Concept of VAC in the Vedic Literature

📘 Book Details

• Author: Dr. Pratibha M. Pingle

• Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications

• Language: English

• Edition: 2005

• ISBN: 9788170308416

• Pages: 350

• Cover: Hardcover

• Dimensions: 22.5 cm × 14.5 cm

• Weight: 510 gm

English Description

Vac in the Vedic Literature is a pioneering and in-depth scholarly work by Dr. Pratibha M. Pingle, exploring the profound and multifaceted concept of Vac (speech) in ancient Indian thought. Derived from her Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of Pune, this book offers a comprehensive investigation into how Vac was perceived—not just as speech but as a divine and cosmic principle—in the Vedic corpus.

🔍 Key Features:

• Textual Sources Covered:

  • Principal Samhitas – Ṛgveda, Atharvaveda, and five Yajurveda Samhitas

  • Brahmanas – including Aitareya, Sankhyayana, Satapatha, Taittiriya, Pancavimsa, and others

  • Upaniṣads – All eighteen principal texts

• Ten Thematic Chapters, covering:

  1. Vac as a goddess and her relationship with deities like Sarasvati, Agni, Soma, and Prajapati

  2. Vac as holy speech or prayer, including its use in rituals and mantras

  3. Role of Vac in Vedic sacrifice, chants, and symbolic rituals

  4. Vac and its connection with metres like Anuṣṭubh, Gāyatrī, and Virāj

  5. Vac depicted as a cow — symbol of divine nourishment and abundance

  6. Vac as a human faculty, its function in communication and relation to mind (manas) and breath (prāṇa)

  7. Vac as sound in non-human contexts — animals, nature, and instruments

  8. The origin of Vac and Vac as a creative force

  9. Types and divisions of speech — including Daivī, Āsurī, Mānuṣī Vac, and more

  10. Vac's relation with Brahman — its limitations, power, and transcendental associations

🧠 Scholarly Significance:

• Synthesizes philological, theological, and philosophical interpretations

• Provides unique insights into Vedic cosmology and linguistics

• Includes an appendix of Vac-related legends and a bibliography of primary texts and secondary studies

This book is ideal for scholars of Sanskrit, Vedic studies, linguistics, philosophy, and Indology, as well as spiritually inclined readers curious about the deeper meaning of speech and sound in Indian tradition.