In allusion to the sound of the winds the Maruts are often called singers, and as such aid Indra in his fight with the demon. They are, indeed, his constant associates in all his celestial conflicts. The God of Wind, called Vayu or Vata, is not a prominent deity in the Rigveda, having only three entire hymns addressed to him. The personification is more developed under the name of Vayu, who is mostly associated with Indra, while Vata is coupled only with the less anthropomorphic rain-god, Parjanya. Vayu is swift as thought and has roaring velocity. He has a shining car drawn by a team or a pair of ruddy steeds. On this car, which has a golden seat and touches the sky, Indra is his companion. Vata, as also the ordinary designation of wind, is celebrated in a more concrete manner. His name is often connected with the verb va, "to blow," from which it is derived. Like Rudra, he wafts healing and prolongs life; for he has the treasure of immortality in his house. The poet of a short hymn (x. 168) devoted to his praise thus describes him:-- Of Vata's car I now will praise the greatness: Crashing it speeds along; its noise is thunder. Touching the sky, it goes on causing lightnings; Scattering the dust of earth it hurries forward. In air upon his pathways hastening onward, Never on any day he tarries resting. The first-born order-loving friend of waters, Where, pray, was he born? say, whence came he hither? The soul of gods, and of the world the offspring, This god according to his liking wanders. His sound is heard, but ne'er is seen his figure. This Vata let us now with offerings worship. Another deity of air is Parjanya, god of rain, who is invoked in but three hymns, and is only mentioned some thirty times in the Rigveda. The name in several passages still means simply "rain-cloud." The personification is therefore always closely connected with the phenomenon of the rain-storm, in which the rain-cloud itself becomes an udder, a pail, or a water-skin. Often likened to a bull, Parjanya is characteristically a shedder of rain. His activity is described in very vivid strains (v. 83):-- The trees he strikes to earth and smites the demon crew: The whole world fears the wielder of the mighty bolt. The guiltless man himself flees from the potent god, What time Parjanya thund'ring smites the miscreant. Like a car-driver urging on his steeds with whips, He causes to bound forth the messengers of rain. From far away the lion's roar reverberates, What time Parjanya fills the atmosphere with rain. Forth blow the winds, to earth the lightning flashes fall, Up shoot the herbs, the realm of light with moisture streams; Nourishment in abundance springs for all the world, What time Parjanya quickeneth the earth with seed.