The Secret Of The Veda Aurobindo - HolyBooks.com

Chapter XVI
The Angiras Rishis
THE NAME Angiras occurs in the Veda in two different
forms, Angira and Angiras, although the latter is the more
common; we have also the patronymic Angirasa applied
more than once to the god Brihaspati. In later times Angiras,
like Bhrigu and other seers, was regarded as one of the original
sages, progenitors of clans of Rishis who went by their names,
the Angirasas, Atris, Bhargavas. In the Veda also there are these
families of Rishis, the Atris, Bhrigus, Kanwas etc. In one of
the hymns of the Atris the discovery of Agni, the sacred fire,
is attributed to the Angiras Rishis (V.11.6), but in another to
the Bhrigus (X.46.9). 1 Frequently the seven original Angiras
Rishis are described as the human fathers, pitaro manus.yāh. ,
who discovered the Light, made the sun to shine and ascended
to the heaven of the Truth. In some of the hymns of the tenth
Mandala they are associated as the Pitris or Manes with Yama, a
deity who only comes into prominence in the later Suktas; they
take their seats with the gods on the barhis, the sacred grass,
and have their share in the sacrifice.
If this were all, the explanation of the part taken by the
Angiras Rishis in the finding of the Cows, would be simple and
superficial enough; they would be the Ancestors, the founders
of the Vedic religion, partially deified by their descendants and
continually associated with the gods whether in the winning
back of the Dawn and the Sun out of the long Arctic night or
in the conquest of the Light and the Truth. But this is not all,
the Vedic myth has profounder aspects. In the first place, the
Angirases are not merely the deified human fathers, they are
also brought before us as heavenly seers, sons of the gods, sons
1
Very possibly the Angiras Rishis are the flame-powers of Agni and the Bhrigus the
solar powers of Surya.