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Rig Veda · 916 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN LXXIX. Agni.
1.I HAVE beheld the might of this Great Being. Immortal in the midst of tribes of mortals. His jaws now open and now shut together: much they devour, insatiately chewing.
2.His eyes are turned away, his head is hidden: unsated with his tongue he eats the fuel. With hands upraised, with reverence in the houses, for him they quickly bring his food together.
3.Seeking, as ’twere, his Mother’s secret bosom, he, like a child, creeps on through wide-spread bushes. One he finds glowing like hot food made ready, and kissing deep within the earth’s recmes.
4.This holy Law I tell you, Earth and Heaven: the Infant at his birth dovours his Parents. No knowledge of the God have I, a mortal. Yea, Agni knoweth best, for he hath wisdom.
5.This man who quickly gives him food, who offers his gifts of oil and butter and supports him, - Him with his thousand eyes he closely looks on: thou showest him thy face from all sides, Agni.
6.Agni, hast thou committed sin or treason among the Gods? In ignorance I ask thee. Playing, not playing, he gold-hued and toothless, hath cut his food up as the knife a victim.
7.He born in wood hath yoked his horses rushing in all directions, held with reins that glitter. The well-born friend hath carved his food with Vasus: in all his limbs he hath increased and prospered.
Asked of Guide
Why does the hymn call Agni an 'Infant' who 'devours his Parents'?
The hymn describes Agni as an “Infant at his birth” because it portrays the fire-god’s consuming, renewing power: when fire is kindled from wood it appears childlike yet immediately eats the fuel that gave it life. The line “dovours his Parents” names a sacrificial paradox—fire consumes the sacrificial wood and ghee that sustain it while transforming them into offerings that serve the gods and world order.
That image ties to the Vedic notion of sacrifice as creative destruction; Agni’s appetite both destroys and sustains ritual, society, and knowledge. Compare the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where sacrificial acts reverse and recreate roles in cosmic exchange, showing how consumption can be a form of continuation rather than simple loss.
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