In Hinduism, Vayu (Sanskrit वायु (properly transliterated as Vāyu), also known as Vāta वात, Pavana पवन, or Prāna, is a primary god, and the father of Bhima and Lord Hanuman. As the words for air (Vāyu) or wind (Pavana) it is one of the Panchamahābhuta the "five great elements" in Hinduism. The Sanskrit words Vāyu and 'Vāta' are cognate to the Latin 'vita' meaning life. The primary referent of the word is thus the "god of Life," who is sometimes for clarity referred to as "Mukhya-Vāyu" (the chief Vāyu) or "Mukhya Prana" (the chief of Life). `Vāyu' , 'Vāta' and `Prāna' are synonyms. There is a set of five deities, each called Prāna (life), with Mukhya-Prāna being chief among them. (This is the reason that, for example, in Hindi and other Indian languages, someone's death is stated using the plural as "his lives departed" (uske prān nikal gaye) rather than "his life departed.") The secondary meaning of `Vāyu' to refer to wind derives from another referent. The five Vāyu deities are known in the classical literature as Prāna, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna, and Samāna, and control life (and the vital breath), the wind, touch/sensation, digestion, and excretion. Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... A motif depicting Bheema in the battle ready posture. ... Hanuman tearing his chest open to reveal that Rama and Sita are literally in his heart Hanuman (Sanskrit: ; nominative singular ), known also as Anjaneya, is one of the most important personalities in the epic, the Ramayana. ... Chinese Wood (木) | Fire (火) Earth (土) | Metal (金) | Water (æ°´) Hinduism and Buddhism Vayu / Pavan — Air / Wind Agni / Tejas — Fire Akasha — Aether Prithvi / Bhumi — Earth Ap / Jala — Water Air is one of the classical elements. ... Wind, tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (XIV century) Wind is the rough horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earths surface. ... Several ancient Classical Element Greek version of these ideas persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. ... The Sanskrit language ( , for short ) is an old Indo-Aryan language from the Indian Subcontinent, the classical literary language of the Hindus of India[1], a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation), Lives (disambiguation) or Living (disambiguation), Living Things (disambiguation). ... Hindi (Devanagari: हिन्दी or हिंदी; IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken mainly in northern and central India, is one of the official languages of the Union government of India [1][2]. It is part of a dialect continuum of the Indic family, bounded on the northwest and west by Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu... Wind, tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (XIV century) Wind is the rough horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earths surface. ...

In the Upanishads there are numerous statements and illustrations of the greatness of Vāyu. 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 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, Vāyu 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 Vāyu as the udgitha. The Upanishads (Devanagari: उपनिषद्, IAST: upaniá¹£ad) are part of the Vedas and form the Hindu scriptures which primarily discuss philosophy, meditation, and the nature of God; they form the core spiritual thought of Vedantic Hinduism. ...

Followers of Dvaita philosophy hold that Mukhya-Vāyu 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. Dvaita (Devanagari:द्बैत, Kannada:ದ್ವೈತ) (originally called Tattvavada), a school of Vedanta (the most widespread Hindu philosophy) founded by Madhvacharya, stresses a strict distinction between God (Vishnu) and the individual living beings (jivas). ... Madhva can refer to: Shri Madhvacharya, Vaishnavite saint and founder of Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi a person belonging to the Dvaita school of thought This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Vishnu (IAST , Devanagari ), (honorific: Sri Vishnu) also known as Narayana is the Supreme Being or Ultimate Reality for Vaishnavas and a manifestation of Brahman in the Advaita or Smarta traditions. ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Madhva can refer to: Shri Madhvacharya, Vaishnavite saint and founder of Dvaita school of thought, at Pajaka, Udupi a person belonging to the Dvaita school of thought This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Rig Veda ऋग्वेद (Sanskrit ṛc praise + veda knowledge) is the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas. ...

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 Vāyu-Putra. This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... Hanuman tearing his chest open to reveal that Rama and Sita are literally in his heart Hanuman (Sanskrit: ; nominative singular ), known also as Anjaneya, is one of the most important personalities in the epic, the Ramayana. ... Hanuman tearing his chest open to reveal that Rama and Sita are literally in his heart Hanuman (Sanskrit: ; nominative singular ), known also as Anjaneya, is one of the most important personalities in the epic, the Ramayana. ...

See also

• Hindu deities
• Deities of the sky

Within Smarta Hinduism, a variety of forms of God are seen as aspects of the one impersonal divine ground, (Brahma) or Aum. ... The sky has important religious significance. ...

Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Indian epic poetry
Female Deities: Saraswati | Mariamman | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Gayatri | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more...
Male Deities: Brahma | Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Murugan | Hanuman | Ayyanar | Indra | Surya | more...
Texts: Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata
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