Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.3

v2.c16.3

had his abode in the sky as the sun, in the atmosphere as the lightning and on the earth as fire; in other words, the sky, the atmosphere and the earth give birth to Agni in his triple aspect of the sun, the lightning, and fire; hence he receives the name Tryambaka or Three-mothered. By the heat of the sun received by the earth winds are produced, a physical fact well-known even to school-boys. It is this natural phenomenon, the production of winds on the surface of the earth by sun's heat, that is poetically expressed in the Vēdic hymns as the sun begetting on the earth the Maruts. The winds cause the clouds to accumulate in the atmosphere and lightning and storm follow next; all these phenomena are traceable to Agni or Rudra. The stormy winds, the dark masses of clouds with flashing lightning in their midst are all sufficiently terrifying in their effect, and Rudra or Agni who is the cause of all these fearful phenomena is naturally treated as a terrific and malevolent deity always requiring propitiation. The sufferings caused to man and beast by storms, thunder and rain should naturally have induced the Vēdic bards to have attempted to appease the wrath of this fearful deity and to protect themselves and their possessions by praises and offerings.