The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c16.s4.31

v1.c16.s4.31

In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa³ Viṣṇu is declared to be the highest of the gods and Agni the lowest, but the declaration has no possible reference to the place of the two gods in the hierarchy, but is rather due to the physical situation of the gods, the terrestrial fire, and the sun. It accords also, somewhat artificially, with the fact of the arrangement of the litanies of the two gods in the Soma sacrifice, but it is not probable that originally that was its sense. The Aitareya also declares that Viṣṇu is the doorkeeper of the gods, an idea which it supports very ineffectively by the Rigvedic verse,⁴ Viṣṇu with his friend opened the stall.