Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t2.33

c5.s3.t2.33

Thus Agni comes to be called the nearest kinsman of man (7, 15¹; 8, 49¹⁰), or simply a kinsman (1, 26³ &c.) or a friend (1, 75⁴ &c.). But he is oftenest described as a father (6, 1⁵ &c.), sometimes also as a brother (8, 43¹⁶; 10, 7³ &c.), and even as a son (2, 1⁹) or mother (6, 1⁵), of his worshippers. Such terms seem to point to an older order of things, when Agni was less sacrificial and, as the centre of domestic life, produced an intimate relation such as is not easily found in the worship of other gods³⁷.