|
|
|
|
Vayu
|
| |
|
| |
In Hinduism Vayu (Sanskrit: ????, IAST: Vayu; Malay: Bayu, ) is a primary deity, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman. He is also known as Vata ???, Pavana ??? (meaning the Purifier), or Prana. In the hymns, Vayu is described as having "exceptional beauty" and moving noisily in his shining coach, driven by two or forty-nine or thousand white and purple horses. A white Banner is his main attribute.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Vayu' Start a new discussion about 'Vayu' Answer questions from other users |
Recent Posts
Encyclopedia
In Hinduism Vayu (Sanskrit: ????, IAST: Vayu; Malay: Bayu, ) is a primary deity, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman. He is also known as Vata ???, Pavana ??? (meaning the Purifier), or Prana. In the hymns, Vayu is described as having "exceptional beauty" and moving noisily in his shining coach, driven by two or forty-nine or thousand white and purple horses. A white Banner is his main attribute.
As the word for air, (Vayu) or wind (Pavana) is one of the Panchamahabhuta or five great elements. The Sanskrit word 'Vata' literally means "blown", 'Vayu' "blower", and 'Prana' "breathing" (viz. the breath of life, cf. the *an- in 'animate'). Hence, the primary referent of the word is the "deity of Life", who is sometimes for clarity referred to as "Mukhya-Vayu" (the chief Vayu) or "Mukhya Prana" (the chief of Life).
Sometimes the word "vayu," which is more generally used in the sense of the physical air or wind, is used as a synonym for "prana". There is however a separate set of five deities of Prana (vital breath), Mukhya-Prana being chief among them, so that, in Hindi and other Indian languages, someone's death is stated as "his lives departed" (uske pran nikal gaye) rather than "his life departed." These five Vayu deities, Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana, and Samana, control life (and the vital breath), the wind, touch/sensation, digestion, and excretion.
In the Upanishads, there are numerous statements and illustrations of the greatness of Vayu. The Brhadaranyaka states 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 would regain 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 Prana 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 states that one cannot know Brahman except by knowing Vayu as the udgitha (the mantric syllable "om").
Followers of Dvaita philosophy hold that Mukhya-Vayu incarnated as Madhvacharya to teach worthy souls to worship the Supreme God Vishnu and to correct the errors of the Advaita philosophy. Madhvacharya himself makes this claim, citing the Rig Veda as his evidence.
Pavan is also a fairly common Hindu name. Pavan had played an important role in Anjana's begetting Hanuman as her child. Hence Hanuman is also called Pavan-Putra (son of Pavana) and Vayu-Putra.
See also
|
| |
|
|
