Agni

When humans discovered fire, birthing the first civilization, they discovered Agni. Who founded the flame that rose from the waters and burst into being as fire, lightning, and the sun? Was he the Primordial Brahma’s eldest son, exhaled from the Primordial Purusha’s mouth? Was he the child of Law and Light, or the sage Angira? With red skin, black hair, black eyes, two heads, seven hands, and three legs, he rides the ram to battle and bludgeons foes with his quarterstaff.

His is the fire of knowledge as well as of sacrifice and heat, identified with the divine word which ignited the cosmos at the beginning of this age. He brings the Devá the sacrificial oblation, devouring it with his heat.

Agni once fled to the side of the asura Vritra along with Varuna and Soma. But Vritra’s slayer Indra, Agni’s own twin brother who emerged with him from Puruṣha’s mouth, convinced him to join the Devá. Agni is the priest offering the sacrifice, the shepherd guarding the flock, the firefighter who saves the dying, the laborer on the offshore platform, and the forester who starts the fire so the next generation of trees may grow. But even as other Vedic Gods struggle and grow dim, so long as humans need to keep darkness at bay, so long as sacrificial smoke spirals upwards towards the heavens, Agni will never be forgotten.

Agni’s wife Svaha, Goddess of the offering, bore his children: the purifying flames of electricity, friction, and the sun. Like a bull bursting with seed, he fathers many Scions. He encourages them to adventure among other pantheons, forging relationships and learning. They link the next generation of Gods to humanity, just as the sacrificial fire links humanity and the divine. Meditate upon Agni, that he may ignite your mind and spirit.