Agni-myth aspects

SOME ASPECTS OF THE AGNI-MYTHOLOGY IN THE VEDA

The subject of my lectures! is “Some Aspects of the Agol. Mythology in the Veda " Accordingly, my aim, in these lectures, will not be to present any detailed and connected statement about the Agar mythology as a whole, I shall only endeavour to emphasize certain points relating to Agni as he figures in the Vedic mythology and ritual - points, which, I think, do not usually receive sufficient attention of course, while doing so, I shall have to presume, on the part of my listeners, a general acquain tance with the broad outlines of the Agni-mythology It is well known that Agni is, Dext to Indra, the most promi. nent of the Vedic gods He is celebrated in at least 200 hymns of the RV, and, in many others, he is invoked conjointly with other divinities On this background, some of the features of the Agni mythology seem rather peculiar Agni is seen to be often isolated from the compact mass of the Vedic gods For instance, he is! regarded as being more earthly than ‘heavenly. He is looked’ upon mainly as an envoy of gods rather than as a god He is also the hotr or the purohita of the gods, their eye, their mouth, even their animal’ The gods are said to have employed him for ritual service, and, as a reward for such service, to have bestowed upon him eternal youth. It is also noteworthy that Agai is rarely represented as having a share in Soma with the other gods? The peculiar position of Ago in the Vedic mytho. logy seems to have been alluded to by a Vedic poet when he, very significantly, says of him in RV I 69 2 bluvo devānam pitā putrah san “ You became the father of gods, though their son" 1 Two lectures delivered at the Oriental Institute, Baroda, under the auspices of the M S University, on March 5-6, 1962 2 For these and similar references, see MACDONELL, VA1, 88–101. 3. Also cf SPB II 3 3,5 ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 279 Another peculiar feature of the Agon-mythology in the Veda is the original dichotomy between the mythological Agni and the sacrificial fire [t have deliberately used the word agni in the mythological context and the word fire in the ritual context 1 Today I propose to begin with a brief consideration of this point It is evident that Agni as a Vedic god is to be clearly distin guished from the sacrificial fires, such as, the alaantja, the gārhapalya, and the daksina. These fires are never referred to as deialas Sacrificial oblations are offered on these fires, but never to these fires The aha anıya and the other fires are not to be regarded even as different forms of god Agai In the ritual sütras, we find that oblations are prescribed to be offered to different Agnis, such as, vratapati Agni, amlomuc Ago), anka ant Agni, tantumant Agni, and pathukri Agni ( as many as fifty-six such Agais are mentioned in connection with the seven Hayıryajña samsthās only)but never to the ahavaniya fire, the gårliapatya firc, etc It may be that, as suggested by some scholars, the concept of the three sacrificial fires has been derived from the triple character of the Vedic Agni, namely, as Surya, Váyu or Indra, and Ago! But to identify the three sacrificial fires with certain mythological concepts mentioned in the RV seems to be unwarranted I propose to discuss, at some length, one such identification. HILLEBRANDT believes that Narāśamsa is the Rgvedic name for the dahsına fire of the later vtual He thinks that, though the RV is principally intended for the service of gods, there are, in it, certain clear indications of the cult of the Pitars One such is the mention of narasamsa, which has to be understood as the old name for the fire of the Pitars HILLEBRANDT further says that Narāśamsa is also the designation of a god who stands in the same relation to the fire of the Pitars as Surya does to the 4 Sce Srautakofa, Vol 1, English Section, 1160 5 VAL II, 98 ff [It may be noted that, for this paper, the first ed, in three parts, of HILLEBRANDT’S Vedische Alythologie, Breslau, 1891-1902, has been used ] 280 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS ahayanıya fire He, however, hastens to add that the starting point of bis hypothesis is, indeed, not the RV, but the later and surer ritual tradition In the Soma-sacrifice, there are to be offered five nārāśamsas - two in the morning, two at midday, and ope in the evening Nārāśamsa, in this context, is the pame given to certain goblets of Soma The officiating priests first drink out of these camasas, perform an apyayana in respect of them (by means of Soma, or, according to Baudhāyana, by means of the yasainiart waters, or, according to some other teachers, by mere touching ), and then place them under the southern havırdhana cart It is said in the commentary on ApSS 12 25 25 that because these goblets have Narāsamsa as their divinity, they are called parasamsas? The putting dowp of the camasas on the ground and towards the south puts their connection with the cult of the Pitars beyond doubt the close connection between the pārāsamsas and the Pitars becomes further clear from the follow ing significant reference occurring in SPB, IJI 6 2 25 yad havırdhanayor nāraśamsah sidantı tat prirsu juhon tasmāt pilarah sant. The mantra, which is prescribed to accompany the con suming of the Soma in these camasas by the officiating priests is given in the AitBr 7 34 as narasamsapitasya deva soma te matıyıda amaih [(at the morning pressing), urvail (at the midday pressing), kavyaih (at the third pressing) i purblir bhaksıtasya bhaksajamı About this, the commentary on the TS says narāśamsapıtasya potrpitasya iti padadvayam narasamsa camasabhaksane eva prayoktavyam, na anyatra, iti ekah paksah / sarvatra pathiravyam iti aparah paksah / naraih śasyante iti narā samsah pitrvisesah The mantra prescribed in this connection by the SankhśS 7 5 22 is also quite revealing devo ‘si narāśamso yat te miedhah svar jyotis tasya ta ūmaih 1(at the morning pressing), urvaih (at the midday pressing), kavyaih ( at the third pressing )] pirblur bhaksıtasjo pahulasyo ‘pahuto bhak sayāmı When the varasamsas are got ready at the midday savana, daksinä is given away to the priests And the priests seem to have been often regarded as representatives of the Pitars For, since the 6 TS Como III, p 110 anvāharya caru is cooked on the daksina fire, it must have been intended for the Pıtars, but it is actually given over to the priests as the representatives of the Pitars At the third sarana, an offering is directly made to the Pitars 10 close connection with the nārasamsa camasas It is further noteworthy that, when the nārāsamsas are laid down at their respective places, each priest puts under bis camasa three picces of the remaining purodāsa, for his ancestors In the namaskāra mantras connected with this rite also, a Dention is made of the Pitars Thus, accordipg to HILLEBRANDT, the close relationship between Narāsamsa and the Pitars is beyond reasonable doubt HILLEBRANDT finds support for his hypothesis also from RV X 57 3, which, according to the SŚS (III 17 3), is emplo yed in a Patryajaa The Th reads mano ny a huamahe narasamsena somena/ pilinām ca manmabluli// It is significant that, according to the sankiss, the officiating priest steps behind the dak sina fire (that is, the fire of the Pitars) with this and the following two verses HILLEBRANDT inciden tally refers also to the formula from the VS (19 61 ), which is employed at the Pitryajña in the Sauirāmani, namely, agnisy attān tumaro hajamahe naraśamse soniapıtham ya asuh There is another line of argument in support of the above hypothesis As is well known, the name nārasamsi is given to certain Vedic texts, which are mainly intended to praise the daksinas given away, in former times, by liberal patrons These are recited alternately with the pāriplavas, which glorify the models in history and legends of the sacrificing princes Thus the närāśansıs, like the pariplavas, are, by and large, devoted to the glorification of some deceased princes or other distinguished dead persons In other words, according to HILLEBRANDT, they relate to the cult of the Pitars The närāśamsverscs, as verses relatiog to the Pitars, are regarded as being of a lower order in comparison to the verses relating to the gods For, the MS (1. 11,5 ) says Jo gathanārāsamsıbhyam sanon na tasja prais. 36 282 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS The word anrta in this context grhy am anrtena in sa tat sanoti implies the lower order The material about Narasamsa in the RV is decidedly scanty, and the few passages where the word naraśanısa occurs are either colourless or obscure It may, however, be noted that in each of the two Bihaspati hymns, namely, I 18 and X 182, one stanza is addressed to Narasamsa? This may suggest that here Nara Samsa and Brhaspati are more or less identified According to RY LX 83 3 Brhaspati is closely related to the Pitras HILLEBRANDT further adds that Brhaspati is essentrally the moon god and the moon is basically the divinity of the Pitars All these facts would then seem to confirm the close relationship between Narasamsa and the Pitars In MS IV 13 8 and TBr III 6 13 Narasamsa 15 called triśırsan and sadaksa These latter are also the epithets of Visvarupa, who, too, is identified with the moon or the god of the Pitars It is, accordingly, averred that Broaspati, Visvarupa, and Narāśamsa have a common origin and that all the three are closely related to the cult of the Pilars Though HILLEBRANDT generally believes that the etymo logy of a Vedic god s pame does not necessarily help a correct understanding of that god’s nature, in the word narasamsa, he tries to find support for his present hypothesis According to bim, the literal meaning of the word, namely, praise of men, makes no sense whatever There is no doubt that nara in naraśamsa stands for the genitive plural naram It is to be regarded as an object genitive form T he root sams may be connected with the Avestan sanh, Latin censeo, and samsa which is an agent noun, derived from that root, may mean censor’ Nardansa 15, accordingly, hominum judex, that is, the ‘censor of mea, or, secondamny, the adjudicntor of the dead’s Like Yama, he is the lord and the leader of the Pitars In the Vedic ritual, there are three principal fires, out of which one, namely, the daksina fire, is assigned to the Pitars 7 AV I 18 9, 4, 182 2 B. VAI II, 105-06 ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 283 And, as has been pointed out above, in the RV, Agni Narāśamsa is closely related to the cult of the Pitars From this, it is conclu ded that Agni Narāsamsa is the duk sina fire of the later ritual There have also been other attempts to identify the sacrificial fires with the various forms of the Rgvedic Agni It is, for in stance, suggested that the ahgiani a fire is related to the heavenly form of Agni represented by Surya the dah sina fire to the aerial form of Agnt represented by Vayu Indra, or Vidyut, and the garhopatya fire to the terrestrial Agni But, in this lecture, I am not directly concerned with any of these attempts I may, how ever, refer to one fact which is perhaps pertinent to our present purpose It is this While HILLEBRANDT identifies Agni Narā. samsa with the dok sina fire LUDWIG thinks that Agn Nara Samsa is to be identified with the ahaianiya fire’ or course, both these views seem to me to be quite unacceptable But here I propose to deal at some length only with the former HILLE BRANDT seems to think that the Rgvedic material is hopelessly unhelpful in the matter of determining the character of Narsamsa He, therefore, makes the later ritual tradition the starting point of his hypothesis The more correct method perhaps consists in first probing into the Rgvedic material thoroughly and then correlating that material with the material derived from the ritual tradition Let us then examine the Rgvedic material It should be noted at the very outset, that, in the RV, one hardly finds emphasised any special relationship between Naraśamsa and Agn: Indeed, the concept of Agni Narāsamsa as such, does not exist in that Veda RV III 29 11 actually implies that Agar and Narasamsa are two separate entities Fren in the Nighantu 10 Narasamsa is given as an independent appellation Narīvamsa 15 twice connected with Pusan (I 106 4 and X 64 3) Hc 15 mentioned in the second verses of four Apri hymns (namely, II 3, V 5, VII 2, and X 70 ) and in the third verses of two Apri 9 10 Dar Rigteda 111, 355-56. V, 1,5284 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS hymns (namely, I 13 and I 142) Incidentally, I may mention that, here, I have not taken into account the distinction made, 10 the Saryanul ramani of Katyavana, between the Apra and the Apri la RV X 92 11, Narasamsa is characterised as caturanga ‘four bodied’, but it is not clear whether, in that passage, caturanga is the epithet of Narāśamsa or of the following divinity Yama Naraśamsa is gnaspati lord of a celestial wife’ (II 38 10) He is honey tongued madhujilna) and an offerer of oblations (havishrt) (I 13 3) and has honey in his hand (V 52) Three times a day, he spriokles the sacrifice with honey (I 142 3) He leads the gods to sacrifice (X 70 2) Among the gods, the greatness of Narusamsa is to be celebrated, for, it is through him that gods come and accept the sacrifice (VII 2 2) Narāśamsa ordains the forms of sacrifice and brings the gods together at the summit of the sacrifice (11 32) The close relationship between Narāśamsa and Brbaspati, as indicated 10 RVI 18 9 and X 182 2, has been already referred to above It will be clear from this brief statement, based on the Rgvedic material, that Narāsamsa is nowhere accompanied by the name Agai, that he is pot connected exclusively with Agni, that no special relationship between Narāśamasa and the Pitars is anywhere indicated, and that, on the other hand he is closely associated with the gods and is mainly responsible for bringiog them to the sacrifice and for making the sacrifice acceptable to them It must also be emphasised that the bynas in which Narasamsa figures prominently, namely, the Apri hymns, relate to animal sacrifice and not to the cult of the Pitars HILLEBRANDT’s interpretation of the name narasamsa as hominum judex or censor is, indeed, too bold The two accen ted word narasamsa is split up into its two elements as dia jana yatayann antar syate nara ca samsam daivyam ca dharları ja RV IX 86 42 and as nara va samsam pusanam agohyam agnim deveddhan abhy arcase gira in X 64 3 ‘That, in these passages, the word nara stands for naram is clearly indicated by another passage helonging to the same category, namely, RV II 34 6 a no brahmani marutah samanyavo naram na samsah savanani ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 285 gantana As a matter of fact, the word camisa conected with narām (or nrnām) occurs in many other passages, such as, I 173 9 and 10, VI 24 2, and III 16 4 Attention may be drawn, in this context, also to the phrase narya Samsa (1 1859) A divinity called Nisainsa, which can be presumed to be identical with Narasamsa, is mentioned in IX 81 5, and, significantly enough, like narasamsa, the word nrśamsa also has two accents In all these passages, narā or narām is subject genitive (and not object-genitive as HILLEBRANDT takes it to be ) This assump tion is confirmed by some other passages where the word samsa is accompanied by undoubted subject genitive forms such as, asmahan (1 94 8), yajamānasja (1 178 4, II 20 7), and mama (1 182 4) As for the element samsa in narasamsa, the 10ital accent would clearly show that the word cannot be an agent poun as HILLEBRANDT assumes What is, however, still more significant for our purpose is that samsa (particularly when it is joined to nara or narām or nrnam), nowhere in the RY, means ‘censor lord’, or ‘adjudicator’ Sansa is derived from the root canis, which originally means nuch more than to praise. It means ’to utter ceremoniously an esoterically work ing magically potent formula! This meaning receives support from many Rgvedic passages such as, 1 21 2,33 7, JIL 3 8, VI 29 4, VII 19 9 The element śmsa in narasamsa is a nomen actiones from this root sams The primary sense of narasamsa is, accordingly, the samsa or the magically potent formula produced by men or priests incidentally it may be pointed out that the interpretation of the word nrfnar in the sepse of priests need not be regarded as strange On the contrary, the use of the word in that sense is historically very significant it is well known that, at one stage in the evolution of the Vedic mythology, with a VicW to counterbalancing the national war god Indra whose growing importance tended to result in martial valour completely super seding priestcraft, the Vedic poct priests created the concept of a god of magically potent mantros, namely, Bṣbaspatt or Brāhmaṇa. spati, and sought to clevate that god to the position of the war god Indra by endowing him with many epithets and accesso TICS usually attributed to the latter Brtaspati or Brāhmaṇaspati 286 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS actually came to be celebrated as being responsible for many of Indra’s exploits Naturally enough, in this new mythological perspective, the persons who were most active in the special domain of Brhaspati Brāhmaṇaspati, namely, the Vedic poet priests, were endowed with an epithet derived from the domain of the war-god lodra, namely, nr/nar The primary sense of narasamsa is the magically potent formula produced by men, that is, priests Narāśamsa then also represented the divine personification of such formula It would now become abundantly clear why Narasamsa is characterised as devānām agrajalā (X 702) and why he is said to make sacrifice acceptable to the gods The sphere of Narāśamsa’s activity is sacrifice to the gods, he is kavi, vipra, and mativid, he is honey tongued, in the Apri hynas, he is mentioned with such essential adjuncts of sacrifice as barhis, yūpa, etc All this would now be in order It may be further pointed out that Narāśamsa is closely associated with Brhaspati pot because both of them are connected with the cult of the Pitars, but because Bçhaspati Brāhmaṇaspati is the lord of the magically potent formula and so is Narāśamsa In the RV, Narasamsa is a living religio mythological concept, which must have originally been independent of the concept of Agni This concept involved two main ideas, namely, (1) of priestly efficacy and (2) of the magically potent formula itself functioning as the duta of the gods These two were also the main ideas, which were originally 10volved in the concept of Agni And it is from this specific point of view that the two originally independent concepts namely, those of Narasamsa and Agni, are brought together The Vedic Narāsa msa has his obvious counterpart in the Avestan Nairyosanha It is true that this pale and insignificant Avestan dividity does not throw any special light on the character of Narasamsa One reference from the Vendidad is, however, of some consequence for our present purpore Vendidad 19 34 reads “The aśa believers unite together, Nairyosanha unites himself with them, the messenger of Ahura Mazdah, that is Nairyosanha " Similarly, Nairyosanhi’s main function sceps to ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 287 have been indicated in Vd 22 7 fr, which says “To Nairyo. sanha spake he, the creator Ahura Mazdah, “O eloquent Nairyosanha, go to the house of Airyaman and convey to him the following message’ In pursuance of this behest, the eloquent Nairyosanha went and conveyed the message to Airyaman " Nairyosanha’s epithet eloquent’ and his service as duta establish that Avestan dividity’s close affinity to Naraśamsa (and also to Agoi) HILLEBRANDT makes great capital of the RV passage X 57 3, mano n a huamahe narasamsena somena / piirnām ca manmabhuih, to support his hypothesis On account of the occurrence of nārāṣamsa, soma, and putrs in close proximity in this rk, he immediately connects it with the rite relating to the nārāsassa camiasa in the Soma sacrifice For whatever ritualistic purpose this hymn may have been prescribed by the later SS, what is here suggested by HILLEBRANDT is quite unwarranted, so far as the Rgvedic evidence is concerned Tradition gives a distinct historical legendary background for the group of the four Gaupayara hymns, namely, X 57-60, and in this background, there is not even a remote hint of a Soma sacrifice King Asa mati of the Iksvākus dismissed thc Gaupāyana brothers, who had held the office of his Purohita, and appointed two incantation experts in their place in great resentment, thic Gaupāyanas practised imprecation against the king Thereupon the two pew Purohias killed Subandhu, one of the Gaupuyana brothers It scems from the present passage, X 37 3, that the remaining three brothers sought to invoke back the spirit of the deceased Subandhu in three ways, namely, by means of narāśamsa or magically potent formula, by means of Soma, and through the prayers of the Pitars As for the evidence derived from the Soma camasas, called Darāśamsas, I should, first of all, like to point out that it is methodologically not correct to utilize later ritual tradition as a primary source for the understandig of the Rgvedic mythology, particularly when the RV itself can provide a fairly helpful amount of material for that purpose Besides, a critical study of the 288 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS mantras and ritual action connected with the rite of the pārāśamsa camasas would seem to show that that rite did not relate to the cult of the Pitars in general It, no doubt, implies a kind of glorification of the Pitars — but not of all the Pitars Only such priestly ancestors are here intended as had, through the grace of god Narāsamsa, mastered the art of narāśamsa or magically potent formulas It should be noted that, in the mantras employed in this connection, such as, upahutā rsayo daivyasas tanūpārānas tanvas tapoja upa nam rayo dawjaso hvayantâm tanūpavānas tanvas tapojah (AsvśS 561) and śrvo me saptarsin upa 11 sthasva (KatSS 9 12 4 ), the rsis or sapta rsayah are specifically mentioned, that the Pitars drinking from the nārāsamsa camasas are called vipra, and that one class from among them is designa ted as kāvya It is perhaps still more noteworthy that, in this context, Soma is characterised as matnud The priests and their rsi-ancestors are supposed to be drinking together from the same camasas, so that the blessing of Narásamsa, which the ancestors had enjoyed, would be available also to the present generation In the complex ritualistic situation implied by the rite of the narasamsa camasas the relationship between Narasamsa and the Pitars corresponds to that between Brhaspati Brahminaspati and the Angirases Those Pitars do not represent manes in general; they rather represent the priestly rsi ancestors like the Angirases Coming now to the nārāsanisis, it must be pointed out that there is no ground whatsoever for the assumption that they em body the praise or glorification exclusively of deceased princes and other distinguished personalities The being dead of these personalities nowhere figures as an essential feature of the nara samsis As a matter of fact, a larger number of these texts relate to living patrons By no stretch of imagination, therefore, can the narasamsis be connected even remotely with the cult of the Pitars We have seen that norāśamsa denotes, on the one hand, magically efficacious formula, and, on the other, the presiding divinity of such a formula It is permissible to assume a further semasiological extension of this word on what may be called a material plane, whereby narasamsa came to mean also the matç ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 289 Tial reward which was made possible by the naraśamsa formula The verses which celebrated these rewards and their donors then came to be designated as nārajamsis The word narasamsa has two accents (cf Panj VI 2 140 ), and this does create some difficulty The fact that norāśansa has two accents and that the first element looks like a dual form have led some scholars to think that narasanusa is a diandia compound, more particularly a devatā diandra Which two divities are designated by this name? In the history of the Vedic studies in the West - particularly of the studies relatiog to the Vedic my thology – at least three distinct currents of thought can be clearly marked out so far as the naturalistic noterpretation of that my thology is concerned According to one current of thought, whose great sponsor may be said to have been MAX MULLER, most of the important mythological concepts in the Veda can be satisfactorily interpreted as representing different variations of the activity of the sun In other words, according to this current of thought, the Vedic mythology is essentially a solar mythology The second school of thought is represented by HILLEBRANDT and, to some extent, OLDENBERG, who are inclined to see in the Vedic mythology a preponderance of the moon god Anthropo. logy has established that in the mythologies of most of the primi. tive peoples the moon plays a more important role than the sun And this, it is asserted, is but what is to be expected According to HILLFBRANDT, the Vedic mythology is no exception to thus rule Then there is the third view, accordiog to which the Veda consists mainly of the myths of thunder and lightning An attempt 15 made to interpret the derara diandva, narážanısa, in the ught of this last view, as representing lightning and thunder 11 The root Sams, it is pointed out, means to announce’, ’to express ceremo Diously, and, then, ’to portend’, ’to prophesy’ The goun samsa would then mean that which prophesies* or ‘a portent’ la the agrarian culture of the Vedic people, the portent which was most anxiously sought was that of cloud and thunder So the word 11 EW FAY, “The Aryan God of Lightning’, 4JP465, 1ff, 290 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS samsa came to denotc cloud and thunder in a rather prominent way It is possible to derive from samsa the sense of cloud or thunder in another way also Thc root sams mcans ’to speak out’, ’to pronouncc loudly, to roar’, the nomen agentis, Samsa, would then mean the roaring one. As for the clement narā, it is to be derived from the root nr / mrt ’to dance’ And in the context of thunder ‘dancing’ is the characteristic feature of lightning The meaning of nr / nar as warrior represents the semantic extension of the root nr / art ’to dance’, in another direction, through the intermediate stage of the concept of war dance Thus the compound narålamisa denotes dancing or leap ing’ and ‘portending or roaring’, or, in other words, lightning and thunder’ Incidentally it is also suggested that the entire compound nara anusa is to be found with its members 10 reverse order, in the Greek namc, Kassandrē. It is hardly necessary to subject the interpretation of nari. śansa as lightning and thunder’ to any serious examination Suffice it to say that it is quite unsustainable both linguistically and conceptually The hypothesis seems to have had its starting point in the consideration of the accent of the word naraśamsa If naraśamsa is a detalā diandia (Panipi VI 2 141 does not regard it as such ), why, it may be asked, is the second member of the compound also not represented in sts dualized form? Even so far as the first member of the compound is concerned, as has been indicated above, the relevant Rgvedic references make it neces sary to understand nará as standing for the genitive plural naram rather than as a nominative dual form The difficulty in inter preting samisa with its initial accent as a nomen agentis has been already mentioned above Conceptually, there is no trace of lightning and thunder in any of the Naraśamsa passages alluded to above One thing cannot, however, be gainsaid, namely, that, in any hypothesis, the accent of narasamsa will remain an irregularity The Apri hymns, which may be characterised as purposeful but obscure conglomerations of mutually not very consistent ritualistic concepts, indeed, constitute a veritable problem in ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 291 Vedic studies To my mind, most of the points, involved in that problem, continue to defy satisfactory elucidation even to this day There are two distinct types of Apri hymns — this distinction being mainly based on the consideration as to which of the two divinitas, Narāśamsa and Tanupapat, is celebrated in their second verses Out of the ten āpri hymos in the RV, four (namely, I 188, III 4, IX 5, and x 110) belong to the exclusive Tanunapāt type, and four (namely, II 3, V 5, VII 2, and X 70 ) to the ex clusive Naraśamsa type, while two (namely, I 13 and I 142) have Tanūnapät celebrated in their second verses and Narasamsa in their third verses It may be presumed that these two types of Apri hymns reflect an ancient schism in the Vedic ritual tradition. We have already studied the concept of Narasamsa Let us now try to find out what Tanunapāt represents, and see whether the fixation of the character of these two, namely, Narāśamsa and Tanūnapät, throws any light on the sclism reflected in the Apri hymos The word, tanīnapal, generally unaccompanied by agmi, occurs eight times in the RV-six of these occurrences being in the Apri hymns The facts that the Nighantu (5 2) regards Tanu napāt as an independent pane, that the concept of Agni Tapu napát, as such, does not exist in the RV, and that, in RV III 4 2 and II 29 II, Tapuna pāt is actually sought to be distinguished from Agni would seem to suggest that, like Narāśamsa, Tanupapāt also originally represented an independent religio mythological concept and that, on account of some essential common point, that concept was brought in close relationship with the concept of Agni Tapunapät is described as beautiful-tongued (X 110 2) He is besought to take the sacrifice to gods (I 13 2) of bim it is said, in RV III 42, that gods, Varuga. Mitra, and Agni, implore him threc times a day, every day In RV III 29 11, where he is sharply distinguished from Matariyan and Narasamsa, he is referred to as asura garbla Depending on RV IX 52, HILLEBRANDT, the advocate of the moon mythology in the Veda, pace regarded Tanunapät as lunar fire, but later gave up that 292 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS hypothesis 12 On the whole, the scanty — and more or less conventional — descriptions of Tanunapāt in the RV are of little help in determiniog his character Later Vedic ritual has a rite called Tanudaptra, at which the officiating priests and the sacri ficer are expected to take oaths of mutual loyalty and help The mantras which are prescribed to accompany the taking up of clarified butter for this site, namely, apataje tva grlınamı pari pataye tva grhnamı tanunapire tia grhnámi, etc, are given in TS I 2 10, and the commentary on this passage explains āpati as prāna, paripati as manas, and tanīnaptr as jātharagni The SPBr, on the other hand, describing the tanunaptra rite, seems to interpret tanūnapat quite differently When the gods took the oath of alliance in the presence of Prajapati, Tanupapāt, the strong one, was the witness And, as the Brāhmana adds (III 4 25) He who blows is Tanunapāt, the strong one He is the superintendent of all beings, within whom he moves as in and out breath So Tanunapat is there regarded as a wind god But, elsewhere, the ŚPBr itself identifies Tapunapat with grisma or the summer-sun It says (I 5 3 10) grismo vai tanunapad grismo hy asam prajānam tandis tapası The TBr (II 6 7) brings Tanuvapat in close relationship with Indra, while the MS (IV 13 2) characterises him as aditeh garbha and bhuvanasya gopa All this material concerning Tarunapāt, which has been derived from the texts relating to the Vedic ritual is as unhelpful from our point of view as the Rgvedic material The name tanūnapat also provides no useful clue Assuming the identity of Tanunapat with Agai, the word tanūnapat is explained as *son of himself’, which implies fire spontaneously generated in wood and cloud According to BERGAIGNE, Tanunapät is the bodily, that is, aurasa, son of the divine father 18 Adverting to the double accent of the word tanūnapar (cf Pānını VI 2 140), FAY, who would regard the Vedic mythology as essentially the mythology of lightning understands tanunapāt as a diandra compound denoting thunder (tanu from the root ran/stan) and lightning 14 This is obviously too far fetched (It may also be 12 VAL II 110 ff 13 LRI II, 99 R 14 Op at. ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 293 pointed out that Pânici VI 2 141 does not regard tanūnapät as a deiatā dvandva) So the original character of Tapunapät re mains vague and uncertain A hypothesis may, however, be hazarded in this connection Whatever the origin of Tapunapāt, it may be assumed that, at somc stage in the evolution of that concept, Tapunapát came to be identified with Agni This may have been due to the recogni tion of the fact that Agoi himself is the seed of Agol, that Agai is his self-son’ This characteristic feature of Agni perhaps became most evident in a sacrifice, where one sacrificial fire is * spread out’ from another As is well known, the Vedic sacrifice 1s constituted mainly of two basic elements, the ritual action and the magical formula relating to that action, or karma and mantra, The ritual action or karma is usually centred round the sacrificial fire and may be symbolized by Tapudapāt And we have already seen that Narāśamsa symbolizes the magically potent mantra Can the two types of Apr hymns be regarded as representing two schools of thought in the Vedic ntual tradition – the Tanunapat school emphasizing the superiority of harma over mantra and the Narāsansa school emphasizing the superiority of manfra over karma ? Unlike the words, narasamsa and taninapát, the word, vaisia. nara, Dever occurs in the RV unaccompanied by the name Agni Yanvānara is found mentioned in fourteen hymns of the RY, of almost all of which Vaisvanara Agai is the devata according to the Anukrananı In the Nighanju (51) also, Vaisyanara is gives as one of the games of Ago! It has been long sisce established that, at some stage in the cvolution of the Vedic mythology, Agni came to be identified with Surya In most of such cases where Surya is conceived of as a form of Agni, it is Vaiśvānara Agai that is specifically intended The small group of hymns, pamely, RV VI 7-9, or verses 10-13 of RV X 88, would place this point beyond any rcasonable doubt, for, in these passages, Agni Varśvānara occurs more or less as a synonym of Surya This conception of Valvānara Agni as Surya is continued also in the Vedic ritual The most usual oblation to Agai Vaizvā294 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS para consists of a sacrificial cake on twelve potsherds (dia daśakapala purorlasa), which is obviously suggestive of the twelve months of the year As the TS (II 25 says yad vaiśianaro dvadaśakapalo bhavati samvatsaro ya agnir vaistanarah 15 And the close relationship between samvatsara and Surya is self evident Further, the pravargya is undoubtedly a tite connected with Surya, and there too Agai Vaisvanara is clearly mentioned The TA (V 10 5) actually says esa va agnir saisvanaro pat pra vargyah A mention may be made in this context, of another ritualistic feature of Vaisvanara Agni, which is particularly signi ficant from our present point of view Vaisvanara Agni and the Maruts are set side by side as representing a prince and his sub jects The TS (IJ 2 5 6) for instance, prescribes vaisianaram diadasakapalam mirvapen marulam saptahapalam graniakamah This connection between Vaiśvānara Agni and the ksatra is fur ther confirmed by the rite relating to the dhrina goblet In the Agnistoma the dhruva goblet is placed on a golden plate and is believed to belong to Vatsvanara This goblet has to be guarded by a royal prince, and a series of ritualistic ceremonies, implyiog the setting aside of the usurper and the restoration of the right. ful ruler is performed in respect of it That, in the TBr (II 2 54) Vaisvanara is referred to as a chariot is also quite suggestive But Agni Vaisvabara is also mentioned in connection with the descent of Agni to the earth (RV III 24, VI 84) In deed, in passages like RV I 59 2, we actually have Vaisvanara represented in two forms as the head of the heaven (mürdha dnal) and as the navel of the earth (nablih priluvah) RV X 88 14 speaks of Vatsvānara as prevailing avastat and parastal This would explaia why in Nir 7 23, Vaisvanara is explained as Surya by the ancient Yajnikas, and as ’this Agni’ by Śakapuni ( with whom incidentally, Yaska himself seems to agree) Vaisvā. nara is in a few passages mentioned in juxtaposition with Surya (cf RVI 98 1) and, in one passage (IV 14 11 ), the MS speaks of voisvanaram bibhrarı bhumih 15 Also ace TS I 5 11 A LI> OF AGNINI ULL JI . Agar Vanvīnara, accordiogly, does not seem to have been conceived by the Vedic poet as belonging to any particular region, As has been pointed out in RI’ VII 5 4, the thrcefold world, the heaven and the earth, follost the ordinance of Varsvānara Agni fara frıdhatu prihni uta djanr jaisvanara Tratam agno sacanta Vanvānara Agai thus represents a mythological concept which transcends the frequently mentioned triple character of Agi Vaby para Agni is, verily, the Agai who pertains to all men It may be remembered that there are many Agnis men tioned in the RV- Agni of Drvodās and Agni of Vadhryaśva, and Agni of the Bharatas and Agni of the Kausikas Similarly, in the diesta we have athar burzin (fire of the agriculturists ), athar guśasp (fire of the warriors) and athar fra fire of the priests) But this is Agnu Vaisvānara, the Agnt of all men ! It has been suggested above that the two originally inde pendent divinities, namely, Narāsamsa and Agni, are brought together in close relationship on account of certain common characteristics which they share The basic concept underlying Narāśamsa is that of the magically potent formula, which attracts the gods towards itself, which, in other words, leads the gods to the sacrifice and makes the sacrifice acceptable to them in a sense, therefore, Naraśamsa functions as an efficient intermediary beta ween men and gods He is the duta or envoy serving, in a variety of ways, as a necessary connecting link between the gods and the sacrifice It is exactly this character as an intermediary between men and gods, as a dura, as a priest who makes the sacrifice efficacious, which is the most basic character of the Rgvedic Agar It needs to be emphasised, over and over again, that the Vedic mythology is, in essence, by no means naturalistic Tliat is to say, the personification of natural powers and nhenomena must not be regarded as the starting point of the genesis of the Vedic gods It is not as if the Vedic people derfied the natural clcmcnt of fire and thereby produced the mythological concept of Vedic Agni History of religion clearly shows that a specific religio mythological concept originates independently in a specific cu ral environment, and it is only at some later stage, and as 296 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS after-thought, that that concept is associated with some natural phenomenon of course such wedding of a religio mythologie cal concept to a phenomenon of nature does not necessarily occur in every case In a sense, naturalism is the result of a kind of poetic operation Natural phenomena are thought of merely as suitable symbols’, through which religio mythologi. cal concepts can be effectively expressed These concepts evolve independently before they are thus brought into entirely extraneous relationship with patural powers and phenomena The fact that one and the same dividity is often connected with several natural phenomena is very significant in this context For, it only shows that a single religio mythological concept can be ex pressed through different symbols’ Naturalism is thus entirely secondary (except in respect of a few ’elemental’ dividities ), and ought never to be made the starting point of a mythological study It is often said that the character of the Vedic god Agni is most transparent It is thereby suggested that, since Agai merely represents the divine personification of the natural element of fire and since fire is so closely related to human life there is hardly anything beyond that element of fire that one can and needs to know in the Rgvedic mythology concerning Agni A critical study of that mythology, on the background of the study of the history of religion in general, would, however, clearly show that the concept of Agni must have originally developed in complete isolation from the natural element of fire It was only seconda rily, and as an after thought, that it was brought in relationship with fire symbolism Had Agnt represented just a deification of the natural phenomenon of fire, that phenomenon having been so close to man, we would have been justified in expecting to find the counterparts of the Vedic Agni in the mythologies at least of all the Indo European peoples But actually we do not find them It is not my intention, in this lecture, to elucidate this my view point any further I shall only repeat that the natural ele ment of fire could not have been the starting point of the Agoje mythology in the Veda One of the main strands in the basic ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 297 concept underlying that mythology is, to put it in simple terms, the notion of a priest, of an efficient and ever-active intermediary between gods and men, of a dūla, of a purolira, revij, and hotr. The nature and functions of a data and a priest are of course manifold, and they are sought to be represented through the Agni-mythology in many ways. One of the most significant mythological motifs, in this con nection, is the close relationship between Agni and the Angirases. In nearly all the passages where the word arigiras occurs in the singular, it is an epithet of Aggi. Agai is the first Angiras (1. 31. 1): fram agne prathanio arigirah. He is also the ancient Angiras pūrvo angirah (X. 92. 15), or the oldest of the Angi rases arigirasain jyestha (I. 127.2), or the most inspired among them vepistho arigirasām (VI. 11.3). In RV I. 75. 2 and many other passages, Agni is, indeed, referred to as angirastama. I do not propose here to go into the details of the history of the Aigirases. The Angirases are evidently an ancient historical clan, and, in view of many families of the Rgvedic seers as also individual rsis claiming relationship with the Angirases, BERGAIGNE seems to be right when he speaks of “a whole common primitive liturgy of the Angirases “.18 To the Angirases certainly belongs a distinct, and, in many cases, unique, tradition of cult and mythology. The strikiog rivalry of the Angirases with the Adityas, their ritualistic innovations, such as, arigirasām ayang and dvirätra, and angirast agniciti and argirasi raśanā, their undisputed mastery over ghora or abhicára rites, their much celebrated tapas, their successful operations against the Paris - all this has endowed the Angirases with a position peculiarly their Own. The Angirases represent, according to the Veda, a kind of deified ur-priests - they are the hallowed ancestors of the entire priest-community. Accordingly, they are also regarded as the most efficacious dūlas or envoys. Indeed, it is this latter aspect of their character which is stressed through their game. There is little doubt that the word argiras is to be philologically connected 16. Rich. sur l’histoire de la lit. Vid., 192, 1… 1. 38 298 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS with the Persian loan word in Greek, namely, aggaros, which means “a riding Persian postal messenger’ Herodot (VIII 98) speaks about the necessary qualities of the aggareion (which latter is obviously a Persian word) Aischylos ( Ag 273 ) refers to the sigoal fire, by means of which destiny was announced to Ilion’s home, as aggaron pūr 17 It may, therefore, be presumed that the Greek word aggeros (aggello), meaning ‘messenger’, is related, from very early times, to the Aryan words, Vedic angıras and Persian Greek aggaros From Greek, that word was borrowed in Latin ( where it became angelus ), in Gothic (where it became aggilus ), and in Celtish (where it became aingel) Other Germanic languages then took it over from Gothic, and we have engel in new high German, Danish, Swedish and Dutch, angel in English, and angele in old French The angels are the messengers of gods - they are the intermediaries between gods and men And that is also one aspect of the basic character of the Angi rases Naturally enough, Agni, who is regarded as the priest cum intermediary par excellence, is most appropriately designated as angırastama This interpretation of the word angiras, derived from a philological consideration of that word, receives confirmation from another source in close proximity with the Angirases is mentioned in the RV another group of ancient priests and seers, namely, the Navagvas Like the Angirases, the Nayagvas also are called our old fathers - nah purie pitarah (VI 22 2) Like the Angirases, again, the Navagvas play a very prominent role in the winning of the cows held in confinement by the Panis (I 62 3-4, V. 45 7, X 108 8) The word navagia has been explained in a variety of ways For instance, it has been suggested, on the analogy of the seven rsis, that the Navagvas are the priests going in a set of nine As an artificial extension of this concept of the Navagvas, the Vedic poets then thought of the Dasagvas (or those priests who went about in 2 set of ten) With the help of these Daśagvas, who, like the Navagvas, are closely associated with the Angirases (X 62.6), 17. GUENTERT, Der arische Idlilonig und Haland, 283 ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 299 Indra is said to have successfully fought Vala (I 624) BLOOM FIELD understands the Navagyas and the Daśagvas as being the priests, who respectively win as daksinā nipe and ten cows apięce 18 According to a third view, the Navagvas and the Daßagvas are priests, who are experts in the matter of sacrifices extending over Dine or ten days This entire play on numbers, however, looks suspicious From such Rgvedic words as etagva and anthgva, it seems certain that the element -gra in naragia is to bc derived from the root sam The element nava, in that case has to be understood 10 the sense of new’ or ’ newly’ One is reminded, in this context, of Latio nuntius, which, as is well known, may go back to nouo-uenn os (with the haplological shortenipg of the syllable), meaning “coming as a new one. More or less similarly is also formed the old high German, nu chomo 19 The compound, nava gva, would thus rfean going or coming as a new one’-semasiologically further extended to mean ‘a new comer’, one who arrives newly and as such brings in fresh tidings and reports’, ‘a messenger’, or an envoy’ In other words, naragia ss, in a sepse, a close synonym of angıras However, people soon lost sight of this original sense of the word naragva (and also of angiras), Navagva, like Angiras, became a proper noun In view of the concept of the seven rsrs, the element nava came to be interpreted as pine, and the Navagvas came to deoote the priests going 1D ride. The word daśagia was then artificially coined by way of an analogous extension of the word naiagra It is, indeed, significant that the Navagvas also are closely associated with Ago (cf so this context RV VI 6 3) in RV III 39 5 sakha lia jaira sahhibhir naragrair abhuñva sallabhır gā anugman, the word navagra seenis to have been used in its original sense It should be further noted that, while, in this passage, the Dalagvas are mentioned as being ’top’, thc Navagras occur with out any such numerical specification Indra is here said to have echicycd, with the help of the Navagvas (and the Dasagvas ), 18 JAOS 16 cxxv, 17 PA 17, 426 19 GUENTERT, Opal 201. 300 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS what he is usually described as achieving with the help of the Angirases, namely, the freeing of the cows and the finding out of the sun One of the commonest features of the Agni mythology is the emphasis placed in the RV on the triple character of Agni. It is, indeed, asserted that no cosmological fact is more frequently alluded to in the RV than this three fold division of fire There are as many as seventy passages in that Veda, where this division is referred to with or without some form of the numeral ’three’, RV III 20 2, for instance speaks of Agni’s three powers, his three tongues, and his three bodies agne tri te vajina tri sadhastha tisras te jihā rajata purvih/ tisra u te tanvo devavātās tabhir nah pahı giro aprajucchan // In RV III 29, gods are said to have purified three kindlings (sandhah) of Agni, of these, one they assigned to man (martye) for enjoyment, and two went to the sister world (u lokan jamım) Threefold, indeed, are the births of Agni, according to RV IV 1 7 trir asya fa parama santı satya spārha devasya janimany agneh RV X 45 I says First, Agni was born in the heaven, the second time, from us, and the third time, he was born among the waters divas para prathamam jajñe agnir asmad dvitiyam pari atayı dah/ trdijam apsu nrmana gjasrani indliana enam jarate svaduh// Elsewhere, the order of Agais abodes is given as heaven, earth, and waters (VII 44. 16, X 27, X 46 9) or as ocean, heaven, and waters (I 95 3) It is usually believed that the three forms of Agni are Surya in the heaven, Agni on the earth, and lightning in waters Terrestrial and solar fire, as being permanent and appearing every day, were paturally regarded as the first and the second forms, while ys Geeting and 125er warfes tation was looked upon as the third Incidentally, it has been suggested by MACDONELL that this threefold nature of Agni, so clearly recognised in the RV, IS probably the prototype not only of the posterior triad of Sun, Wind, and Fire ( VIII 18 9), which is spoken of as distributed in the three worlds (cf X 158 1), but also of the triad of Sun, ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 301 Indra, and Fire, which though not Rgvedic, is still ancient 20 Here, according to MACDONELL, Vata or Väyu and Indra have taken the place of Agni Vaidyuta the lightning Agni, as the Brāhmaṇas and the comnientators call him There is in the RV, a divinity called Apām Napāt which is celebrated in one whole hymn (II 35), is jovoked in two verses of a fymp to the waters (X 30 344) and is mentioned by name nearly thirty times altogether in that Veda 21 Three disttoctive features of the nature of that divinity are supposed to have been clearly brought out from the descriptions in the RV, namely, dwelling and concealment in the waters, swiftness, and fierincss These are the essential features also of lightning It is therefore, presumed that Apum Napat is a divinity of lightning Now the facts such as that Agnt is sometimes directly referred to as Apām Napāt II 143 1. VS 8 24 ) and Apām Napát is inı oked as Agoi ( II 35 15) that Agni is characterised as apām garbha (III 1 12-13, VIT 9 3 ) and that he is also called adreh sūnu *son of the rock’ (X 20 7 ) seem to suggest that the Vedic poet thought of Agni and Apām Napāt as being identical The conclusion then becomes irresistible that Apām Napat is the name given to Agni as produced from the waters in the form of lighting In other words Apam Napat represents the third or the lightning form of Agni MACDONELL who strongly advo cates this view, further says that the Vedic god Trita also is no other than the third or the lightning form of Agar 22 That Tnta is a dividity of lightning is MACDONELL believes, supported by all the Rgvedic passages relating to him Lightoing is the chief agent in the thunderstorm and its manifestation precedes the release of the heavenly waters According to MACDONELL, It is thus a matter of course that Trita should be associated with Indra in the conflict with the drought fiend He is further naturally identified with the celestial steed the personification of lightning as having in the highest degree the quality most distinc 20 MACDONELL, Vedic Alythology 93 21 MACDOVELL, Opat, 69 22 JRAS 1B93 467 fr 302 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS tive of horse His connection in this character with the Maruts and the rain-cloud, his thundering and his descent to the earth are po less clear Trita’s relation to Agni is quite obvious, indeed, he is actually identified with Agni Like Trita, Agou also is frequently associated with Indra Similarly the celestial steed is brought in close relationship with Agni Agni’s epithet virahan and his connection with the Maruts also need to be noted in this context Now, since Agni has a lightning form this identification of Trita with Agni must be regarded as referring to that form The exclusive epithet of Trita, namely Āptya, (from ap / ap “water’) is quite significant in this connection, for, it confirms the essential identity between Trita Āptya and Agni Apām Napat The two divinities have this feature, namely, of being born of waters, in common, and it is shared by no other divinity H W MAGOUN also emphasizes the original lightning character of Apām Napāt 23 But, according to him, Apām Napāt Tepresents a form of lightning which is different from the one represented by Agn Following KAEGI and BLOOMFIELD, MAGOUN asserts that there can be no doubt that Agni is originally a god of lightning the lightning that strikes and leaves fire behind it But he adds that the fact that Agpi still retains his character as lightning in parts of the RV is, of itself no reason for identifying him wuth Apām Napat According to him, while Agni is lightning - probably the blinding flash - and fire (and later the sun also ) Apam Napāt is lightning in its most remarkable and conspicuous form, namely, the distant descending bolt, the fascinating and awe-inspiring ‘chain lightning’, which, like a molten stream of fire, seems to reach from heaven to earth This is “the swift horsed, the tall and shining lord” of the Avesta, and this is also the Vedic god who, erect, clothed with light, betakes himself to the bosom of the oblique ones” and “ whom stallions swift as thought, convey” According to MAGOUN, it is sufficiently clear that the country to the north of the Hindu Kush and to the east of the Caspian is a region of 23 JAOS 19, 137 ff ,4JPh 21, 274 ff ASPECTS OF AGNI-MYTHOLOGY 303 fearful thunderstorms That the phenomena observed in storms of this kind should not excite the religious imagination of such a people as the Indo-Iranians is hardly to be thought of How did the Inda-Iranians worship the lightning? MAGOUN says that it was in three ways firstly, as a smrtiag fire god, the Vedic Agni Vr̥trahan, secondly, as a wonderful and brilliant child of waters, Apám Napāt, who personified the phenomenon of chain lighting, and, lastly, as a heavenly manifestation, to which, for lack of a befter name, they gave the title Third, that is Vedic Trita, who is probably to be recognized in the highly anthropomorhic Avestan Thraetaona Āthwia Three main points emerge out of the fore-going hypothesis (1) that Agni and Apām Napat are identical, (2) that the original character of Apām Napāt is that of a lightning divinity, and (3) that, therefore, that divinity is to be identified with the lightning form of Agni Incidentally, in fairness to MAGOUN whose view has been referred to above, it must be added that it is only the second of these points which he emphasizes While trying to controvert these points, I should like to be gin by stating that, in the RY, Agni and Apām Napāt are hardly anywhere properly identified An analysis of the Apam Napāt passages would prove quite revealing in this connection These passages may be broadly classified in four groups To begin with, there are passages in which the existence of Apám Napāt as an independent divinity is clearly established For instance, the only entire hymn that is addressed to Apām Napāt, namely, II 35, belongs to this class Although the final verse of this hymn (II 35 15) meptions Agni, it has apparently nothing to do with the rest of the hymn and is obviously a later addition made for the sake of the refrain Then there are references to Apām Napät in other hymns, mostly in the hymns to All gods (cf II 31 6, VI 50 13, 52 14, VII 35 13, X 92 13) Agni also is mentioned in these hymns, but quite separately from Apām Napät And there is nothing in these hymns which might even remotely imply the identity of these two divinities Thirdly, there are passages in which Apām Napāt is clearly distinguished from Agni One304 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS such passage is VI 13 3, where Agni, the wise one, the Order-born, united with Apām Napāt, is said to make the sage prosper with riches sa satpath savasa hantı yrtram agne vipro vi paner bharti vājam / jam tam praceta rtajata rāyā sajosa naptra ‘pām hunosi // The phrase sajosa naptrā apam leaves no doubt whatever that Ago and Apīm Napat were originally two different divinities As against this, there are passages — only two in number — where Agni is directly referred to as Apām Napāt In III 9 1, a hymn to Agni, napalam is used in apposition to a pronoun of the second person, which is repeated in the following stanza, where Agni is addressed by name Again, in the first verse of I 143, also a hymn to Agni, napät is an apposition to a relative pronoun, whose antecedent is agnaye 24 But, in view of the fact that, in I 22 6, Savits also is called Apām Napät, these two passages would seem to lose much of their probative value They have to be regarded as merely reflecting the tendency, which is special in respect of Agni, namely, of being identified with many gods By way of a diversion it may be mentioned here that the fact that Agni is said to assume forms of many gods (cf III 20 3) has been stressed by GUERINOT to prove his theory that Agni is the ur god 26 Now reverting to the point under discussion, I shall repeat that an analysis of the Apām Napāt passages in the RV indicates not only that Agni and Apānı Napāt are not identified with each other in that Veda but also that they are regarded as two essentially different divinities A critical consideration of the descriptions of Apām Napát in the RV would further place it beyond doubt that not only are Agni and Apām Napāt not identical but the essential character of Apām Napāt also is not that of a lightning divinity Apim Napat is characterised as radya bora of rivers’ (135 1) The beaming waters are said to stand round about the beaming, shin jog Apām Napat tam u sucim sucaj o didnamsam apam napalam pari tasthur apah (JI 35,3) The not pouting young purifying 24 25 Also cf VS 8 24 Rech sør I ongine de lider de dieu d après le Rig Veda, Paris, 1900 ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 305 waters stream about him, the young one, with mighty splendour, he richly shines with no need of Kindlings, clothed in ghee, in the waters tam asmerā zinatayo juānam marmrjyamanah pari yanty āpah / sa fuhrebluh sikvabli revad asme didaya ’nıdhmo ghrtanirnig apsu (II 35 4) Apām Napāt shines forth within the waters, for the giving of good to the worshipping one (II 35 7) The theme of II 35 10 is the golden colour of Apāın Napāt There is a reference in II 35 11 to the countenance, to the dear secret name, and to the food of Apan Napāt tad asya ’nikam uta cāru nāmā ‘picyam vardhate naptur apam / jam indhate yurvatajah sam Itthā hranyavarnam ghrtam annam asya In VII 47 2, the waters are called upon to see that Apam Napāt, the horse-driving one, advances their wave which is most sweet tam urmim ,po madhumattamam 1o ‘pam napád a alv āśuhemā In X 30 3, Apām Napāt is implored to give the priests the beautifully clarified wave (ürmı), while in the next verse lie is spoken of as one who shines within the waters with no peed of kindlings, whom the inspired call upon at sacrifices yo andimo didayad apsv antar yam viprāsa ilate adhivaresu He is there asked also to give the sweet waters with which Indra grows strong for his heroic deeds apām napan madhumatir apo da jabhir indro avrdhe viryaya In X 30 14, the priests are asked to deposit the waters in harmony with Apām Napát on the sacrificial grass ni barlısı dhattana somjaso ‘pām naptrā sanıyıdanasa enāh It will be seen that, in all these passages, it is essentially the aqueous (or watery) character of Apam Napát that is empha sized, rather than the igneous (or fiery) character There are some references in these passages, which are suggestive of light but not of fire, of shining’ but not of burniog’ Besides, many of these references, it should be noted, arc purcly conventional, they are such as may be made to relate to any Vedic god What is perhaps far more significant from our present point of view is that, in none of tbese and other passages, is Apām Napát asso. ciated with clouds’ as such Surely, the concept of lightning is difficult to comprehend without a mention of the thunderbolt Lightniog, it must be remembered, is 1 child of thundering clouds, 39 306 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS rather than of waters (even if these latter are understood as rain waters) Actually one feels inclined to think that the waters with which Apām Napāt is associated are not rain-waters at all Indeed, the descriptions of Apām Napāt are generally too mild to be regarded as reflecting the phenomenon of lightning and thunderbolt I have already said that the starting point of the Agni-mytho logy in the Veda is by no means the natural element of fire The basic misconception that Agni exclusively represents fire is here unduly extended to suggest that one form of Agni camely, Agni in waters represents lightning The tendency to see in the Vedic mythology the mythology of thunder and lightning, which was once very prominent, is mainly responsible for this extension of notions When a Vedic poet speaks of Agol in water, he is giving expression to a thought which lives in itself, which is self evident, he is not repeating something which had become un understandable It must surely be a thought pertaining to some thing other than lightning Without going into any details, I may suggest that the relationship between Agni and waters is closely connected with the relationship between water and plants Rgvedic passages such as I 70 3 145 5, X 4 5, 51 3 etc, are highly suggestive in this context Perhaps much more suggestive are the passages VII 93 apam garbhah prasva å viveśa, the embryo of the waters has entered into the sprouting plaats, VIII 43 9 apsv agne sadlis tava sau ‘sadhir ann rudly ase, in the waters, O Agni, is your station, you grow up in the form of plants In the Avesta, we have the counterpart of Vedic Apām Napát The Avestan Apām Napat is clearly a spirit of waters, he lives in the depth of waters and is usually invoked with them He is rich in rapid steeds (which seem to represent the billowing waves) and controls the distribution of water over the earth Yasht 19 51 says “This glory got the start upto the sea Vourukasha Straightaway Apám Napāt, whose steeds are swift, seized it, and this was the wish of Apam Napāt, whose steeds are swift I shall seize this glory, the unattainable, at the bottom of the deep sea, at the bottom of the profound lakes” And Yasht ASPECTS OF AGVI-VIYTHOLOGY 307 19,52 continues “We praise the lofty, fordly Apām Napīt, (genus) of women, brilliant, whose steeds are swift, virile, hearing prayer, who created men, who shapxd men, the angel beneath the waters, who hath the most attentive car when he is praised » According to ashe S 4. “from Apām Napat doth come the seed (cihrem) ” The epithet Khsatlırım, which is used in the Aresta exclusively with reference to Anim Napīt, is very significant in this content On the basis of translations like Sanskrit srāmi narinam (Or strirani ), the meaning of Xhcathrin is fixed as “lord of women’. This may then bt regarded as an evidence that the divinity in question is “the symbol of the fructifying principle contained in the waters’ Incidentally it must be emphasized that it is wrong to presume that the primitive peoples were incapable of abstract symbolism or that their symbolism was often startlingly realistic We may, therefore, conclude from the passages, which have been quoted above, and similar other passages that the Avestan Apun Napat has nothing to do with fire or lightning, but that he basically represents & water divinity – perhaps the divinity which symbolises the fructi fying principle contained in waters Evidence from the Vedic ritual also does not seem to support the identification of Apam Napät with Agni For instance, RV X 30 (which is one of the two liymns relating to Apām Napit) is prescribed to be employed in the nites which have to do with water and not fire The hymn is more or less unified in character so far as its subject matter is concerned, and it is to be recited by the Hotę at the fetching of water for sacrifice There is prescribed in connection with this rite also an offering to be made to Apām Napāt in water The mantra prescribed for this offering is VS 6 27 deyir āpo apām napad jo ia irmur hansja indriyavān madintamah/tam deveblyo devatra darta Stihrapebhyo jesam bhaga stha siaha Apam Napāt is invariably invoked to promote proper dispensation of water He plays an important role in the Kārlrisn, which is intended as a riturl for rain (cfTS II 481) It is also significant that, according to Kaiss 23 4 14, the prajaścitia rite, prescribed in the event of the sacrificial animal 308 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS dying in water, consists of an oblation of cooked rice to Apām Napāt 26 Thus, the lightning hypothesis does not receive any support from any Vedic evidence of a primary character It is only secondary sources, such as the commentary on TS IV 14 or the ritual of what may be characterised as adbhuta type, which at all mention lightning Anthropological and ethnographical materials such as have been brought forth by TYLOR (Anfang der Kultur ), BRINTON (Religions of Prunime Peoples ), LANG (Mythes, cultes et reli gion), and CROOKE ( Popular Religion) also point to the fact that lightning was never concieved of as an independent divinity by any primitive people Even in ancient saga literature, light ning is mentioned very rarely, if at all It may be presumed that the unsteady nature of lightning does not favour its development into a full fledged divinity Three points have thus become quite clear, namely, (1) that Agni and Apām Napat are not identical, (2) that the essential character of Apām Napät is not that of a lightning dividity, but that he is a divinity related to water and (3) that Agni’s asso ciation with water by no means represents his lighting form So far as the Agni mythology was concerned, the discussion about Apam Napāt might as well be concluded here But I shall throw out one suggestion Apām Napat was basically a diyoity of an ancient water cult, and, at some stage in the evolution of the Vedic mythology, this water cult was brought into relationship, on the one hand, with the cult of Agni (as the result of a confusion of symbolisms) and, on the other, with the cult of Soma (by way of a religio mythological extension) Indeed, if Apām Napāt was at all to be regarded as being close to any other significant mythological concept in the Veda, it would certainly not be Agai, it would be Soma 1 Attention may finally be drawn to one more peculiar feature of the Agni mythology in the Veda It will be observed that no 26 c aponaplnyo ‘psu mrle ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 309 counterpart of the name Agoi as such exists in any other Indo European language The connection of the word agni with Latin ignis, Slavonic ognis, and Lithuanian ugnis is uncertain At any rate, these latter words never became appellations of any diyre pities, nor did they become centres of any religious cults As a matter of fact, there does not seem to have developed, in early times, any regular fire cult among the Indo European peoples other than the Vedic Indians and the ancient Iranians There were, no doubt, the two feminine divinities – the Greek Hestia and the Roman Vesta We are not here concerned with the question whether Vesta is a mere borrowing from Greece as KRETSCHMER suggests?? or whether she is essentially Roman as assumed by Warde FOWLER28 and FARNELL 29 What is relevant for our purpose is that these divinities are not associated with the fire of any developed cult of sacrifice, they are associated only with the fire of the hearth Even then, they must not be under stood as being related to sacra privata (as against sacra publica) There are, however, clear indications that a regular cult of sacrificial fire had developed among the Vedic Indians and the ancient Iranians Presumably, this cult developed during the common Aryan period, that is to say, during the period when the ancestors of the Vedic Indians and the ancient Iraniaas lived together in the region round about Balkh, before their further threefold migration, namely, to Saptasındbu, to Iran, and to Mitaani,30 and when such religio mythological concepts as those of Asura Ahura and Soma Haoma were also evolved And, whatever the original character of Vedic Agni, there is little doubt that he soon came to be regarded as the centre of that cult so far as Indra was concerned There are many common points in the 27 Gesch der griech Sprache 162 ff 28 Religious Experience of the Roman People, 73-79 29 Cultus of Greek Slales V, 364 30 (I have slightly modified my carlier VICw in the regard I now tunk that the migration to M tagni ( Anatolia) must have been latted to a few groups of adventurers from among the ancestor of the Vedic Indians and that this migration must have occurred afier the separation of the Ira. Duan Aryans and the Indian Aryans ] 310 VEDIC MYTHOLOGICAL TRACTS sacrificial ritunl of the Vedic Indians and the ancient Iranians, though, it may be incidentally pointed out, the Vedic ritual ex hibited, in course of time, very complex and claborate ramifica tions This being so, it is rather strange that a linguistic counter part of such a common Vedic word as agni should not occur prominently in the Avestan language 31 The Avestan cult which corresponds to the Vedic Agni cult centres round Āthar And it us interesting to notc that a form closely related to the Avestan word athar occurs in the RV, in a solitary instance, namely, Vedic atharyu, which is an epithet of Agni (cf vil 1 1) It has been rightly pointed out that the word atharyu is related to the word atharian in the same way as riajul, suninaju, and yaj u are related respectively to rtavan, suminävan, and yajvan 12 Accordingly, *arhar 1 to be regarded as the hypothetical base from which derivatives atharyu and athan an are formed There can be little doubt that this bypothetical Vedic *athar is the same as the Ave. stan athar Athar, it may be presumed, denotes a religio magi cal fluid or potence (more or less similar to asu,93 the only difference perhaps being that asn is a cosmic concept while athar is a ritualıṣtıc one) According to the peculiar primitive ideo logy, the sacrificial fire is looked upon either as possessing such magica) potence (atharyu ) or as itself being that magical potence (athar) - both the notions implying the same thing in the ulti mate analysis Atharvan is then the priest who is believed to possess such religio magical potence But Agni himself is some times called Atharvan (cf VIII 9 7) This is similar to what we have already seen, namely, that the Angirases are priests but that Agni also is called Angiras The interpretation of athar, which has been given here, seems to receive confirmation from another Vedic passage in the eighth verse of RV IV 6, which is an Agni hymn, Agni, instead of being called atharyu, is referred to as atharyo na dania–“like the 31 Incidentally at may be noted that the name Agni docs not occur even on the Mitanni tablets 32 OLDENBERG Noten II, 1-2 33 Sec Asura Varuṇa’, publ shed elsewhere in this Volume ASPECTS OF AGNI MYTHOLOGY 311 taoth of a certain female animal, which is supposed to embody the athar potencc " Various views have been put forth on the question as to which particular animal is intended here For 10 stancc, PISCHEL suggests that the animal must be the elephant 34 Some scholars, on the other hand, think of a wild boar, while others of a hrsnamrgi But, evidently, the animal referred to 10 this context must be one which belongs to the sphere of some ancient cult Such a one could very well be a horse The facts that the mare Vispalā is called atları (I 112 10), that Dadhyan Atharvana is supposed to have had a horse head, and that the horse plays an important role in such rites as the pra argja and the agnicılı seem to support such an assumption As is well known, at one stage in the history of ancient India, sacrifice became the symbol of the Vedic Aryan culture and Agni came to be recognised as the symbol of sacrifice In this sense, Agni was often regarded as the central character in the great drama of the Aryan expansion in India This is, for instance, what we scc in the legend of Gotama Rābūgana and Videgha Mäthava, who, according to ŚPBr I 4 1 10 ff, were the pioneers of the Aryanisation of Eastern India as I sometimes think that, in this historical context, Agoi se assumed, as it were, his original role It has been already pointed out that Agn was ongioally conceived as dūra, as the covoy of the gods, as the Successful intermediary between gods and men la historical times, Agni again became duia, the envoy of Vedic culture, the vanguard of Aryanisation, the successful intermediary between the Aryans and the non Aryans [ First publiskeel. JOID 11, 1009, 317-370 ] 33 rd Stud I, 99 This u presumably on account of the meation of Luna 35 CT tidegh ha michang ‘ston ra lurah muhr boshiro LIM go amo 462:18 purohila Wa It is, indeed, son ficant that the Agni in this connection should have been ansvara Agru Sec nepro