Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 6 (Indian and Iranian).djvu/100

64 with the production of fire, which he churns forth. Āthravan in the Avesta denotes "fire-priest," nor is there any doubt that the Atharvan or Atharvans of the Ṛgveda are old fire-priests, while the Bhṛgus represent either such priests or possibly the lightning side of fire itself. Yet another set of beings connected with fire are the Aṅgirases. Aṅgiras as an epithet is applied to Agni himself, and Aṅgiras is represented as an ancient seer, but the chief feat of the Aṅgirases is their share in the winning of the cows, in which act they are closely associated with Indra; they are, however, also said to have burst the rock with their songs and gained the light, to have driven out the cows and pierced Vala and caused the sun to shine. They seem to bear the traces of messengers of Agni, perhaps his flames, but they may have been no more than priests of the fire-cult, like the Atharvans. Like the Atharvans they are bound up with the Atharvaveda, which is associated with that cult. The Virūpas ("Those of Various Form"), another priestly family, seem no more than they in one special aspect.

A figure of great obscurity connected with Agni is that of Dadhyañc ("Milk-Curdling"), a son of Atharvan and a producer of Agni. The Aśvins gave him a horse's head, and with it he proclaimed to them the place of the mead of Tvaṣṭṛ. Again it is said that when Indra was seeking the head of the horse hidden in the mountains, he found it in Śaryaṇāvant and with the bones of Dadhyañc he slew ninety-nine Vṛtras. Dadhyañc opens cow-stalls by the power of Soma, and Indra gives him cow-stalls. He has been interpreted as the soma because of the allusion to curdled milk in his name, which again connects him with the horse Dadhikrā, but a more plausible view is that he represents a form of lightning, the speed of which is symbolized by the horse's head, while the thunder is his speech and the bolt his bones. The legend is too fragmentary, however, to enable us to form any clear opinion of its significance. Atri, another seer, is famed for being saved from burning in a deep pit by the Aśvins, who restored him with a refreshing