Rig Veda · 257 of 1027
Mandala 3: HYMN XXIII. Agni.
1.RUBBED into life, well stablished in the dwelling, Leader of sacrifice, the Sage, the youthful, Here in the wasting fuel Jātavedas, eternal, hath assumed immortal being.
2.Both Bharatas, Devaśravas, Devāvata, have strongly rubbed to life effectual Agni. O Agni, look thou forth with ample riches: be, every day, bearer of food to feed us.
3.Him nobly born of old the fingers ten produced, him whom his Mothers counted dear. Praise Devāvata’s Agni, thou Devaśravas, him who shall be the people’s Lord.
4.He set thee in the earth’s most lovely station, in Iḷā’s place, in days of fair bright weather. On man, on Āpayā, Agni! on the rivers Dṛṣadvati, Sarasvatī, shine richly.
5.Agni, as holy food to thine invoker give wealth in cattle, lasting, rich in marvels. To us be born a son and spreading offspring Agni, be this thy gracious will to us-ward
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn call Agni 'rubbed into life' and 'fingers ten produced'?
The hymn describes Agni as “rubbed into life” and born by “fingers ten” to mean the fire kindled by human effort: the duaI act of rubbing sticks together during the ritual. The image makes Agni both a crafted presence and an independent divine guest, once conjured becoming “Leader of sacrifice” and “bearer of food.”
Calling Agni produced by “fingers ten” also links the domestic and cosmic: the household labor that summons fire mirrors the creative work of the gods and yields social goods—wealth, sons, offspring—promised earlier in the hymn. This close reading echoes themes in other Vedic hymns where skilled human action cooperates with divine agency, as in many passages of the Rig Veda where ritual performance births blessing.
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