The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c18.s1.60

v1.c18.s1.60

Agni is also as a great god magnified by being declared to be above all the gods: Varuṇa, Mitra, the Maruts, and all the gods worship him. He delivers the gods in battle, he defeats the Dasyus for the Aryan, he vanquished the Paṇis and is even called breaker of forts and Vṛtra-slayer, but these aspects of his are really derived from Indra. He measures out the air and supports the vault of heaven like all the greater deities, but he has a special function of his own, the strengthening of the sun when at the Agnihotra in the morning he is produced.³ This is recognized occasionally in the Rigveda and quite frankly in the Brāhmaṇa literature. But in many cases the two acts are regarded merely as simultaneous, and the later texts⁴ discuss the question whether the Agnihotra is to be offered just before or just after the sun rise.