upon the guards, and Vasudeva was able to sneak
the child across the YAMUNA River and leave it
with the cowherd Nanda and his wife, YASHODA,
who thus becomes Krishna’s (foster) mother.
The Jain puranas credit Vasudeva with 26
wives. The most complete story of the life of
Vasudeva is found in the Jain text Vasudevahindi
(c. third century C.E.), a work in the Prakrit lan-
guage. The text was an adaptation of the earlier
BRIHATKATHA story cycle, an ancient Indian story.
Further reading: Cornelia Dimitt and J. A. B. van Buite-
nen, eds. and trans., Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader
in the Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1978); Jagdishchandra Jain, The Vasudevahindi:
An Authentic Jain Version of the Brhatkatha. L. D. Series
59 (Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology, 1977).
Vatsyayana (c. 400–500 C.E.) See KAMA SUTRA.
Vayu
Vayu is the god of the wind in Indian mythology.
He makes his first appearance in the VEDAS. He is
associated with INDRA, king of the Vedic gods. He is
seen as moving along in a chariot pulled by many
horses. Most importantly he is regarded as the
father of the monkey god HANUMAN. BHIMA, one of
the five PANDAVA brothers in the MAHABHARATA, is
said to be the son of Vayu. The term vayu is also
used for one of the five elements in Hindu physics;
in that context it is best translated as “air.”
Further reading: Cornelia Dimitt and J. A. B. van Buite-
nen, eds. and trans., Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader
in the Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1978); Alfred Hillebrandt, Vedic Mythology, 2
vols. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990).
Veda(s)
Veda is derived from the word, vid, “to know.” A
Veda, then, would literally be a compendium of
knowledge. In Indian tradition the four Vedas
(sometimes collectively referred to as “the Veda”)
are the ancient scriptural texts that are considered
the foundation for all of Hinduism. The four are
the RIG, SAMA, YAJUR, and ATHARVA VEDAS.
The Rig Veda (c. 1500 B.C.E.), the most ancient
extant Indian text, is the most important of the
four. It consists of over 1,000 hymns, the great
majority of them from five to 20 verses long.
Very few exceed 50 verses. The hymns praise a
pantheon of divinities. A few of them are cosmo-
gonic—they tell of the creation of the universe;
these were extremely important in the later devel-
opment of Hinduism.
By far the greatest number of hymns in the
Rig Veda are devoted to INDRA, king of the gods, a
deity connected with storms and rain who holds a
thunderbolt, and AGNI, the god of fire. The rest of
the hymns are devoted to an array of gods, most
prominently MITRA, VARUNA, SAVITRI, SOMA, and
the ASHVINS. The most important gods in the later
Hindu pantheon, VISHNU and SHIVA (in his Vedic
guise as RUDRA), were far less frequently men-
tioned in the Rig Veda. A number of goddesses are
mentioned, most frequently USHAS, GODDESS of the
dawn. ADITI is said to be the mother of the gods.
Scholars have categorized the religion of the
Rig Veda as henotheistic: that is, it was polythe-
istic, but it recognized each divinity in turn as
supreme in certain ways. Later Hinduism main-
tained and enriched this henotheistic concept; in
time Hindus have even been able to accept Christ
and Allah as supreme “in turn.”
A very powerful ritual tradition was central to
the Rig Veda, with fire always a central feature.
At public and private rituals (YAJNAS) worshippers
spoke to and beseeched the divinities. Animal sac-
rifices were a regular feature of the larger public
rites in the Vedic tradition.
Two of the other Vedas, the Yajur and Sama,
were based on the Rig Veda. That is, it supplied
most of their text, but the words were reorganized
for the purposes of the rituals. Yajur Veda, the
Veda of sacrificial formulas, has two branches, theK 480 Vatsyayana