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On a certain occasion, when the son of Agni went out to fetch firewood from the forest, a graceful Brahmana sought the hospitality of Oghavati with these words: 'O beautiful lady, if thou hast any faith in the virtue of hospitality as prescribed for householders, then I would request thee to extend the rites of hospitality to me to-day. The princess of great fame, thus addressed by that Brahmana, O king, welcomed him according to the rites prescribed in the Vedas.
O, protect us who are young and who are Rishis. "Stamvamitra said, 'Thou alone, O Agni, art everything! This whole universe is established in thee! Thou sustainest every creature, and thou supportest the universe! Thou art the carrier of the sacrificial butter, and thou art the excellent sacrificial butter itself!
And at last, after Agni had disappeared, king Nila came there, and at the command of that deity, worshipped with due rites Sahadeva, that tiger among men that master of battle. And Sahadeva accepted that worship and made him pay tribute. And having brought king Nila under his sway thus, the victorious son of Madri then went further towards the south.
And how is it that thou hast not been discovered by any one, considering that my apartments are well-guarded and the king's mandates are stern. Thus addressed by the daughter of the king of the Vidarbhas, Nala replied, 'O beauteous lady, know that my name is Nala. I come here as the messenger of the gods. The celestials, Sakra, Agni, Varuna and Yama, desire to have thee.
Then the assembled gods led by Agni, with a view to the welfare of all the worlds, spoke to Indra's queen in a quiet way. And the gods said, "Thou art supporting the whole universe of things mobile and immobile. Thou art chaste and true: go thou to Nahusha. That vicious being, lustful after thee, will shortly fall: and Indra, O goddess, will get the sovereignty of the gods!"
But Angiras said to him, 'Do thou quickly re-establish yourself as the fire animating the universe, thou art well-known in the three stable worlds and thou wast first created by Brahma to dispel darkness. Do thou, O destroyer of darkness, quickly occupy thine own proper place. Agni replied, 'My reputation has been injured now in this world.
And while they were talking thus, those foremost of the immortals, the Lokapalas with Agni among them, appeared before the lord of the celestials. And all of them heard the words of Narada fraught with grave import. And as soon as they heard them, they exclaimed in rapture, We also will go there.
For instance, Agni Vaiśvânara—All men's fire—and Agni Tanunapat, which seems to mean son of himself, or fire spontaneously generated, are in a later period treated almost as separate deities. Mâtariśvan is sometimes a name of Agni and sometimes a separate deity who brings Agni to mankind. In the same way the Rig Veda has not one but many solar deities.
Be thou attentive to this our word, O youngest, highly wise Hotri, as the friend of our house. May those guardians of thine, infallible Agni, sitting down together protect us, the never sleeping, onward-pressing, kind, unwearied ones, who keep off the wolf, who never tire.
It is not hard to understand why Agni, fire, should be associated with him and share his popularity to some extent; but the importance of fire in the sacrifice gave Agni a peculiar prominence in the ritual.
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