The Rig Veda: An Anthology

Agni, the personification of the ritual fire, is one of the most prominent gods in the Rig Veda and the subject of many hymns and dedications. This chapter contains nine poems focusing on the god, demonstrating his centrality in Vedic ritual and mythology. As the carrier of sacrificial offerings to the gods, Agni mediates between the divine and human worlds; as the patron of priests, he intercedes with the gods on behalf of men. Many of the hymns about Agni are clear-cut references to the kindling of the sacrificial fire, but the mythology of the god, depicted in several poems, is obscure. His birth is enigmatic; after being born, he vanishes for a period, hidden in the waters or in the body of a demon before the gods coax him to return.

The first hymn of the Rig Veda is a straightforward invocation of Agni, inviting him to the sacrifice (1.1). The poem praises Agni as “the priest with the sharp sight of a poet” (99)—through his cooperation in the sacrifice, the pious worshipper will become wealthy and father many sons. As the patron deity of priests, Agni is a father to the priestly clans, and the poet prays that Agni may dwell with men and grant them happiness.

Hymn 1.26 emphasizes Agni’s role as intercessor on behalf the worshipper. The poet asks the god to don his priestly robes— the flames and prayers that accompany the sacrifice—and perform the rite like a father sacrificing for his son. If Agni is pleased, the fire will be good and gratify the gods, who, in turn, will bless the worshippers. Praising Agni, the poet hopes Agni will recommend him to the gods and they will approve of him.

“The Birth of Agni” (5.2) refers to an obscure mythical tradition in which Agni disappears or is kidnapped; this trauma is comparable to a mysterious contemporaneous crisis, and the poet implores Agni to free his worshippers from bondage. Inspired by Soma, the poet envisions Agni’s birth and disappearance and implores the god to destroy the godless demons and workers of evil. At his birth, Agni’s stepmother withheld him from his father; the “charioteer” (likely the sun god but also a name for Agni himself, as the lord of the sacrifice) then hid Agni. Indra discovered Agni hidden among mortals by the evil powers. Agni’s angry glare shines with the effects of Soma and his bull-like bellowing reaches heaven to overpower the demons. The poet, also inspired by Soma, asks Agni to receive his hymn with pleasure, granting the gift of waters and sunlight to his worshippers.

Agni is identified with the “Child of the Waters,” a mysterious deity associated with embryonic creation and the ritual fire in Hymn 2.35. The poem begins with a declaration of the poet’s intent to win a competition and his invocation of the god of rivers. He praises the child of the waters as the creator of all noble creatures and describes this radiant god, surrounded by the female waters that nurse him with their milk, as shining in flames and wearing a garment of butter. The young god is associated with the horse, the sun, and the cow whose milk nourishes his strength. Fires and plants, the fuel of fire, are reborn from him. Young women kindle him, feeding him butter. The poet praises him with verses and wood shavings. The child-god, simultaneously father and son, engenders himself. The poet concludes by praising Agni and congratulating his own poetic effort on behalf of his patron.

The next two hymns describe the lost Agni’s rescue. “The Gods Coax Agni out of the Waters” (10.51) takes the form of a conversation between Agni, Mitra, Varuna, and unnamed gods. Fearful of the fate that overtook his brothers who once served the gods, Agni hides his light in the embryonic membrane of the depths. After Yama discovers him there, the gods promise Agni the pre-sacrificial and post-sacrificial offerings if he consents to bring them the burnt oblations of Manu, the first mortal. In 10.124, Indra lures Agni from the demon Vrtra, in whose body he has been hiding. Returning to the gods, Agni reenters the community of sacrifice and law and abandons the realm of the Asuras, the demons of Vedic myth. Indra invites Soma to help him kill Vrtra, and the two gods sacrifice to Agni, the divine embodiment of sacrifice. The hymn concludes by praising Indra, who dwells in those who rejoice in their own powers, visualizing the god as a swan gliding “in friendship with the divine waters” (111).

“The Mystery of Agni” (4.5) alludes to the secret identity of Agni, which the god simultaneously reveals and conceals. A chain of associations identifies Agni as a bull, an udder or stomach, the calf of the earth cow or of the cows of dawn, and the sun or sun-bird. Bovine, sacrificial, and solar images interweave in this convoluted depiction of Agni, a profound mystery akin to a “question with seven meanings” (114). The poet chastises those whose “speech is empty and contrary,” as he races like a prize-winning horse toward victory in the poetic competition.

In “Agni and the Young Poet” (6.9), a young poet initially despairs of his ability to imagine and praise the god in skillful verse. Visualizing Agni as the guardian of immortality growing in stature before his eyes, and as the sun to whom all turn their eyes, the poet suddenly rises to the heights of ecstatic vision. “This inspiration transfigures the poet” (115), yet it makes him doubly aware of the impossibility of expressing the sublimity of Agni, who terrified even the gods when he hid in darkness.

The last hymn in the chapter, “The Hidden Agni” (10.5), gives another enigmatic depiction of the god, interweaving many familiar and obscure tropes and metaphors. Agni is “the one sea with many births,” “the navel of all that moves […] who with his mind stretches the thread of the poet” (117). His parents are heaven and earth, and also the kindling sticks; Agni’s flames are buffaloes uniting with mares in the stable of the ritual hearth. The poem concludes with a declaration of Agni’s androgyny: “Agni is for us the first-born of Truth in the ancient vigor of life: the bull—and also the cow” (118).