Vasudeva
(2)(“sonof Vasudeva”) Epithet of the god
Krishna, a patronymic formed from the
name of his father, Vasudeva, by length-
ening the initial vowel. See Krishna.
Vasuki
In Hindu mythology, a famous Naga
(mythical serpent). Vasuki’s most famous
mythic role comes in the story in which
the gods and demonschurn the Ocean
of Milk to obtain the nectar of immortal-
ity (amrta). In the form of his Tortoise
avatar, the god Vishnuserves as the
churning-base, MountMandaraserves
as the churning-stick, and Vasuki, with
his enormous length, as the churning-
rope. With the gods on one side and the
demons on the other, they pull Vasuki
back and forth until the sea of milk gives
up its treasures.
Vata
(“air”) Along with pitta (“bile”) and
kapha (“phlegm”), one of the three
humors (tridosha) in ayurveda, the tra-
ditional system of Indian medicine.
Every person has all three of these
humors, but usually one is predomi-
nant, and this marks a person in certain
ways, particularly with regard to health,
digestion, and metabolism. Vata is asso-
ciated with the element of air, which is
quick, light, and dry. People whose pre-
dominant humor is vata are said to have
quick minds, light bodies, and tend to
always be doing something. At the same
time, they lack substantiality and can
run down easily if not careful.
Vatsalya (“calf-like”) Bhava
The fourth of the five modes of devotion
to God that were most prominently
articulated by Rupa Goswami, a devotee
(bhakta) of the god Krishnaand a fol-
lower of the Bengali saint Chaitanya.
Rupa used differing types of human
relationships as models for differing
conceptions of the link between deity
and devotee. These five models showed
growing emotional intensity, from the
peaceful (shanta) sense that comes
from realizing one’s complete identity
with Brahmanor Supreme Reality, to
conceiving of God as one’s master,
friend, child, or lover. In the Vatsalya
mode of devotion, devotees consider
themselves as God’s parents, lavishing
love and care on the deity as a cowcares
for her calf. This is an emotionally
intense mode of relationship, but with-
out the erotic element present in the
fifth mode, madhurya bhava.Vatsyayana
According to tradition, the author of the
Kama Sutra. This text is usually associ-
ated with an exhaustive catalog of sexu-
al positions and pleasures, which it
certainly contains, but in fact, the text
goes far beyond this. Vatsyayana was
interested in exploring desire in all its
manifestations, and the text begins with
a consideration of the four aims of life
(purushartha): worldly goods (artha),
desire (kama), religious duty (dharma),
and liberation of the soul (moksha).
Vatsyayana argued that because desire
was one of the established ends of
human life, its pursuit was thus a good
thing, as long as this pursuit did not
interfere with the other ends.
Having established the legitimacy of
desire, Vatsyayana then talks about how
to foster it. The Kama Sutra’s second
book contains the text’s best-known
material, the discussion and categoriza-
tion of various types of sexual union. It
begins by characterizing various types
of sexual endowment, both male and
female, then proceeds to describe differ-
ent sorts of embracing, kissing, scratch-
ing, and biting as symbols of passion,
sexual positions, and oral sex. This is
followed by chapters on gaining a wife,
attracting other men’s wives (which
the text discourages, except in cases
where one’s passion is “too strong”),
courtesans, and general remarks
on attraction. The text is thus a manual
for all phases of eroticlife, in which
sex can be refined into a vehicle forVatsyayana