Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t2.22

c5.s3.t2.22

In other passages, again, Agni is to be identified with the sun; for the conception of the sun as a form of Agni, is an undoubted Vedic belief. Thus Agni is the light of heaven in the bright sky, waking at dawn, the head of heaven (3, 2¹⁴). He was born on the other side of the air and sees all things (10, 1874·5). He is born as the sun rising in the morning (10, 88⁶)2I. The AB. (8, 289· I3) remarks that the sun when setting enters into Agni and is produced from him. The same identification is probably alluded to in passages stating that Agni unites with the light or the rays of the sun (5, 37I; 7, 2I), that when men light Agni on earth, the celestials light him (6, 2³), or that Agni shines in heaven (3, 27I2; 8, 44²⁹). Sometimes, however, it is difficult to decide whether lightning or the sun is intended. The solar aspect of Agni's nature is not often mentioned, the sun being too individual a phenomenon to be generally conceived as a form of fire. Agni is usually thought of in his terrestrial form, being compared rather than identified with the sun. Thus the poet says that the minds of the godly are turned to Agni as eyes towards the sun (5, I⁴). At the same time there is frequently a side-glance at Agni's other forms, it being therefore in many cases doubtful which of his aspects is intended.