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Swaahaa
(1) Agnihotra. Yagya. (2) Wife of Agni.
The deities of absolute ether (Aakash), absolute air (Vaayu), absolute
fire (Tej), absolute water (Apa) and absolute earth (Prithvi) represent the
five main cosmic elements. The Deity of absolute Fire has three forms, the
Sun in the sky, lightning in the atmosphere and fire on the Earth. (Indra is
considered the Deity of the sky, Varun the Deity of the atmosphere and Agni
the Deity of the Earth.) Of these the Sun Deity and the Fire Deity are the
two main forms worthy of worship.
Swaahaa and Swadhaa - these
are the two wives of Agni Dev. Swaahaa's name is always taken when performing a sacrificial fire (Hom),
at the end of a Mantra while an oblation is offered to any Devtaa
because it is believed that a sacrificial fire bestows benefits only if Swaahaa is uttered in this way. When praying to Agni, Sage Grutsamad
says, “O Agni deliver the oblation offered through the fire amidst
chanting of the word Swaahaa to deities.” (Rig Ved 2.3.11).
Swaaha is the daughter of Daksh Prajaapati and Prasooti. She acquired
the ability to deliver food to Deities because of her austerities. She
gave birth to four sons namely the three fires Paavak, Pavamaan and
Shuchi and Swaarochish Manu (Brahmavaivarta Puraan 2.40).
The Devee Bhaagvat narrates her story as - "Lord Vishnu manifested in
the form of a sacrificial fire so that deities would get food. Braahman
began to offer oblations in that sacrificial fire. However Agni would
not deliver that part of the oblation to the respective Deity. Hence the
Deities approached Lord Brahmaa once again. Then he meditated upon the
female deity (Devee) and she manifested herself in the form of a woman.
Lord Brahmaa named her Swaahaa and instructed her to deliver oblations
which were offered in the fire amidst chanting of her name to the
Deities. She accepted the task. Then Agni married her and she bore three
sons, their names being Gaarhapatya Agni (the fire worshipped in the
home), Dakshinaagni (the fire placed in the south) and Aahvaaneeya Agni
(the sacred fire lit for a specific spiritual purpose). Since then
Brahmans began to offer oblations suffixing Swaahaa to the Mantra and
deities began to receive their share of oblations. When offering an
oblation the name of the Deity is chanted along with the nae of the
Deity - for example ‘Indraaya Swaahaa’ means ‘I offer this oblation to
Indra’. It is said that Swaahaa should be worshipped with the Mantra “Om
hreem shreem, vaahnijaayaayai devyai Svaha’ (ॐ र्हीं श्रीं वह्निजायायै
देव्यै स्वाहा
।)”.’
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