Agni

Agni ( Sanskrit: अग्नि) is a Hindu and Vedic deity. 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.

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."

Agni is conceived to be a messenger between gods and men, or a high-priest who carries oblations directly to the gods. As such, Agni has been given many honourific titles given to the administrators of great sacrifices. 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.

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 Vedic times, few ceremonies were considered complete without the performance of oblations to Agni. In sacrificial ceremonies particularly, Agni was the diety of primary invocation.

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]}

Agni in other faiths and religions

In Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, he is a lokapāla guarding the Southeast. Jigten lugs kyi bstan bcos: which translates, "Make your hearth in the southeast corner of the house, which is the quarter of Agni". He also plays a central role in most Buddhist homa fire-puja rites.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Embree, Ainslee T. (ed.). The Hindu Tradition. New York: Vintage Books, 1966. ISBN 0394717023
• 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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