The god of the hearth fire is fitly called ‘master of the house’. Agni has this
title (dám
̇
pati-, RV 5. 22. 4; 8. 84. 7; gr
̇hápati-, 1. 12. 6, 36. 5, etc.), as does A ̄tar
(Y. 17. 11 A ̄trəm vı ̄spana ̨m nma ̄nana ̨m nma ̄no ̄paitı ̄m, ‘housemaster of all
houses’), and a variant of the same compound survived in Lithuania. The
Jesuit Relatio for 1604 records the cult there of a deus domesticus named
Dimstapatis: some said he was a god of fire, and they would offer a cock to
him, eating it themselves and committing the bones to the hearth, while
others regarded him as the housewives’ god.^112 In Chapter 3 we noticed
the Mycenaean deity written as do-po-ta, perhaps standing for Dospota ̄s
(*doms-). Here is the same title again; unfortunately we cannot tell whether
this Housemaster too was a fire-god.
The Fire in the WatersThe Indo-Iranian pantheon includes a marvellous, mysterious being known
as (Vedic) Apa ̄ ́m
̇
nápa ̄t-, (Avestan) Apa ̨m nápa ̄t-, the napa ̄t- of the Waters.^113
The Waters are themselves a holy quantity, to be considered below. As we
noted in connection with the Divine Twins in Chapter 4, napa ̄t-, the cognate
of Latin nepo ̄s, means literally ‘grandson’ or more vaguely ‘progeny’.
This deity resides in the waters. He shines there in golden splendour, sur-
rounded by the youthful, divine, female Waters, who nurture him (RV 2. 35.
3–5). He is the source of all life; plants and creatures propagate themselves as
his branches (2. 35. 2, 8, cf. 7. 9. 3). He created mankind (Yt. 19. 52), and helps
to distribute the waters to human settlements (Yt. 8. 34). He can be identified
with Agni (RV 1. 143. 1; 3. 9. 1; 7. 9. 3), but also distinguished from him (6. 13.
3); he is somehow a form of fire, but not synonymous with fire. Agni too is
often said to have his abode in the waters, or to have been discovered by the
gods in concealment there. In 3. 1. 3–9 it is related that they found him ‘in
the activity of the sisters’, that is, of the rivers: ‘The seven streams nurtured
his strength... They ran up to him like mares to a newborn foal; the gods
admired Agni at his birth.... He went in to heaven’s streams... There the
old ones who are (ever) young, who share a common womb,... received the
one embryo... Moving hidden from his good friends, from heaven’s streams
he was not hidden.’
(^112) Mannhardt (1936), 432, cf. 435; F. Solmsen in Usener (1896), 89, ‘Dimstipatis zu dimstis
haus hof, also herr des hauses, hofs’.
(^113) Cf. Macdonell (1898), 69 f., 92; Oldenberg (1917), 101, 117–20; Hillebrandt (1927–9), i.
349–57, ii. 304 f.; Dumézil (1968–73), iii. 21–4; Oberlies (1998), 176 f.; in Iran, von Schroeder
(1914–16), ii. 490–2; Dumézil, 24–7. The Avestan references are Y. 1. 5, 2. 5, 65. 12, 71. 23; Yt. 5.
72, 8. 34, 13. 95, 19. 51 f.
270 6. Storm and Stream