Aditiḥ śiśrathantu; see above pp. 46 and 47); and to avert Varuna's wrath, iv. 1, 4 (tvam no Agne Varunasya vidvän devasya helo ava yāsisīshṭhāḥ).

In two passages, as we have already seen (p. 108, note), the worshipper naively says to Agni (as Indra's votary says to him), viii. 44, 23, "If I were thou, and thou, Agni, wert I, thy aspirations should be fulfilled ;" and viii. 19, 25 f., “If, Agni, thou wert a mortal, and I, o thou who art rich in friends, were an immortal, (26) I would not abandon thee to wrong or to penury. My worshipper should not be poor, nor distressed, nor miserable."

In viii. 92, 2, Agni called Daivodāsa (Daivodāso 'gniḥ), from which it would appear that king Divodāsa claimed him especially as his tutelary god. In the same way he is called in viii. 19, 32 (samrājam Trāsadasyavam), and in x. 69, 1 ff., he is called Agni Badhryasva, apparently because a sage of that name had kindled him. Compare the epithet Kausika applied to Indra in R.V. i. 10, 11, and the first vol. of this work, pp. 347 ff.

Agni is occasionally identified with other gods and different goddesses, Indra, Vishnu, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Anśa, Tvashtri, Rudra, Pushan, Savitri, Bhaga, Aditi, Hotrā, Bhāratī, Iļā, Sarasvati, ii. 1, 3-7, and 11 (tvam Agne Indro vṛishabhaḥ satām asi tvam Vishnur urugāyo namasyaḥ, etc.); iii. 5, 4; v. 3, 1; vii. 12, 3; x. 8, 5. All gods are comprehended in him, v. 3, 1 (tve viśve sahasas putra devāḥ); he surrounds them as the circumference of a wheel does the spokes, v. 13, 6 (Agne nemir aran iva tvam devān paribhur asi); compare i. 141, 9. Varuna is in one place spoken of as his brother, iv. 1, 2 (sa bhrataram Varunam Agne à vavṛitsva).

Agni is associated with Indra 242 in different hymns, as i. 108 and 109; iii. 12; vi. 59 and 60; vii. 93 and 94; viii. 38 and 40. The two

341 Another verse where Agni is identified with other gods is i. 164, 46. Indram Mitram Varunam Agnim āhur atho divyaḥ sa suparno garutmān | ekam sad viprāḥ bahudhā vadanti Agnim Yamam Mātariśvānam āhuḥ | "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; then there is that celestial, well-winged bird. Sages name variously that which is but one; they call it Agni, Yama, Mataris van." Compare A.V. xiii. 3, 13: sa Varunaḥ sāyam Agnir bhavati sa Mitro bhavati prātar udyan | sa Savitā bhūtvā antarikshena yāti sa Indro bhūtvā tapati madhyato divam "Agni becomes Varuna in the evening; rising in the morning he is Mitra; becoming Savitri he moves through the air; becoming Indra he glows in the middle of the sky." 342 See Müller's Lectures on Language. Second series, pp. 495 f.

gods are said to be twin brothers, having the same father, and having their mothers here and there,343 vi. 59, 2 (see above, pp. 14 and 81), to be both thunderers (vajrinā), slayers of Vrittra or of foes (vṛittrahanā), and shakers of cities, iii. 12, 4, 6 (Indrāgnī navatim puro dāsapatnīr adhunutam sakam ekena karmanā); vi. 59, 3; vi. 60, 3; vii. 93, 1, 4; viii. 38, 2.344 They are also invited together to come and drink soma (vii. 93, 6; viii. 38, 4, 7–9), and are together invoked for help, vii. 94, 7 (Indrāgni avasā ā gatam asmabhyam charshanīsahā). In one place, i. 109, 4, they are called aśvinā, "horsemen." (See Müller, as quoted at the foot of the page). Agni is elsewhere said to exercise alone the function usually assigned to Indra, and to slay Vṛittra and destroy cities, i. 59, 6 (Vaiśvānaro dasyum Agnir jaghanvān adhūnot kāshṭhāḥ ava S'ambaram bhet); i. 78, 4 (tam u tvā vṛittrahantamam yo dasyún avadhūnushe | dyumnair abhi pra nonumaḥ); vi. 16, 14, 39, 48 (vṛittrahanam purandaram | Agne puro rurojitha); vii. 5, 3; vii. 6, 2; viii. 63, 4. He is also described as driving away the Dasyus from the house, thus creating a large light for the Ārya, vii. 5, 6 (tvam dasyūn okasaḥ ajaḥ uru jyotir janayann āryāya, compare i. 59, 2, and x. 69, 6), as the promoter of the Ārya, viii. 92, 1 (āryasya vardhanam Agnim), and as the vanquisher of the irreligious Paņis, vii. 6, 3 (ni akratūn grathino mṛidhravāchaḥ paṇīn aśrāddhān avṛidhān ayajnān | pra pra tān dasyún Agnir vivāya pūrvaś chakāra aparān ayajyūn),—although it is Indra who is most frequently represented in the hymns as the patron and helper of the sacred race, and the destroyer of their enemies. On the other hand, in viii. 38, 1, where the two gods are called two priests (yajnasya ṛitvijā), Indra is made to share in the character peculiar to Agni.345 In hymn i. 93, Agni and Soma are celebrated in company.

343 The word so rendered is ihehamātarā. Aditi is here and there, i.e. everywhere.

mother of the one

Sāyaṇa says it means that their mother Roth, s.v. understands it to mean that the here, of the other there, i.e. in different places. Compare theha

jāte R.V. v. 47, 5. See Müller's Lectures on Language ii. 495.

344 Compare A.V. iv. 23, 5; vii. 110, 1 f.

345 Compare the words attributed to Indra in x. 119, 13 above, p 91.

(6) Agni,—a metrical sketch.

Great Agni, though thine essence be but one,
Thy forms are three; as fire thou blazest here,
As lightning flashest in the atmosphere,

In heaven thou flamest as the golden sun.

It was in heaven thou hadst thy primal birth;
By art of sages skilled in sacred lore

Thou wast drawn down to human hearths of
yore,
And thou abid'st a denizen of earth.

Sprung from the mystic pair,36 by priestly hands
In wedlock joined, forth flashes Agni bright;
But,-o ye Heavens and Earth, I tell you right,-
The unnatural child devours the parent brands.

But Agni is a god: we must not deem

That he can err, or dare to reprehend

His acts, which far our reason's grasp transcend :
He best can judge what deeds a god beseem.

And yet this orphaned god himself survives:
Although his hapless mother soon expires,
And cannot nurse the babe, as babe requires,—
Great Agni, wondrous infant, grows and thrives.

Smoke-bannered Agni, god with crackling voice
And flaming hair, when thou dost pierce the gloom
At early morn, and all the world illume,
Both Heaven and Earth and gods and men rejoice.

In every home thou art a welcome guest;
The household's tutelary lord; a son,
A father, mother, brother, all in one;

A friend by whom thy faithful friends are blest.

346 The two pieces of fuel by the attrition of which fire is produced, which, as we have seen above, are represented as husband and wife.

A swift-winged messenger, thou callest down
From heaven, to crowd our hearths, the race divine,
To taste our food, our hymns to hear, benign,
And all our fondest aspirations crown.

Thou, Agni, art our priest, divinely wise,

In holy science versed; thy skill detects
The faults that mar our rites, mistakes corrects,
And all our acts completes and sanctifies.

Thou art the cord that stretches to the skies,

The bridge that spans the chasm, profound and vast, Dividing Earth from Heaven, o'er which at last

The good shall safely pass to Paradise.

But when, great god, thine awful anger glows,
And thou revealest thy destroying force,
All creatures flee before thy furious course,
As hosts are chased by overpowering foes.

Thou levellest all thou touchest; forests vast

Thou shear'st like beards which barber's razor shaves,

Thy wind-driven flames roar load as ocean-waves,

And all thy track is black when thou hast past.

But thou, great Agni, dost not always wear

That direful form; thou rather lov'st to shine

Upon our hearths with milder flame benign,

And cheer the homes where thou art nursed with care.

Yes, thou delightest all those men to bless,

Who toil, unwearied, to supply the food

Which thou so lovest, logs of well-dried wood, And heaps of butter bring,-thy favourite mess.

Though I no cow possess, and have no store

Of butter,-nor an axe fresh wood to cleave, Thou, gracious god, wilt my poor gift receive,These few dry sticks I bring; I have no more.

Preserve us, lord, thy faithful servants save
From all the ills by which our bliss is marred;
Tower like an iron wall our homes to guard,
And all the boons bestow our hearts can crave.

And when away our brief existence wanes,

When we at length our earthly homes must quit, And our freed souls to worlds unknown shall flit, Do thou deal gently with our cold remains;

And then thy gracious form assuming, guide
Our unborn part across the dark abyss
Aloft to realms serene of light and bliss,
Where righteous men among the gods abide.