The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c9.20

c9.20

In India, as elsewhere, fire was produced by friction, and this mode of starting fire was obligatory as far as the sacrifice fire was concerned. The two fire-sticks, or drills, called *araṇī*, are therefore Agni's parents, the upper stick being the male, the lower the female. They produce him under the name of Āyu "Living"; wonderful to narrate, from the dry wood the god is born living. At once he becomes the type of human progeny, and faintly figures as, or suggests the first man and the originator of the human race.¹ The new-born infant is hard to catch; he is born of a mother who cannot give him suck. The child as soon as born devours the parents.