Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t2.20

c5.s3.t2.20

Agni's origin in the aerial waters is often referred to. The 'Son of waters' has, as has been shown (§ 24), become a distinct deity. Agni is also the 'embryo' (*garbha*) of the waters (3, 1¹². ¹³); he is kindled in the waters (10, 45¹; AV. 13, 1⁵⁰); he is a bull who has grown in the lap of the waters (10, 8¹); he is ocean-girt (8, 91⁵). He is also said to descend from the *dhanu* or cloud-island (1, 144⁵; 10, 4⁵) and to be the shining thunder dwelling in the bright space (6, 6²). In such passages the lightning form of Agni must be meant. Some of the later hymns of the RV. (10, 51—3. 124)¹⁵ tell a legend of Agni hiding in the waters and plants and being found by the gods. This legend is also often related in the Brāhmaṇas¹⁶. In the AV. the Agnis in the waters are distinguished from those that go on the path of lightning or from the celestial Agni with the lightning (AV. 3, 21¹· ⁷; 8, 1¹¹) and are said to have dwelt on earth (AV. 12, 1³⁷). In one passage of the RV. also it is stated that Agni rests in all streams (8, 39⁸, cp. Āp. SS. 5, 2¹); and in the later ritual texts Agni in the waters is invoked in connexion with ponds and water-vessels. Thus even in the oldest Vedic period, the waters in which Agni is latent, though not those from which he is produced, may in various passages have been regarded as terrestrial. Oldenberg¹⁷ thinks that the terrestrial waters are chiefly meant in this connexion and doubts whether the lightning Agni is intended even in the first hymn of the third book¹⁸. In any case, the notion of Agni in the waters is prominent throughout the Vedas. Water is Agni's home, as heaven is that of the sun (5, 85²: cp. AV. 13, 1⁵⁰; 19, 33¹). The waters are also often mentioned along with the plants or wood as his abode¹⁹ (2, 1¹ &c.).