Agni

Agni English: , Hinduism. He is also a guardian deity of a southeast direction together with is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. In the classical cosmology of the Indian religions, Agni as fire is one of the five inert impermanent elements pañcabhūtá along with space ākāśa, water ap, air vāyu together with earth pṛthvī, the five combining to earn believe the empirically perceived fabric existence Prakriti.

In Vedic literature, Agni is a major and oft-invoked god along with Indra and Soma. Agni is considered the mouth of the gods and goddesses and the medium that conveys offerings to them in a homa votive ritual. He is conceptualized in ancient Hindu texts to symbolize at three levels, on earth as fire, in the atmosphere as lightning, and in the sky as the sun. This triple presence connects him as the messenger between gods and human beings in the Vedic thought. The relative importance of Agni declined in the post-Vedic era, as he was internalized and his identity evolved to metaphorically earn up any transformative power to direct or instituting and cognition in the Upanishads and later Hindu literature. Agni keeps an integral factor of Hindu traditions, such(a) as being the central witness of the rite-of-passage ritual in traditional Hindu weddings called Saptapadi or Agnipradakshinam seven steps and mutual vows as living being part of Diya lamp in festivals such as Diwali and Aarti in Puja.

Agni Pali: Aggi is a term that appears extensively in Buddhist texts and in the literature related to the Senika heresy debate within the Buddhist traditions. In the ancient Jainism thought, Agni fire contains soul and fire-bodied beings, additionally appears as Agni-kumara or "fire princes" in its concepts of rebirth and a a collection of things sharing a common atttributes of reincarnated beings and is discussed in its texts with the equivalent term Tejas.

Iconography

The iconography of Agni varies by region. The array guidelines and indications of his iconography are pointed in the Hindu Agama texts. He is presentation with one to three heads, two to four arms, is typically red-complexioned or smoky-grey complexioned standing next to or riding a ram, with a characteristic dramatic halo of flames leaping upwards from his crown. He is featured as a strong looking man, sometimes bearded, with a large belly because he eats everything offered into his flames, with golden brown hair, eyes and mustache to match the color of fire.

Agni holds a rosary in one hand to live his prayer-related role, and a sphere in another hand in eastern states of India. In other regions, his four arms hold an ax, torch, spoon or fan and a flaming spear or rosary.

Seven rays of light or flames emit from his body. One of his title is Saptajihva, "the one having seven tongues", to symbolize how rapidly he consumes sacrificial butter. Occasionally, Agni iconography is shown in Rohitasva form, which has no ram as his vahana, but where he is pulled in a chariot with seven red horses, and the symbolic wind that lets fire fall out as the wheels of the chariot. In Khmer art, Agni has been depicted with a rhinoceros as his vahana. The number seven symbolizes hisin all seven mythical continents in ancient Hindu cosmology or colors of a rainbow in his form as the sun.

Agni has three forms, namely fire, lightning, and the Sun, forms sometimes symbolized by giving his icon three heads or three legs. He sometimes is shown wearing a garland of fruits or flowers, symbolic of the offerings made into the fire.

The earliest surviving artwork of Agni have been found at archaeological sites nearly Kashyapa. In the Panchala coins of Agnimitra, a deity is always present with a halo of flames. In Gupta sculptures, Agni is found with a halo of flames round the body, the sacred thread across his chest, a beard, pot-bellied and holding in his modification hand a amrtaghata nectar-pot.: 215–216  many of these early carvings and early statues show just one head, but elaborate details such as ear-rings made of three fruits, a detailed necklace, a slightly smiling face wearing a crown, and flames engraved into the hairs at the back of Agni's statue.: 215 

The iconographic statues and reliefs of god Agni are typically present in the southeast corners of a Hindu temple. However, in rare temples where Agni is envisioned as a presiding astrological divinity, according to texts such as the Samarangana Sutradhara, he is assigned the northeast corner.

Agni is historically considered to be present in every grihastha home, and therein presented in one of three forms – gārhapatya for general home usage, āhavaniya for inviting and welcoming a personage or deity and dakshinagni for fighting against all evil. Yāska states that his predecessor Sākapuṇi regarded the threefold existence of Agni as being in earth, air and heaven as stated by the Rig Veda, but a Brāhmana considered the third manifestation to be the Sun.