Vāc

Vāk or Vāc (stem "IAST|vāc-", nominative "IAST|vāk") is the Sanskrit word for "speech", "voice", "talk", or "language", from a verbal root "IAST|vac-" "speak, tell, utter".

Personified, Vāk is a goddess, most frequently she is identified with Bharati or Sarasvati, the goddess of speech. In the Veda she is also represented as created by Prajapati and married to him; in other places she is called the mother of the Vedas and wife of Indra.

In the early Rigveda (books 2 to 7), "IAST|vāc-" refers to the voice, in particularly the voice of the priest raised in sacrifice. She is personified only RV 8 and RV 10, in RV 10.125.5 speaking in the first person (trans. Griffith),

:"IAST|ahám evá svayám idáṃ vadāmi / júṣṭaṃ devébhir utá mânuṣebhiḥ": "IAST|yáṃ kāmáye táṃ-tam ugráṃ kṛṇomi / tám brahmâṇaṃ tám ŕṣiṃ táṃ sumedhâm":"I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and men alike shall welcome.:I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a Rsi, and a Brahman."

The intimate connection of speech, sacrifice and creation in (late) Rigvedic thought is expressed in RV 10.71.1-4:

:1. "IAST|bŕhaspate prathamáṃ vācó ágraṃ / yát praírata nāmadhéyaṃ dádhānāḥ ": "IAST|yád eṣāṃ śréṣṭhaṃ yád ariprám âsīt / preṇâ tád eṣāṃ níhitaṃ gúhāvíḥ":2. "IAST|sáktum iva títa'unā punánto / yátra dhîrā mánasā vâcam ákrata": "IAST|yátrā sákhāyaḥ sakhyâni jānate / bhadraíṣāṃ lakṣmîr níhitâdhi vācí":3. "IAST|yajñéna vācáḥ padavîyam āyan / tâm ánv avindann ŕṣiṣu práviṣṭām": "IAST|tâm ābhŕtyā vy àdadhuḥ purutrâ / tâṃ saptá rebhâ abhí sáṃ navante":4. "IAST|utá tvaḥ páśyan ná dadarśa vâcam / utá tvaḥ śṛṇván ná śṛṇoty enām": "IAST|utó tvasmai tanvàṃ ví sasre / jāyéva pátya uśatî suvâsāḥ"

:"When men, Brhaspati!, giving names to objects, sent out Vak's first and earliest utterances :All that was excellent and spotless, treasured within them, was disclosed through their affection.":"Where, like men cleansing corn-flour in a cribble, the wise in spirit have created language,:Friends see and recognize the marks of friendship: their speech retains the blessed sign imprinted.":"With sacrifice the trace of Vak they followed, and found her harbouring within the Rsis.:They brought her, dealt her forth in many places: seven singers make her tones resound in concert.":"One man hath ne'er seen Vak, and yet he seeth: one man hath hearing but hath never heard her.:But to another hath she shown her beauty as a fond well-dressed woman to her husband."

Vak also speaks, and is described as a goddess, in RV 8.100:

:10. "IAST|yád vâg vádanty avicetanâni / râṣṭrī devânāṃ niṣasâda mandrâ": "IAST|cátasra ûrjaṃ duduhe páyāṃsi / kvà svid asyāḥ paramáṃ jagāma":11. "IAST|devîṃ vâcam ajanayanta devâs / tâṃ viśvárūpāḥ paśávo vadanti": "IAST|sâ no mandréṣam ûrjaṃ dúhānā / dhenúr vâg asmân úpa súṣṭutaítu"

:"When, uttering words which no one comprehended, Vak, Queen of Gods, the Gladdener, was seated,:The heaven's four regions drew forth drink and vigour: now whither hath her noblest portion vanished?":"The Deities generated Vak the Goddess, and animals of every figure speak her.:May she, the Gladdener, yielding food and vigour, the Milch-cow Vak, approach us meetly lauded."

RV 1.164.45 has:

:"IAST|catvâri vâk párimitā padâni / tâni vidur brāhmaṇâ yé manīṣíṇaḥ":IAST|gúhā trîṇi níhitā néṅgayanti / turîyaṃ vācó manuṣyā̀ vadanti":"Speech hath been measured out in four divisions, the Brahmans who have understanding know them.:Three kept in close concealment cause no motion; of speech, men speak only the fourth division."

ee also

*Śabda
*Hindu deities
*Rigvedic deities

References

*"Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend" (ISBN 0500510881) by Anna Dhallapiccola

Further reading

*"Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions" (ISBN 8120803795) by David Kinsley