |website=JAANUS |access-date=23 January 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Classic element}}
{{Commons category}}
* [[List of wind deities]]
* [[Maruts]]
* [[Rudras]]
* [[Rudra]], the Vedic wind or storm God.
* [[Vayu Purana]]
* [[Vayu-Vata]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book|title=Hanuman: The Devotion and Power of the Monkey God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t10oDwAAQBAJ|last=Vanamali|first=V|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2010|isbn=978-1594779145}}
* {{Citation|title=Saints and Sages of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa3XAAAAMAAJ|first=G. R.|last=Sholapurkar|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan|year=1992|isbn = 9788121700498}}

{{Hindu Culture and Epics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Characters in the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Classical elements]]
[[Category:Hindu gods]]
[[Category:Lokapala]]
[[Category:Rigvedic deities]]
[[Category:Wind gods]]

Vayu - Revision history

47.160.134.80: robot: Create/update articles in Category:Hindu gods.

imported>Ohnoitsjamie: Reverted edits by 2409:4043:4E15:92FE:0:0:7309:AF08 (talk) to last version by Waltzingmogumogupeach