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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 838 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN I. Agni.

1.HIGH hath the Mighty risen before the dawning, and come to us with light from out the darkness. Fair-shapen Agni with white-shining splendour hath filled at birth all human habitations.

2.Thou, being born, art Child of Earth and Heaven, parted among the plants in beauty, Agni! The glooms of night thou, Brilliant Babe, subduest, and art come forth, loud roaring, from thy Mothers.

3.Here, being manifested, lofty Viṣṇu, full wise, protects his own supremest station. When they have offered in his mouth their sweet milk, to him with one accord they sing forth praises.

4.Thence bearing food the Mothers come to meet thee, with food for thee who givest food its increase. These in their altered form again thou meetest. Thou art Invoking Priest in homes of mortals.

5.Priest of the holy rite, with car that glitters, refulgent Banner of each act of worship, Sharinging every God through might and glory, even Agni Guest of men I summon hither.

6.So Agni stands on earth’s most central station, invested in well-decorated garments. Born, red of hue, where men pour out libations, O King, as great High Priest bring the Gods hither.

7.Over the earth and over heaven, O Agni, thou, Son, hast ever spread above thy Parents. Come, Youthfullest! to those who long to meet thee, and hither bring the Gods, O Mighty Victor.

Asked of Guide

Why does the hymn call Agni both a Child and a Priest?

The hymn shows Agni as Child because he is ‘‘born’’ daily—‘‘Fair-shapen Agni with white-shining splendour hath filled at birth’’—emerging anew from earth and heaven and from the Mothers, the sacrificial fuels. Calling him Priest names his functioning: he is the ‘‘Invoking Priest in homes of mortals’’ who carries offerings and ‘‘bring[s] the Gods hither,’’ making the divine present through sacrificial fire.

This doubles Agni’s identity into origin and office: his birth explains his intimacy with life and growth, his priesthood explains his social and ritual role as mediator. The pattern echoes the Rigveda’s larger portrait of deities as both natural phenomena and cultic agents, which the later Upanishads also treat when they identify cosmic powers with ritual forms.

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