Editing Vayu (section)

==Connotations==
The word for [[air (classical element)|air]] (''vāyu'') or wind (''pavana'') is one of the [[Classical element#Classical elements in Hinduism|classical elements in Hinduism]]. The [[Sanskrit]] word ''Vāta'' literally means '[[:wikt:blown|blown]]'; ''Vāyu'', '[[:wikt:blower|blower]]' and ''Prāna'', '[[:wikt:breathing|breathing]]' (viz. the breath of life, cf. the *''an''- in [[:wikt:animate|''animate'']]). Hence, the primary referent of the word is the 'deity of life', who is sometimes for clarity referred to as Mukhya-Vāyu (the chief Vayu) or Mukhya Prāna (the chief of life force or vital force).<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BSbgGLdGSRIC|page=7839|author=Subodh Kapoor|publisher=Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd|year=2002|isbn = 9788177552577|quote=Mukhya Prana - The chief vital air}}</ref>

Sometimes the word ''vāyu'', which is more generally used in the sense of the physical air or wind, is used as a synonym for ''prāna''.<ref name=Raju1954>{{Citation | author = Raju, P.T. | year = 1954 | title = The concept of the spiritual in Indian thought | journal = Philosophy East and West | volume = 4 | issue = 3 | pages = 195–213 | jstor = 1397554| doi = 10.2307/1397554 | postscript = .}}</ref> Vāta, an additional name for the deity Vayu, is the root of ''vātāvaranam'', the Sanskrit and Hindi term for 'atmosphere'.<ref name="ghose1992">{{Citation | title=Tirtha, the treasury of Indian expressions |author1=Vijaya Ghose |author2=Jaya Ramanathan |author3=Renuka N. Khandekar | year=1992 | publisher=CMC Limited | isbn= 978-81-900267-0-3| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_v1tAAAAMAAJ | quote=... God of the winds ... Another name for Vayu is Vata (hence the present Hindi term for 'atmosphere, 'vatavaran). Also known as Pavana (the purifier), Vayu is lauded in both the ...}}</ref>