Vedic Mythology c7.s2.18

c7.s2.18

Agni, the swift and agile god, is often, as has been shown (p. 89), spoken of as a steed. In the ritual the horse is symbolical of Agni. A horse is stationed so as to look at the place where fire is produced by friction. When the fire is borne towards the east, it is deposited in the track of the horse which goes in front¹⁶. In the ceremony of piling the fire-altar, the horse is addressed with the verse: 'In heaven is thy highest birth, in air thy navel, on earth thy home' (VS. 11, 12). Such a rite is explained in the ŚB. as bringing Agni together with himself¹⁷. The same Brāhmaṇa speaks of lightning as a horse descended from the waters or the clouds (ŚB. 5, 1, 4⁵; 7, 5, 2¹⁸).