God research: 6. Agni

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni
#/media/File:Agni_god_of_fire.jpg

It's been a while since I've wrote something new, but I have a reason for it. I spent almost the whole week with my boyfriend and wanted every moment to count. We won't be able to see each other much anymore, because he's starting a new job. It will only be part time for now, but I have my own job too. Besides, travelling has also become a lot more expensive. To be honest, I feel really bad about it all and I already miss him a lot. But maybe I can try to write a little more just to get my mind of off things. So for today I wanted to discuss Agni.

Agni is a god of the Hinduism. He is depicted with either two or three heads and two to four arms. He usually has a beard and a halo of flames leaping upward, but always has a red skin. Agni often rides a wagon pulled by horses or rides a ram. He mainly is a fire god and is also one of the most important gods from the Rigveda. In Sanskrit, the word 'agni' means 'fire', which looks a lot like the Latin word 'ignis'.

In Hinduism, Agni is a Deva, which roughly translates to 'deity' or 'godlike'. His twin brother is Indra, another very important god. This means he is the son of Dyaus Pita and Prthivi (and I have no idea how to pronounce that!). But there are other versions in which he is a son of Kasyapa and Adjti, or the son of a queen who kept her pregnancy a secret from her husband. Agni is also seen as the son of heaven and earth en would have been conceived from the sun or from lightning.

According to ancient Hindu, Agni exists at three levels. On earth he is fire, in the atmosphere he is lightning and in the sky he is the sun. This makes him a messenger between the gods and the humans. But that is not the only way he is a messenger.

As a fire god, he stands for more than just one kind of fire. The most important, however, the sacrificial fire. During rituals in temples or even at home, food will be sacrificed in fire and Agni will be asked to bring it all to the gods. But he also stands for the hearth, cooking fire at home, the fire of cremation, even the fire in the stomach, and many more.

Stories

Agni and Brighu

One of the seven great sages, Maharishi Brighu, had a wife who was called Puloma. At some point, she was pregnant and Brighu went to take a bath. When he was gone, a rákshasha (a being with demonic powers) came by and sew Puloma. He was so attracted to her that he lost his sense of reason. To make things worse, the father of Puloma had promised her to the rákshasha way back. But later he offered her to Brighu in the presence of Agni. The rákshasha then burned a sacrificial fire and asked Agni to whom Poluma truly belonged. Agni could not answer this because both a lie and the truth would cast a curse upon him, so he stayed silent. But the rákshasha did not give up and eventually Agni responded and told him that Puloma rightfully belonged to Brighu. The rákshasha then turned into a boar on took Puloma away. Her child became enraged, came out of the mothers body and defeated the rákshaka. But when Brighu heard from his wife what had happened, he cursed Agni to become the 'eater of all things'. This caused Agni to hide and the sacrificial fire was lost and caused discomfort to all living beings. Thus, Brahma summoned Agni and he granted him a resolution; Agni was to remain eternally pure and so everything burnt by his flames became pure, but the flames from the viler parts of his body were still a consumer of all things.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khandava_Forest#/
media/File:Krishnarjunas_fight_with_Gods.jpg

Agni and the Khandava Forest

One time, A Brahmana came to the friends Arjuna and Krishna. He told them that no matter what he did, he could not quench his hunger and asked for help. Arjuna promised they would help the Brahmana who then revealed himself to be Agni. Agni then told them that he wanted to burn Khandava forest, as it was the way to relief him from his hunger. But this was not possible because Indra's friend Takshaka, the king of snakes, lived in that forest. Every time Agni tried to burn the forest, Indra sent storm clouds to douse the fire with their rain. Arjuna and Kishna still wanted to help Agni, but only with the right weapons. After Agni had provided those for the, the three of them went to the edge of the forest. Agni then transformed into the raging elemental fire and soon the whole forest was on fire. When the creatures living in the forest try to escape, they were stopped by Arjuna and Krishna. When Indra summoned his best storm clouds, Arjuna even made a barrier of arrows to stop the rain. Soon, Indra stopped his attempts to save the forest and the whole forest had been burnt to ashes. Only four Saranga birds had escaped because they were spared by Agni because they prayed to him. After consuming the whole forest, Agni turned back into the Brahmana and thank the two friends for helping him to quench his hunger by telling them to keep the weapons.

Below you can find Agni's lore as it is written by the creators of Smite.

There are few elements as destructive or as purifying as fire. Agni, God of Fire, is the embodiment of both of these qualities, with a head for each.

Though the source of his origin warrants debate - for there are many tales of his parentage ranging from two simple sticks rubbed together, to the cosmic energy that made all things at the beginning of time - Agni is a pivotal and important God with many duties to the Pantheon. He is the twin brother to Indra, God of the Heavens and chief among warriors. Conversely, Agni is chief among priests, acting as messenger between mortals and Gods. Every Hindu ritual and prayer is spoken over a fire of some kind, so Agni carries the words and sacrifices, traveling between the Earth and the Heavens. He is welcome in every home and hearth and much beloved by the Faithful.

Through his flames, Agni provides heat and light, but also cleanses impurities. Smoke from his pyres create the air and hold the Heavens aloft. the sun, a source of fire itself, brings life-giving energy to the world, and his lightning streaks the sky during storms.

For all his kindness and service, Agni has two faces. One is the face of kindness and purity, turned towards the people and Gods. His other face, grim and resolute, guides the God of Fire, to play his role in the cosmic cycle of creation and destruction, to burn and blacken all of the atrocities of the world to ash.

To be continued...