Agni

The Vedic god of fire, messenger between humans and gods.

Agni is one of the oldest gods of the Vedas; a large part of the Rigveda consists of hymns to him. He carries the offerings made into the fire to the gods, and is thus the messenger between humans and the divine.

The Rigveda begins with a hymn to Agni: I praise Agni, the household priest, the god of the sacrifice. According to the Vedas he has three forms: the fire on earth, the lightning in the sky and the sun in heaven. He is also the digestive fire in the body, jathara agni, a concept that plays a large role in ayurveda.

At a Hindu wedding the couple take seven steps around the sacred fire, saptapadi, with Agni as witness to their vows. At cremation the fire carries the body of the deceased to a next phase. So Agni accompanies a person from marriage to death. A dream about a clear, calm fire, especially a sacrificial fire or an oil lamp, is therefore often read favourably in Hindu readings: purification, a prayer heard or an important passage that is blessed.

During Diwali diyas, small oil lamps, burn everywhere in Hindu homes, and in the arati a flame is waved before the image of a deity. That fire too is connected with Agni: the light that drives out darkness and carries prayers upward.

Agni is present at the great transitions of life: at the havan, at the wedding where the couple walks around the sacred fire, and at cremation. In Hinduism a dream about fire is therefore often linked with purification, devotion or a major change.