The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c9.23

c9.23

The pronounced ritualist quality of the poetry of the Rig-Veda fixes Agni as a divinity of the morning, rather than of the night. Interpretations of Rig-Veda passages which involve reference to something like the cosy family hearth, the tea-kettle simmering, the wind soughing outside, are generally moonshine. Nor is his definite association with the morning just what we should expect it to be from our point of view; no suggestion, perchance, of the merry dairymaid milking the cows, or the housewife busy with a comfortable breakfast. Familiar, home-life touches are not absent altogether even in the Rig-Veda; they are more abundant in the "House-books" (Gṛhya-Sūtras). But in the main Agni is cosmic and ritualistic, and little else. He dispels the darkness, destroys the demons of night. He throws open the gates of darkness; earth and sky are seen when Agni is born in the morning. He is even supposed to lift daily the eternally youthful sun to the sky to furnish light to the people.¹