agniH [ aMgati UrDvaM gacCati aMg-ni , nalopaSca Uṇ. 4. 50 , or fr. aMc ‘to go.’] 1 Fire kopa°, ciMtA°, Soka°, jYAna°, rAja° , &c. 2 The God of fire. 3 Sacrificial fire of three kinds ( gArhapatya , AhavanIya and dakziRa ); pitA vE gArhapatyo' gnirmAtAgnirdakziRaH smftaH . gururAhavanIyastu ( pb ) sAgnitretA garIyasI .. Ms. 2. 231. 4 The fire of the stomach, digestive faculty, gastric fluid. 5 Bile ( nABerUrDvaM hfdayAdaDastAdAmASayamAcakzate tadgataM sOraM tejaH pittaM ityAcakzate ). 6 Cauterization ( agnikarman ). 7 Gold. 8 The number three. 9 N. of various plants: ( a ) citraka Plumbago Zeylanica; ( b ) raktacitraka ; ( c ) BallAtaka Semicarpus Anacardium; ( d ) niMbaka Citrus Acida. 10 A mystical substitute for the letter r . In Dvandva Comp. as first member with names of deities, and with particular words agni is changed to agnA , as °vizRU, °marutO , or to agnI , °parjanyO, °varuRO, °zomO [ cf. L. ignis .] [Agni is the God of Fire, the Ignis of the Latins and Ogni of the Slavonians. He is one of the most prominent deities of the Ṛgveda. He is an immortal, has taken up his abode among mortals as their guest; he is the domestic priest, the successful accomplisher and protector of all ceremonies; he is also the religious leader and preceptor of the gods, a swift messenger employed to announce to the immortals the hymns and to convey to them the oblations of their worshippers, and to bring them down from the sky to the place of sacrifice. He is sometimes regarded as the mouth and the tongue through which both gods and men participate in the sacrifices. He is the lord, protector and leader of people, monarch of men, the lord of the house, friendly to mankind, and like a father, mother, brother &c. He is represented as being produced by the attrition of two pieces of fuel which are regarded as husband and wife. Sometimes he is considered to have been brought down from heaven or generated by Indra between two clouds or stones, created by Dyau, or fashioned by the gods collectively. In some passages he is represented as having a triple existence, which may mean his three-fold manifestations as the sun in heaven, lightning in the atmosphere, and as ordinary fire on the earth, although the three appearances are also elsewhere otherwise explained. His epithets are numberless and for the most part descriptive of his physical characteristics: DUmaketu, hutaBuj , Suci, rohitASva, saptajihva, tomaraDara, GftAnna , citraBAnu, UrDvaSocis, SocizkeSa, harikeSa , hiraRyadaMta, ayodaMzwra &c. In a celebrated passage he is said to have 4 horns, 3 feet, 2 heads, and 7 hands. The highest divine functions are ascribed to Agni. He is said to have spread out the two worlds and produced them, to have supported heaven, formed the mundane regions and luminaries of heaven, to have begotten Mitra and caused the sun to ascend the sky. He is the head and summit of the sky, the centre of the earth. Earth, Heaven and all beings obey his commands. He knows and sees all worlds or creatures and witnesses all ( pb ) their actions. The worshippers of Agni prosper, they are wealthy and live long. He is the protector of that man who takes care to bring him fuel. He gives him riches and no one can overcome him who sacrifices to this god. He confers, and is the guardian of, immortality. He is like a water-trough in a desert and all blessings issue from him. He is therefore constantly supplicated for all kinds of boons, riches, food, deliverance from enemies and demons, poverty, reproach, childlessness, hunger &c. Agni is also associated with Indra in different hymns and the two gods are said to be twin brothers. Such is the Vedic conception of Agni; but in the course of mythological personifications he appears as the eldest son of Brahmā and is called Abhimānī (Viṣṇu Purāṇa). His wife was Svāhā; by her he had 3 sons-Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci; and these had forty-five sons: altogether 49 persons who are considered identical with the 49 fires. He is also represented as a son of Angiras, as a king of the Pitṛs or Manes, as a Marut and as a grandson of Śāṇḍila, and also as a star. The Harivaṃśa describes him as clothed in black, having smoke for his standard and head-piece and carrying a flaming javelin. He is borne in a chariot drawn by red horses and the 7 winds are the wheels of his car. He is accompanied by a ram and sometimes he is represented as riding on that animal. Agni was appointed by Brahmā as the sovereign of the quarter between the south and east, whence the direction is still known as Āgneyī. The Mahābhārata represents Agni as having exhausted his vigour and become dull by devouring many oblations at the several sacrifices made by king Śvetaki, but he recruited his strength by devouring the whole Khāṇḍava forest; for the story see the word KAMqava ]. Comp. — a(A)gAraM — raH, -AlayaH, -gfhaM [ agnikAryAya agAraM SAka° ta .] a fire-sanctuary, house or place for keeping the sacred fire; vasaMScaturTognirivAgnyagAre R. 5. ...