Released from long imprisonment, descend
In torrents to the earth, and swollen rivers,
Foaming and rolling to their ocean home,
Proclaim the triumph of the Thunderer.
Let us proceed next to the all-important Vedic deity Agni, god of fire/ especially of sacrificial fire. I propose now to paraphrase a few of the texts which relate to him :
Agni, thou art a sage, a priest, a king,
Protector, father of the sacrifice.
Commissioned by us men thou dost ascend
A messenger, conveying to the sky
Our hymns and offerings. Though thy origin
Be threefold, now from air and now from water,
Now from the mystic double Arani 1 ,
Thou art thyself a mighty god, a lord,
Giver of life and immortality,
One in thy essence, but to mortals three ;
Displaying thine eternal triple form,
As fire on earth, as lightning in the air,
As sun in heaven. Thou art a cherished guest
In every household father, brother, son,
Friend, benefactor, guardian, all in one.
Bright, seven-rayed god ! how manifold thy shapes
Revealed to us thy votaries ! now we see thee,
With body all of gold, and radiant hair
Flaming from three terrific heads, and mouths
Whose burning jaws and teeth devour all things.
Now with a thousand glowing horns, and now
Flashing thy lustre from a thousand eyes,
Thou rt borne towards us in a golden chariot,
Impelled by winds, and drawn by ruddy steeds,
Marking thy car s destructive course, with blackness.
Deliver, mighty lord, thy worshippers.
Purge us from taint of sin, and when we die,
Deal mercifully with us on the pyre.
Burning our bodies with their load of guilt,
But bearing our eternal part on high
To luminous abodes and realms of bliss,
For ever there to dwell with righteous men.
Two pieces of the wood of the Ficus religiosa used for kindling fire.
