priests, of Iran. There is also an obvious parallel to the fire of the Indian householder in the domestic fire in the Roman household and in Greece.[1]
Distinct from Agni in personality is the god Bṛhaspati, who is described as seven-mouthed and seven-rayed, beautiful-tongued, sharp-horned, blue-backed, and hundred-winged. He has a bow the string of which is "Holy Order" (Ṛta), wields a golden hatchet, bears an iron axe, and rides in a car with ruddy steeds. Born from great light in the highest heaven, with a roar he drives away darkness. He is the father of the gods, but is created by Tvaṣṭṛ. He is a priest above others, the domestic priest, or purohita, of the gods, and their Brahman priest; he is "the Lord of Prayer" under the title Brahmaṇaspati. He is closely connected with Agni, with whom he appears at times to be identified, has three abodes like him, and seems twice to be called Narāśaṁsa. Yet he has also appropriated the deeds of Indra, for he opens the cow-stall and lets the waters loose; with his singing host he tore Vala asunder and drove out the lowing cows; when he rent the defences of Vala, he revealed the treasures of the kine; being in the cloud, he shouts after the many cows. He also seeks light in the darkness and finds dawn, light, and Agni, and dispels the darkness. Hence he is giver of victory in general, a bearer of the bolt, is invoked with the Maruts, and bears Indra's special epithet of "bountiful." Like the other gods he protects his worshippers, prolongs life, and removes disease. As "Lord of Prayer" he can scarcely be anything more than a development of one side of Agni's character, but it is clear that the process must have been complete before the time of the Ṛgveda, since there is no trace of a growth of this deity in that Saṁhitā. The alternative is to lay stress on the Indra side of his nature and to regard him as a priestly abstraction of Indra, or to find in him an abstract deity, the embodiment of priestly action who has assumed concrete features from the gods Agni and Indra, but this hypothesis is unlikely.
- ↑ Cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 208-09, 298.
