black is thy path, O bright immortal!" "He mows down, as no herd can do, the green fields; bright his tooth, and golden his beard." "He devours like a steer that one has tied up." This is common fire, divine, but not of the altar.

The latter Agni is of every hymn.

For instance, the first stanza of the Rig Veda: "Agni, the family priest, I worship; the divine priest of sacrifice; the oblation priest, who bestows riches," where he is invoked under the names of different priests.

But Agni is even more than this; he is the fire (heat) that causes production and reproduction, visibly manifest in the sun.

This dual Agni, it is to be noticed, is at times the only Agni recognized.