Epic Mythology c6.s2.8

Language: English

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§ 50. The varied activities of the Fire-god led to the theory of the Adbhuta and other "various Agnis" exploited as historical, genealogical characters in 3, 217 f. As descendants of mother rivers the different Agnis appear in the history of Agni hiding in water, Agni being created by Brahman and identified with Aṅgiras, third son of Brahman. Aṅgiras' son by Subhā or Vasud(h)ā was the gods' Guru, Bṛhaspati; his eldest daughter was Bhānumatī (the fairest); next came Rāgā (best loved); next, Sinīvālī (so thin as to be visible only at times), called also "daughter of Kapardin" (Śiva); the fourth and fifth daughters were Arciṣmatī (as masculine, a name of Agni) and Haviṣmatī (S has Kuhū and Arciṣmatī as fourth and fifth); the sixth and seventh were Mahiṣmatī and Mahāmatī (seen at very grand sacrifices), and lastly (but see S above) "the blessed one, whom the people, as they see her, address with the exclamation kuhū! and say that she is without a portion (kuhukuhāyate ekā 'naṃśe 'ti; S, ekānekā). There are thus six or seven lunar days as female forms of Agni. The account continues with the names of seven holy fires as six sons and one daughter of Bṛhaspati by Cāndramasī, his lunar wife, who bore Śaṃyu, Niśayavana, Viśvajit, Viśvabhuj, Vaḍavāgni, Sviṣṭakṛt and the putrikā Manyatī, Svāhā (mother of Kāma, Amogha, and Uktha). Each of these fires has his restricted work. Śaṃyu is occupied with seasonal and horse-sacrifices;

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his wife Satyā, daughter of Dharma, is mother of Bharadvāja and Bharata (fire of full-moon sacrifice). Bharadvāja's wife, Vīrā, bore Vīra (Rathaprabhu, Rathādhvāna, Kumbharetas), father of Siddhi (Mithyā) by the Sarayū. Bharata had a son Bhārata and a daughter Bhāratī; he is called "lord of three maidens" (= Puṣṭimati in 221, 1!) The "league-making" fire comes from Niścyavana ("not budging"), and he also "makes good" or cures and hence is called Satya Niṣkṛti, whose son causes wounds and makes people cry, hence Svana Rujaskara. Viśvabhuj (no "children") is the digestive fire and he married Gomatī (this river appears as Gopatī in S). For Manyatī (Svāhā) Manu is also read. Her son Kāma (love-fire) is "more beautiful than any being in the sky", and Amogha is like his brother in that he has a bow and wreath of flowers; but he is the "fire of battle". So, as warrior, Agni has a bow and discus (7, 11, 21; 23, 94, given to the Pāṇḍus) and becomes Śiva's arrow (13, 161, 29). In describing the Pāñcajanya fire, who begot "the awful fire of the Pitṛs and the Bṛhat and Rathantara" (melodies), S makes Hari (Viṣṇu) his son, and both texts make him father ("from the navel") of Śiva (and "born of strength") of Indra, and of Vāyu (S omits the absurd "and of Agni"). He begot also the (two) Anudāttau and viśve bhūtāni (sic), also the five (B as twenty-five) sons of Pitṛs. Śiva as fire is devoted to Śakti (Śaktipūjāparaḥ, 3, 221, 2, S has Śaktipūjāyaniḥ!).

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Here too belong, as fires, strange groups of gods (§ 27) who "steal sacrifices", arranged in three pentads, one being Mitra gods. There are others, not less vague and mystic, sons of Tapa(s), Purandara, Uṣman, Prajāpati Manu, Śambhu, Āvasathya, the five Urjaskaras, "five gold-like sons of sacrifice", also the "exhausted sun", Gavāmpati Pari-(or Pra-)śrānta, who "created demons, Asuras, and mortals". Aṅgiras's son Bṛhadbhānu had as wife Suprajā, daughter of the Sun (Sūryajā, but S reads Bṛhadbhāsā ca Somajā), and this Bhānu had six (S, four) sons, Balada, Manyumat, Viṣṇu (Dhṛtimat), and Āgrayaṇa ("his oblation unites with that of Indra") and "Agraha and Stubha" (not in S). S adds the account of Niśā, wife of (Bhānu) Manu and her five sons, but omits from her sons "the two Agniṣomau", and changes her daughter's name from Rohiṇī to Hariṇī (both texts unclear; apparently making this daughter of Manu the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu). The five Pāvakas (sons of this wife of Manu) include Kapila, "author of the Sāṅkhya-Yoga"; the other four are Vaiśvānara ("honored with Parjanya"), Viśvapati, Saṃnihita (the "fire that evokes speech"), and Agraṇī ("who causes bodily activity"). The Gṛhapati (222, 4) fire is next derived from Saha Āpa, the "power in the water" (husband of Muditā), and is identified with Adbhuta, whose wife is Priyā and whose son is Bharata.

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This fire fears his descendant Niyata Kratu, the fire that burns the dead, and his history introduces the story of Atharvan (below), at the end of which all fires are said to be mothered by the rivers and to be essentially one; also as mental offspring to be derived through Atri from Brahman (3, 222, 28). Though reeking with mysticism, this account is fairly clear and very instructive, showing that as different distinct fires were conceived the fire of digestion, the fire of love, the fire that hurts and cures, the fire that guards leagues; and that the new-moon fire, etc., are special divinities apart from the moon. This last fire, daughter of Aṅgiras, called Sinīvālī (new moon, also birth-goddess) is differentiated not quite logically from Kuhū. The epic admits four such moon-phases (8, 34, 32), as fastenings of the heavenly car, Sinīvālī, Anumati, Kuhū, and Rākā, the first two being the prior (days of the) new and full moon respectively, and the last two being the succeeding parts (lunar days) of the new and full moon. But in 3, 229, 50, Devasenā, wife of Skanda, is called Aparājitā (also name of Durgā), the Unconquered, Giver of Good, Lakṣmī (also wife of Viṣṇu), Āsā, (read Āśā, Hope), Ṣaṣṭhī and Sinīvālī and Kuhū, that is, both moon-phases are one with the Ṣaṣṭhī (lucky sixth day after birth). Agni Pathikṛt is adored when one starts on a journey, either in this world or to the next world, with the remainder of the new- and full-moon sacrifices (3, 221, 30; 5, 83, 9; ib.

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16, 43). A special service is necessary if sacred fires cross, in honor of the Śuci, Vīti, (cf. AB. 7, 6) and Davāgni (fires). The last is common as a forest-conflagration (da° or dā°). If a woman in her courses touch the oblation-fire, a rite must be performed in honor of the Vasumat fire. If the fire of a woman who is lying in touch the āgnihautrika fire, a rite is ordered (tabu of sūtikā). If cattle die, a rite is performed in honor of the Surabhimat fire, or if one alive is reported to be dead. This Purāṇic analysis of fires is comparable, but not the same, with the "forty-nine fires" recognised in VP. 1, 10, 17, ekonapañcāśad vahnayaḥ.