Agni-Vaṃśa: The Family of the Sacred Fires
Agni is the deva of fire. In the Vedic tradition, fire is holy: it carries offerings to the devas and the ancestors, it cooks and digests food, and at the end of time it will burn up the world. The Agni-Vaṃśa (“family of Agni”) is an account in the Purāṇas that explains how the one first fire grew into forty-nine different agnis (fires), each with its own task.
The story begins with Agni and his wife Svāhā, and their three sons Pavamāna, Pāvaka and Śuci. From them come the fires that carry offerings to the pitṛs (ancestors), to the devas, and to the asuras (beings opposed to the devas). The account also names sixteen holy rivers that are the homes of one of these fires. It is set in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, the first great age of Manu, but it is said to hold true for every manvantara to come.
The Three Main Sons of Agni
In the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, Agni was a mānasa-putra (a son born from the mind) of Brahmā. He is the abhimāna-devatā, the deva who presides over fire. With Svāhā Devī he had three sons:
- Pavamāna (the Gārhapatya fire): the fire made by rubbing araṇi (wooden kindling sticks) together, that is, fire made by friction
- Pāvaka: the fire born from lightning (vidyut), the fire of the sky
- Śuci (the Saura fire): the fire born from the sun
These three and their children make forty-nine agnis in all: the three sons plus forty-six descendants.
The Three Fires That Carry Offerings
From these three sons came three fires, each serving a different group of beings:
- Kavyavāhana (son of Pavamāna): the fire that carries kavya (offerings) to the pitṛs
- Havyavāhana (son of Śuci): the fire that carries havya (offerings) to the devas
- Saharākṣa (son of Pāvaka): the fire of the asuras and rākṣasas
In this way the three great fires serve three worlds: the world of the ancestors, the world of the devas, and the world of the asuras.
The Ḍhiṣṭhya-Agnis: Fires of the Yajña Stations
The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa lists the ḍhiṣṭhya-agnis. These are fires that sit at fixed places inside the yajña-vāṭa (the enclosure where a yajña, a fire offering, is performed). They are called by name on the sautya-dina, the day on which soma is pressed. They include:
- Śaṃsya (the Āhavanīya fire): the fire into which offerings are made. The ṛṣis call it the Śaṃsya-agni and honour it as the presiding fire of brāhmaṇas
- Pravahana, Agnīdhra and others: the viharaṇīya (movable) fires
- Samrāṭ agni: the first of the eight anuddeśya (general) fires
- Kṛśānu and Parīṣatpavamāna: fires used in particular kinds of yajña
- Ṛtudhāma (also called Sujyoti, Audumbarya or Viśvavyacas): known as the Samudra (ocean) fire
- Sālasukhīya (Ajaikapāt) and Ahirbudhnya: the anuddeśya gṛhapati fire
- Saudyura (Mārjālī): the fire connected with water
Dvijas (the “twice-born”, those who have received the sacred thread) honour all these fires on the sautya day, each at its own ḍhiṣṭhya station.
The Fire of Digestion and the Fire of Dissolution
One important descendant is Hṛcchaya, “the one who rests in the heart”, a son of Pāvaka. He is the jāṭharāgni, the digestive fire that lives in the human heart and turns food into life. His son is Mṛtyumant, and from Mṛtyumant is born the Saṃvartaka fire, the fire of the great dissolution. Saṃvartaka lives in the ocean and drinks its water. The bāḍabā, the fire under the sea, is his mouth. At pralaya (the dissolution of the world) this fire will burn up everything.
The Sixteen Holy Rivers: Homes of Śaṃsya
A striking part of the Agni-Vaṃśa is that it names sixteen holy rivers as the sixteen dhāmas (homes) of the Śaṃsya fire. Śaṃsya divides himself into sixteen parts and lives in each of these rivers:
- Kāverī
- Kṛṣṇaveṇī
- Narmadā
- Yamunā
- Godāvarī
- Vitastā
- Candrabhāgā
- Irāvatī
- Vipāśā
- Kauśikī
- Śatadru
- Sarayū
- Sītā
- Sarasvatī
- Hodinī
- Pāvanī
The fire-sons born from these rivers at the yajña stations are called dhīṣṭhas (also dhiṣṭhulas). Because they were born from the rivers, they are also called nadī-putras, “sons of the rivers”. This is why these rivers are held to be especially holy for yajña and other rites.
The Fires Last Through Every Age
The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says that these forty-nine fires, though first listed in the Svāyambhuva Manvantara, do not belong to that age alone. They are present as yāma-agnis (fires of the cosmic watches) through all seven manvantaras from Svārociṣa to Cākṣuṣa, and through the future manvantaras up to the Sāvarṇi Manvantara. All forty-nine are tapasvīs (those who practise tapas, spiritual discipline), brahma-bhṛts (bearers of Brahman) and prajāpatis (lords of creatures). They are known as jyoti-svarūpas, forms of the first light.
What the Vāyu Purāṇa Adds
Chapter 29 of the Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, called Agni Vaṃśa Varṇana, gives the same basic account: Pāvaka, Pavamāna and Śuci are the three root fires, and from them come forty-nine fires in all. It also stresses some further points.
Kāma-agni: the fire of desire, understood as the urge to create. It is the basic force that starts all movement in Prakṛti (nature). The Vāyu Purāṇa treats this fire as a separate kind, alongside the yajña fires and the fire of dissolution.
Kravyāda: the fire of the śmaśāna (cremation ground) that burns the body of the dead. The Vāyu Purāṇa speaks of Kravyāda with respect, as the fire that returns the prāṇa (life-breath) to its source. It does a needed and holy work in the cycle of birth and death.
The Vāyu Purāṇa also links the Agni-Vaṃśa to Pāśupata Yoga. In this view the forty-nine fires are all forms of the one Vaiśvānara fire inside the human body. Into this inner fire the pañca-prāṇas (five life-breaths) are offered as āhutis (oblations) in an inner yajña.
Sources
- Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 12
- Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 29 (Agni Vaṃśa Varṇana)