Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 632

38
VEDIC HYMNS.
ally the idea of moving about (the German be-wegen), in which case váh-ni, fire, would have been formed with the same purpose as ag-nl, ig-nis, fire, from Sk. ag, ay-w,ag-o. In Alvis-mal, V, 94, we read, kalla Vág Vanir, the Wanes call fire Vág, i.e. wavy. But in Sanskrit Agni is so constantly represented as the carrier of the sacrificial oblation, that something may also be said in favour of the Indian scholastic interpreters who take váhni, as applied to Agni, in the sense of carrier. However that may be, it admits of no doubt that váhni, in the Veda, is distinctly applied to the bright fire or light. In some passages it looks very much like a proper name of Agni, in his various characters of terrestrial and celestial light. It is used for the sacrificial fire:
V, 50, 4. yatra váhnih abhi-hitah. Where the sacrificial fire is placed. It is applied to Agni : VII, 7, 5. ásadi vritáh váhnih å-gaganvấn agnih brahmã.
The chosen light came nigh, and sat down, Agni, the priest.
Here Agni is, as usual, represented as a priest, chosen like a priest, for the performance of the sacrifice. But, for that very reason, váhni may here have the meaning of priest, which, as we shall see, it has in many places, and the translation would then be more natural : He, the chosen minister, came near and sat down, Agni, the priest.
VIII, 23, 3. váhnih vindate vásu. Agni finds wealth (for those who offer sacrifices ?). More frequently váhni is applied to the celestial Agni, or other solar deities, where it is difficult to translate it in English except by an adjective:
III, 5, 1. ápa dvấrå támasah váhnih avar (ity avah). Agni opened the two doors of darkness.
I, 160, 3. sáh váhnih putrah pitróh pavitra-vân punati dhîrah bhuvanäni mâyáya.
That light, the son of the two parents, full of brightness, the wise, brightens the world by his power.
Agni is even called váhni-tama (IV, 1, 4), which hardly means more than the brightest.
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