“Man is unborn as long as he has not yet established the fire, he is born only when establishes the fire”

Fire

The mastery over fire was a break through in the history of man during the Old Stone Age. Man took a long time to overcome his fear of fire, but he eventually tamed and then domesticated it! almost every one of the early mechanical achievements of man, even weaving and tailoring , had already been anticipated by specialized species of animals ,birds or even insects. But not the use of fire. Every other animal is scared of it. At first, primitive man to warm the body on cold nights and to frighten animals must have used it. Cooking may have come later, after the campfire had become an established custom.

The tool-using and fire-using animal was well on the way to a scientific humanity

Agni- Fire as God

“Fire marks the origin of civilization, and ritual fire the beginning of religion ”

Connections between fire, a bird, and immortality is found all over the world, but they take very different forms. Vedic Indians believed that was brought from heaven by a bird of pray (sye^.na), who also brought Soma, the elixir of immortality, down to earth.

AGNI, FIRE, is the central feature of the Vedic world. Fire is the focus of a deep layered, many-faceted imagery. About 200 of the 1028 hymens of Rgveda are addressed to Agni.

‘Agni is brilliant, golden, has flaming air and beard, three or seven tongues, his face is light, his eyes shine, he has sharp teeth, he makes a cracking noise, and leaves a black trail behind. He is fond of clarified butter, but he also eats wood and devours the forest in fact he eats everything. He is in particular a destroyer of demons and a slayer of enemies’.

‘Though old, Agni is also ageless and permanently young. Himself fertile, he is the son and manifestation of victorious strength. He gives long life .He is born from

The Cosmic Man

The Agnichayana is connected with a hymn of the Rgveda, the purushasukta or “Hymn of the Cosmic Man”. The Purushasukta is attributed to Seer called Narayana, and consists of sixteen verses.

Purusha is a combination of characteristics derived from Agni, surya (the sun) and Vishnu several specific features of the Aagnichayana refer to Purusha The most important is the goldenpurusa (hiramnmaya Purusha) who is buried under the first layer with the singing Purusa-saman (from Aranyagana section of Samaveda).

The India of a cosmic sacrifice in which a primeval person creates the world through his own sacrifice and dismemberment (according to Brahmanas). Here Prajapathi takes the place of Purusa. Prajapathi is released as the lord of ‘Creatures ‘, creator god of sacrifice and of sacrifice itself (in the Vedas).

Prajapathi created the gods who subsequently put him together again through sacrifice. Agni is born first, from prajapathi’s mouth. But since Agni, the ungrateful child, turned him with wide-open mouth, when Prajapathi reflected "if there is no other food here but myself, surely he would never eat me “. Prajapathi, terrified could only save himself by reproducing himself and saves himself from Agni .The idea of a god sacrificing himself is preserved in the ritual; the sacrificer or Yajamana, is some times identified with the sacrificial victim. The idea of self –sacrifice is the basic to the Prajapathi cosmology and to the cyclical conquest of death through rebirth, which characterize the ‘srutha ritual’ in general and Agnichayana particular.

The five heads buried under the altar are of a man, a horse, a bull, a ram and a he-goat (In 1975 performance, all were symbolic only).

The Natural worship in Agnichayana

The Vedic religion is primarily based on Natural worship. Numerous examples for the proof can be taken from Agnichayana. The hymens for worshipping Indra (god of thunder), god of ocean, mother earth, Agni (fire as god) in various occasion are recited by the participants during the ritual. Modern Hinduism is originated from the natural worship of Vedic religions

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