Who’s Agni?

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Agni is a fire god in Hinduism. His name literally means “Fire” in Sanskrit, and is a cognate of the Latin word ignis. Agni is one of the messengers of the gods and one of the duties of him is to carry the sacrifices offered by the devotees to the gods.
Agni is one of the most important deities in the Vedic pantheon. His faith precedes Hinduism, since the cult of fire is one of the oldest in the world. He is one of the few gods who have been incorporated almost entirely into the Hindu religious structure.

Agni is an immortal god, but is also seen as eternally young. This is representative of one of the miracles of fire, that every day the hearth is rekindled, the fire begins anew, yet the fire itself is always constant. Agni is described variously, but most often has seven tongues of fire issuing from his two faces and teeth of bright gold. His body is completely red, even though he has a shock of black hair. He is a three-legged god with seven red arms and seven rays of light that shine from his body.

Agni is seen as present in all fire-like things. It is present in the lightning that strikes from storms and sets the earth on fire, it is present in the pillar of smoke which is said to hold up Heaven from the earth, and it is present in the setting sun. He is also seen as present where the metaphorical fire burns, like in people’s stomachs, and in people themselves, like the little flame that creates life. Agni is the god capable of imparting immortality to mortals, and was able to cleanse in fire any sins a human being may have committed during their lifetime.

Since sacrifices are burned, Agni is also the god of sacrifice. He collects the offerings that go up to Heaven and delivers them to the gods to whom they are destined. This gives rise to his status as a major messenger of the gods, one of his many minor roles in the pantheon. He has rules dictating the use of his flame and the direction the fire faces is determined by the purpose of the fire. A fire that burns in the south is meant for sacrifices to the dead, a fire that burns in the east is meant for sacrifices to the gods, and a fire that burns in the west is a fire meant for simple cooking.

There are many stories relating to Agni’s birth, but most commonly he is given as the son of Prthivi and Dyaus Pita, the twin of Indra and brother of Dawn and Night. He took a wife, Svaha, and by her he had a son, Karttikeya. Some myths narrate that he was born of ten mothers, who represent the ten fingers of the man who gives birth to fire. A myth based on that of him says that after he was born she devoured his parents, representing fire burning to incinerate the two sticks used to light him.

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