Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t2.43

c5.s3.t2.43

Besides epithets of celestial fire which, like Apāṁ napāt, have become separate names, some epithets of Agni exhibit a semi-independent character. The epithet Vaiśvānara⁴⁹, occurring about sixty times in the RV. and with two exceptions restricted to Agni, is, apart from some five detached verses, to be found in fourteen hymns of the RV., in nearly all of which, according to the native tradition of the Anukramaṇī, Agni Vaiśvānara is the deity addressed. The attribute is never in the RV. unaccompanied by the name of Agni. It means ‘belonging to all men’ and seems to designate ‘Universal Agni’, fire in all its aspects, celestial as well as terrestrial. Thus the hymns addressed to this form of Agni sometimes refer to the myth of Mātariśvan and the Bhṛgus, which is connected with the descent of celestial fire to earth (3, 2⁴; 6, 8⁴), and Agni Vaiśvānara is once even directly styled Mātariśvan (3, 26²). In the Naighaṇṭuka (5, 1) Vaiśvānara is given as one of the names of Agni. Yāska in commenting on the epithet states (Nir. 7, 23), that ancient ritualists (*yājñikāḥ*) took Agni Vaiśvānara to be the sun, while Śākapūṇi considered him to be this Agni⁵⁰. Later on (Nir. 7, 31), he states as his own opinion that the Agni Vaiśvānara who receives praise and sacrifice is this (i. e. terrestrial) Agni, while the two higher (*uttare*) lights (i. e. the aerial and the celestial) only occasionally share this designation. In the ritual texts Vaiśvānara is distinguished as a special form of Agni (ĀŚS. 1, 3²³; KŚS. 23, 3¹; (PB. 21, 10¹¹; ŚB. 1, 5, 1¹⁶).