A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.33

c5.33

“He appears in the progress of mythological personification as a son of Angiras, as a king of the Pitris or Manes, as a Marut, as a grandson of Sandila, as one of the seven sages or Rishis, during the reign of Tāmasa the fourth Manu,” and as a star. In the Mahā-bhārata Agni is represented as having exhausted his vigour by devouring too many oblations, and desiring to consume the whole Khāndava forest as a means of recruiting his strength. He was prevented by Indra, but having obtained the assistance of Krishna and Arjuna, he baffled Indra and accomplished his object. In the Vishnu Purāna he is called Abhimānī, and the eldest son of Brahmā. His wife was Swāhā; by her he had three sons, Pāvaka, Pavamāna, and Suchi, and these had forty-five sons; altogether forty-nine persons, identical with the forty-nine fires, which forty-nine fires the Vāyu Purāna endeavours to discriminate. He is described in the Hari-vansa as clothed in black, having smoke for his standard and head-piece, and carrying a flaming javelin. He has four hands, and is borne in a chariot drawn by red horses, and the seven winds are the wheels of his car. He is accompanied by a ram, and sometimes he is represented riding on that animal. The representations of him vary.