Page:Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic.djvu/52

 Chhāgaratha, “He who rides on a ram.”

Saptajihva, “He who has seven tongues.”

Brihaspati and Brahmanaspati are generally regarded as being identical with Agni. Nearly the same epithets are applied to them, with this additional one—of presiding over prayer. In some few hymns they are addressed as separate deities. In “The Religions of India,” M. Barth, regarding these as names of one and the same deity, thus describes him :—

"Like Agni and Soma, he is born on the altar, and thence rises upwards to the gods; like them, he was begotten in space by Heaven and Earth ; like Indra, he wages war with enemies on the earth and demons in the air ; like all three, he resides in the highest of the universe. Under his fiery breath the world was melted and assumed the form it has, like metal in the mould of the founder. At first sight it would seem that all this is a late product of abstract reflection ; and it is probable, in fact, from the very form of the name, that in so far as it is a distinct person, the type is comparatively modern; in any case, it is peculiarly Indian ; but by its elements it is connected with the most ancient conceptions. As there is a power in the flame and the libation, so there is in the formula ; and this formula the priest is not the only person to pronounce, any more than he is the only one to kindle Agni or shed Soma. There is a prayer in the thunder, and the gods, who know all things, are not ignorant of the power in the sacramental expressions. They possess all-potent spells that have remained hidden from men and are as ancient as the first rites, and it was by these the world was formed at