Vedic Mythology c5.s3.t3.12

c5.s3.t3.12

The evidence adduced above seems to favour the view that Bṛhaspati was originally an aspect of Agni as a divine priest presiding over devotion, an aspect which (unlike other epithets of Agni formed with *pati*, such as *viśām pati*, *gṛhapati*, *sadaspati*) had attained an independent character by the beginning of the Rigvedic period, though the connexion with Agni was not entirely severed. Langlois¹³, H. H. Wilson¹⁴, Max Müller¹⁵ agree in regarding Bṛhaspati as a variety of Agni. Roth¹⁶ was of opinion that this sacerdotal god is a direct impersonation of the power of devotion. Similarly Kaegi¹⁷ and Oldenberg¹⁸ think him to be an abstraction of priestly action, which has appropriated the deeds of earlier gods. Weber¹⁹ considers Bṛhaspati to be a priestly abstraction of Indra, and is followed in this by Hopkins²⁰. Finally, Hillebrandt²¹ holds him to be a lord of plants and a personification of the moon²², representing predominantly the igneous side of that luminary.