A description of the four forms of nature through the drawing... Series 1 - Agni
Agni - The fire
Agni is the most popular god of the Rigveda as is evident from the number of hymns addressed to him in the scripture. Fire is central to all vedic rituals. In terms of importance, he is next only to Indra, the Lord of the Vedic deities and Indra's heaven. All the offerings in the Vedic sacrifices are invariably offered to Agni and through him to other gods. Agni is thus the primary recipient of all Vedic sacrifices.
In the body he is represented by the eyes and by the digestive fire. His importance is evident from the fact that Agni Purana is named after him. Before teh emergence of Siva as the god of Hindu trinity, Agni was the god of destruction both feared and revered by the worshippers. Symbolically he represents insatiable desire and hunger for food.
As the most potent and visible form of energy, useful but destructive at the same time, he was both feared and revered by the vedic people. Almost every mandala or division of the Rigveda starts with a hymn to Agni. The vedic hymns praise him copiously often describing him as the supreme god and creator. The Upanishads describe Atman or soul as a flame of the size of a thumb. Other gods and elements such as the earth, the air are but his manifestations. He is the thunderbolt of Indra's weapon, the light of the Surya. In the later vedic period he became, one of the Ashtadikpalas as lord of the southeast quarter.
In some of the hymns like the following ones, we see Agni being elevated to the status of a supreme god, " Agni is the Vaivashnara, the center of all people ... He is in the sky as well as at the center of the earth." A similar notion can be found in this hymns also. "Commingling, restless, he ascends the sky, unveiling nights and all that stands or moves, as he the sole God is preeminent in greatness among all these other Gods."
@amrumk
