Chapter 216

Vaisampayana continued, “The virtuous king Yudhishthira, having listenedto this excellent religious discourse, again addressed himself to therishi Markandeya saying, ‘Why did the fire-god hide himself in water inolden times, and why is it that Angiras of great splendour officiating asfire-god, used to convey[60] oblations during his dissolution. There isbut one fire, but according to the nature of its action, it is seen todivide itself into many. O worshipful sir, I long to be enlightened onall these points,–How the Kumara[61] was born, how he came to be knownas the son of Agni (the fire-god) and how he was begotten by Rudra orGanga and Krittika. O noble scion of Bhrigu’s race, I desire to learn allthis accurately as it happened. O great muni, I am filled with greatcuriosity.’ Markandeya replied, ‘In this connection this old story iscited by the learned, as to how the carrier of oblations (the fire-god)in a fit of rage, sought the waters of the sea in order to perform apenance, and how the adorable Angiras transforming himself into thefire-god,[62] destroyed darkness and distressed the world with hisscorching rays. In olden times, O long-armed hero, the great Angirasperformed a wonderful penance in his hermitage; he even excelled thefire-god, the carrier of oblations, in splendour and in that state heillumined the whole universe. At that time the fire-god was alsoperforming a penance and was greatly distressed by his (Angirasa’s)effulgence. He was greatly depressed, but did not know what to do. Thenthat adorable god thought within himself, ‘Brahma has created anotherfire-god for this universe. As I have been practising austerities, myservices as the presiding deity of fire have been dispensed with; andthen he considered how he could re-establish himself as the god of fire.He beheld the great muni giving heat to the whole universe like fire, andapproached him slowly with fear. But Angiras said to him, ‘Do thouquickly re-establish yourself as the fire animating the universe, thouart well-known in the three stable worlds and thou wast first created byBrahma to dispel darkness. Do thou, O destroyer of darkness, quicklyoccupy thine own proper place.’ Agni replied, ‘My reputation has beeninjured now in this world. And thou art become the fire-god, and peoplewill know thee, and not me, as fire. I have relinquished my god-hood offire, do thou become the primeval fire and I shall officiate as thesecond or Prajapatyaka fire.’ Angiras replied, ‘Do thou become thefire-god and the destroyer of darkness and do thou attend to thy sacredduty of clearing people’s way to heaven, and do thou, O lord, make mespeedily thy first child.’ Markandeya continued, ‘Hearing these words ofAngiras, the fire-god did as desired, and, O king, Angiras had a sonnamed Vrihaspati. Knowing him to be the first son of Angiras by Agni, thegods, O Bharata, came and enquired about the mystery. And thus asked bythe gods he then enlightened them, and the gods then accepted theexplanation of Angiras. In this connection, I shall describe to theereligious sorts of fire of great effulgence which are here variouslyknown in the Brahmanas[63] by their respective uses.”