Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t2.5

c5.s2.t2.5

Mātariśvan would thus appear to be a personification of a celestial form of Agni, who at the same time is thought of as having like Prometheus brought down the hidden fire from heaven to earth. Hardly anything but lightning can be his natural basis. This would account for his being the messenger of Vivasvat from heaven to earth (6, 8⁴), just as Agni himself is a messenger of Vivasvat (§ 35) between the two worlds¹. In the AV. Mātariśvan is still found as a mystic name of Agni (AV. 10, 8³⁹· ⁴⁰); but generally in that (AV. 12, 1⁵¹ &c.) and other Saṃhitās, the Brāhmaṇas and all the subsequent literature, the name is a designation of wind. The transition to this conception is to be found in a passage already quoted (3, 29¹¹): 'Agni, when as Mātariśvan he was formed in his mother, became the swift flight of wind'², and Agni in the air as a raging serpent is elsewhere compared with the rushing wind (1, 79¹). Such a statement might easily have been taken later to interpret Mātariśvan as the wind.