The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c18.s1.32

v1.c18.s1.32

The three births of Agni give rise to the legend of his three brothers, or his brothers generically, who again with him make up the four Hotṛs, of whom three die according to the Kāṭhaka Saṁhitā.⁷ The legend of death seems purely imaginative. Of the gods Varuṇa is once his brother, and Indra is his twin brother. From Indra Agni borrows, as we have seen, some of his feats, such as vanquishing the Paṇis. In one hymn Agni is mentioned with Soma. He lends himself also to identifications with other gods: thus in the evening he is Varuṇa, rising in the morning Mitra, as Savitṛ he traverses the air, as Indra he illumines the sky; so the Atharvaveda ¹ tells us. He has various forms and many names, he embraces all the gods, and once even in the Rigveda ² he is successively identified with twelve gods and five goddesses.