The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s6.7

v1.c17.s6.7

Mātariçvan, however, in the Yajurveda and in the Brāhmaṇas is overwhelmingly the god of wind, not of fire, and this nature of his is already hinted at in the Rigveda where the epithets boundless and wandering are applied to him. In the view of Hillebrandt⁵ the conception of the wind lies at the bottom of the nature of the Vedic god, and he points to the fact of the important part played by the wind in the production of forest fires,⁶ and the striking character of dust storms in India in support of his thesis. He suggests, however, that there may have been a tendency in the Rigveda to identify the wind and the fire which would account for the relation of Mātariçvan to Agni. To this theory the main objection is simple : it ignores the essential and not accidental connexion of Mātariçvan with Agni which is the most real part of his nature, and it is easy to point out that the transition from the fire god to a wind god is natural enough, and already hinted at in the Rigveda, where of Agni himself it is said that he is like the rushing wind.