Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t7.5

c5.s1.t7.5

The sacrificial fire being regularly kindled at dawn, Agni is naturally often associated with Uṣas in this connexion, sometimes not without a side-glance at the sun, the manifestation of Agni which appears simultaneously with the kindling of the sacrificial fire (1, 124¹⋅¹¹ &c.)⁵. Agni appears with or before the Dawn. Uṣas causes Agni to be kindled (1, 113⁹). He is thus like the sun sometimes called her lover (1, 69¹; 7, 10¹, cp. 10, 3³). He goes to meet the shining Uṣas as she comes, asking her for fair riches (3, 61⁶). Uṣas is naturally also often connected with the twin gods of the early morning, the Aśvins (1, 44² &c.). They accompany her (1, 183²) and she is their friend (4, 52²⋅³). She is invoked to arouse them (8, 9¹⁷), and her hymn is said to have awakened them (3, 58¹). When the Aśvins' car is yoked, the daughter of the sky is born (10, 39¹²). Uṣas is once associated with the moon, which being born ever anew goes before the dawns as harbinger of day (10, 85¹⁹).