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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Rig Veda · 849 of 1027

Mandala 10: HYMN XII. Agni.

1.HEAVEN and Earth, first by everlasting Order, speakers of truth, are near enough to hear us, When the God, urging men to worship. sitteth as Priest, assuming all his vital vigour.

2.As God comprising Gods by Law Eternal, bear, as the Chief who knoweth, our oblation, Smoke-bannered with the fuel, radiant, joyous, better to praise and worship, Priest for ever.

3.When the cow’s nectar wins the God completely, men here below are heaven’s sustainers. All the Gods came to this thy heavenly Yajus which from the motley Pair milked oil and water. 4 1 praise your work that ye may make me prosper: hear, Heaven and Earth, Twain Worlds that drop with fatness. While days and nights go to the world of spirits, here let the Parents with sweet meath refresh us 5 Hath the King siezed us? How have we offended against his holy ordinance? Who knoweth? For even Mitra mid the Gods is angry there are both song and strength for those who come not. 6 ’Tis hard to understand the Immortal’s nature, where she who is akin becomes astranger. Guard ceaselessly, great Agni, him who ponders Yama’s name, easy to be comprehended. 7 They in the synod where the Gods rejoice them, where they are seated in Vivasvān’s dwelling, Have given the Moon his beams, the Sun his splendour-the Two unweariedly maintain their brightness. 8 The counsel which the Gods meet to consider, their secret plan,—of that we have no knowledge. There let God Savitar, Aditi, and Mitra proclaim to Varuṇa that we are sinless. 9 Hear us, O Agni, in your comninn dwell ing: harness thy rapid car, the car of Amṛta. Bring Heaven and Earth, the Deities’ Parents, hither: stay with us here, nor from the Gods be distant.

Asked of Guide

Why does this hymn call Agni a 'Priest' and ask him to bring Heaven and Earth?

The hymn makes Agni the ritual mediator: “When the God, urging men to worship, sitteth as Priest,” so Agni carries the oblation up and represents humans before the gods. The poet asks Agni to “bring Heaven and Earth, the Deities’ Parents, hither” because the sacrificial fire is the connector that summons and unites the cosmic powers into the ritual moment.

Calling Agni Priest also ties him to sustenance and order—the verses link his priestly role to prosperity, to the cow’s nectar, and to eternal Law, so the fire both preserves Rta and secures blessing. This practical function of Agni echoes how the Brihadaranyaka and other Upanishadic passages later treat the fire as the axis between world and spirit.

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