Vāc

Vāk or Vāc (stem , nominative ) is the Sanskrit word for "speech", "voice", "talk", or "language", from a verbal root "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.Definition of VācThe Myths and Gods of India, by Alain Daniélou
In the early Rigveda (books 2 to 7), 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),
:
: 
:"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. 
: 
:2. 
: 
:3. 
: 
:4. 
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:"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. 
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:11. 
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:"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:
:
:''
:"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."
==See also==
*Hindu deities
*Rigvedic deities
*Śabda
==References==
==Further reading==
*Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0500510881) by Anna Dhallapiccola
*Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions (ISBN 8120803795) by David Kinsley
Category:Hindu goddesses
Category:Rigvedic deities
Category:Language
Category:Sanskrit words and phrases