Vata (mythology)
Vata ( Sanskrit वात vata "Wind") is in the Vedic mythology the personification of the wind .
In contrast to Vayu , who in the Vedas represents a personal deification of the wind, Vata is the personification of the wind as an element. In the Rigveda he is invoked in two hymns. It appears in the first hymn as a storm, which the other winds follow and which is to be served with sacrificial acts:
I want to praise the power of Vata's car now: it breaks, its roar is thunderous. Reaching to the sky, he drives and makes the red colors and goes on the earth throwing up dust.
Behind it all kinds of wind rise; they come to him like women to a wedding. With them the god rides in the same chariot, the king of this whole world.
Driving on paths through the air, he doesn't stop for a day either. The aquatic friend, the firstborn, regular, where may he be born, from where did he come?
The soul of the gods, the child of the world, this god walks where he wants. You can hear its roar - not its shape. Let us serve this storm wind with sacrifice.
In the second hymn he appears as a life-giving force:
Let the wind blow to us arzenei, beneficial ones that appeal to our hearts. He should extend our days of life.
You, wind, are our father and brother and our friend. Let us live!
What is kept there in your house, O wind, as a treasure of life balm, give us of it to live!
In Iranian mythology , the wind god Vāda corresponds to him .
literature
- Volker Moeller: Vāta . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig , Heinz Bechert (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , p. 185.