Agni

Agni ( Sanskrit: अग्नि) in the Hindu tradition is the god of fire. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" (noun), cognate with Latin ignis (the root of English ignite). He is the creator of the Agneyestra (IAST: Āgneyāstra, Sanskrit: आग्नेयास्त्र), a fire weapon. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods. He is ever-young, because the fire is re-lit every day; but also he is immortal. He is worshipped under a threefold form: fire on earth, lightning and the sun. His cult survived the change of the ancient Vedic nature-worship into modern Hinduism, and there are fire-priests (agnihotr) whose duty is to watch over his worshippers. The sacred fire-drill for procuring the temple-fire by friction — symbolic of Agni's daily miraculous birth — is still used.

Origins

The theonym agni is quite simply the Sanskrit word for fire. Clearly, it derives from a proto-Indo-European root, which is evident from its similarity to other words referring to fire such as the Latin ignis. In addition, the very similar name Ak/gniš was used to identify a god of destruction in a Hittite text found at Bogazköy, Turkey. Although fire plays an important role in many systems of myths and rituals which took root in the Indo-European lineage, such as the Irish, Roman and Iranian traditions, the divine persona of Agni was just as likely spawned as a result of the sheer importance of fire in Vedic ritualism.

Depictions

In Hindu art, Agni is represented as deep red in colour with two faces, suggesting both his destructive and beneficent qualities, and with black eyes and hair, three legs and seven arms. On his head he often bears horns, and he wears a yellow waist cloth. His vehicle is most commonly a ram, or a chariot pulled by goats or, more rarely, parrots. Seven rays of light emanate from his body. One of his names is "Sapta jihva", 'seven tongues'. Although he is fire, Agni is not limited to the terrestrial realm. He also present in the clouds as lightning, and in the the sky as the sun. Another epithet attributed to Agni is "Offspring of the Waters", suggesting his connection to the primeval bodies of water. His home was said to be within the element wood, in which he hid himself until revealed by the flames of the altar.

Family

In Hinduism, he is a deva, second only to Indra in the power and importance attributed to him in Vedic mythology. He is Indra's twin, and therefore a son of Dyaus Pita and Prthivi. While in another version, he is a son of Kashyapa and Aditi or a Queen who kept her pregnancy secret from her husband. He has ten mothers, or ten sisters, or ten maidservants, who represent the ten fingers of the man who lights the fire. He has two parents: these represent the two sticks which, when rubbed together swiftly, create fire (called a fire drill). Some say that he destroyed his parents when he was born because they could not care for him. He is married to Svaha and father of Karttikeya by either Svaha or Ganga. Agni is said to have had seven brothers, the names of each signifying flames. Three of Agni's nine sons, Uttama, Tamasa, and Rajvata, became the Manus.

Agni in the Vedas

His name is the first word of the first hymn of the Rigveda:-
अग्नि॒म् ई॑ळे पुरो॒हि॑तं यज्ञ॒स्य॑ देव॒म् ऋत्वि॒ज॑म् ।
होता॑रं रत्नधा॒त॑मम् ॥
agnim īļe purohitam / yajñasya devam ŗtvijam / hotāraM ratnadhātamam.
(The vowels which are underlined here, carry the Vedic udātta pitch accent.)
"I praise Agni, the priest of the house, the divine ministrant of sacrifice, the invoker, the best bestower of treasure."

Since Agni's jurisdiction spans both heaven and earth, he is the meeting place between gods and humans. Agni is conceived to be a messenger between gods and men, or a high-priest who carries oblations directly to the gods. His many tounges are said to consume the sacrificial offerings, then transfers them in the form of smoke so they may be presented to the gods above. On a more general level, he bonds the three worlds: in heaven he is the sun, in the atmosphere he is within the storm cloud as the power of lightning, and on earth he is that fire which is created by human beings. Although he enjoys pervasive power in all three realms, Agni is also humbles himself as the household fire at the center of domestic rituals. As such, Agni has been given many honourific titles given to the administrators of great sacrifices. He is the first to conduct the sacrifice, and no performer of sacrifice is older than he is, suggesting the eternal nature of Agni's role. Thus, Agni also represents the interconnectedness of family and the greater society, and even the cosmos.

Agni is the personification of fire. In some stories about the Hindu gods, Agni is the one who is sent to the front in dangerous situations. He is one of the Guardians of the directions, representing the southeast.

Another hymn runs: "No god indeed, no mortal is beyond the might of thee, the mighty One.". He lives among men and is miraculously reborn each day by the fire-drill, the friction of the two sticks which are regarded as his parents. He is the supreme director of religious ceremonies and duties, and even has the power of influencing the fate of each man in the future world. According to Ayurveda, Agni is the biological fire that governs digestion, metabolism and the immune system. Agni is also representative of the power which digests the food in every person's stomach. He created the stars with the sparks resulting from his flames.

I extol Agni, the household priest, the divine minister of the sacrifice, the cheif priest, the bestower of blessings.

May that Agni, who is to be extolled by ancient and modern seers, conduct the gods here.

Through Agni may one gain day by day wealth and welfare which is glorious and replete with heroic sons.

O Agni, the sacrifice and ritual which you encompass on every side, that indeed goes to the gods.

Not only does Agni provide the offerings from men to gods by way of his flames, but he also brings the gods to the altar. He is singularly responsible for transmitting the boons of the gods to humanity.

The Rigveda often says that Agni arises from water or dwells in the waters. He may have originally been the same as Apam Napat.

There is a ritual to ignite Agni. This process is called Agni-Mathana. This was the Ancient Hindu way of making fire. Wooden piece from Arani tree (belonging to the family of Ficus religiosa or Urostigma religiosum) is put to vigorous friction, which generates fire.

Worship

In the context of Vedic worship, no god was as important as Agni. Few ceremonies were considered complete without the performance of oblations to Agni. In sacrificial ceremonies particularly, Agni was the diety of primary invocation. Agni is miraculously reborn each day by the fire-drill, the friction of the two sticks which are regarded as his parents. Brahmins were directed to make the first of their daily oblations to Agni.

Fire was indispensible for aiding human beings in understanding their role in the cosmos. Fire was at once viewed as both an element to be feared, but also an element related to purity. For the Aryans, the domestication of fire represented not only the taming of the flame, but also as the taming of the entirety of nature, therefore symbolizing the foundations of all civilization.

This mastery of fire was demonstrated in Vedic ritualism. Since Agni was related to the three parts of the cosmos, manipulation of fire hearths allowed them to control these various aspects. As the heavenly fire, Agni was said to reside the western adhavaniya hearth along with other gods. As the atmospheric fire, Agni took abode in the southern daksinagni hearth along with deceased ancestors, and as the earthly fire, Agni resided in the western garhapatya hearth with human beings. These various fires also corresponded with one of twice-born caste system, as the heavenly fire was used for offerings and represented the Brahmins, or priests; the atmostpheric fire served to protect and therefore referred to the Kshatriya, or warrior class; while the earthly fire was seen as the producer and represented the Vaisyas, or merchants.

The ritual fire assumed a central role in the performance of the domestic, or gryha liturgies, as well, such as marriage and funerary rites. In the context of marriage, fire was linked with the stages of life for a Hindu male. The heat of the fire was symbolic of the of the middle stage between the celibacy of the student and the restraint of the householder. In the marriage ceremony, the marriage was sanctified by circling the fire seven times. In the context of death, heat represented the heat which exists between this life and the next. The cremation fire was thought to have ability to help the deceased passe through death and shape the old self into a new self. As such, the cremation fire was treated with great reverence by priests, for fear that any action otherwise could evoke the wrath of Agni as kravyād, the "flesh-eating" deity. It was not uncommon for wives to throw themselves upon their deceased husbands' funeral pyres, a practice called sati, so that the fire would ensure the passage of both husband and wife into the next incarnation. Sati was prevalent until the nineteenth century, when British imperialists officially banned the practice.

As the Upanishads emerged, the sacrifice was shifted from an external undertaking to a metaphorical process which had to occur within individuals. The significance of fire changed as well, with a new focus upon the abstract qualities of fire's heat (or tapas). Now, heat as it occured in the flame, the sweat of the priest, and cooked food became part of a sacrifice which occured within the body. The elaborate public fire rituals of the Brahmanas became the ascetic tradition of the internal fire ritual (anagnihotra). The mircrocosmic fires of human physiology came to correspond with the macrocosmic fires of the universe, and yoga became the means by which to manipulate the entire system. Now the fire rages in the head as intellect and speech, in the arms as sovereignty, and in the genitals as the fire of reproduction.

Agni God as witness

Although the Vedic fire-sacrifice (yajña) has largely disappeared from modern Hinduism (with the exception of Arya Samaj), Agni with the fire-sacrifice is still the mode of ritual in any modern Hindu marriage, where Agni is said to be the chief sakshi or witness of the marriage and guardian of the sanctity of marriage. Taking Agni (fire) as a witness is a very old tradition - in the Valmiki Ramayana, Rama and Sugreeva swear to help each other and circle the fire thrice as a seal of their bond. Similarly in the Mahabharata, Susarma and his brothers the Trigartas swear by the fire to either defeat Arjuna or die at his hands. Their joint oath earns them the name of "Samsaptaka" as a clan. The tradition stems from the idea that Agni or fire is the purest of all natural elements and is holy as the same.^{[citation needed]}

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Embree, Ainslee T. (ed.). The Hindu Tradition. New York: Vintage Books, 1966. ISBN 0394717023
• Findly, Ellison Banks. "Agni". Encyclopedia of Religion. Mercia Eliade, ed. New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1987. 133-135.
• Moor, Edward. The Hindu Pantheon. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 2000. ISBN 8177550292
• Zaenher, R. C. Hinduism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1962. ISBN 019888012

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