fire
FIRE
The discovery of this element in prehistoric time, which is probably acci-
dental, enabled pre-historic humans to make a transition from a raw to a
cooked diet, which is associated with more developed forms of culture.
In his study of South Indian cultures, the anthropologist Lévi-Strauss
relates a variety of myths about the origin of fire in his work The Raw
and the Cooked. In many versions, Indians lack fire, but they learn about
it and appropriate it for their own uses from the jaguar, thus enabling
them to cook food, warm themselves, and light the village at night. If
cooked food is equivalent to being civilized, it is the element of fire that
makes this possible for humans. During his research, Lévi-Strauss finds
that the Indians identify two kinds of fire: celestial and destructive and
terrestrial and creative. The former type of fire takes life and the latter
type makes life possible.
Fire is a primary element in many cultures. Along with wood, metal,
earth, and water, fire is a basic element within ancient Chinese culture.
In the Hindu Bhagavad Gītā (13.1–6), the self is composed of five great
elements (earth, water, air, space, and fire). In Pali Buddhism, form (mat-
ter) consists of air, water, earth, and fire, according to the great scholar
Buddhaghosa. In his work Ratnāvali, the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna
claims that a human is a set of six elements that includes fire. Buddhism
also depicts fire as involved in the future destruction of the world,
whereas the major monotheistic faiths associate fire directly with hell in
the Hebrew Scriptures (Isa. 66.24) and the Qur’an (22.20). Moreover, in
Islam the spirits (jinn) are made of fire.
The importance of fire is evident in ancient Greek and Iranian cultures.
In ancient Greece, the cultural hero Prometheus steals fire and knowledge
of arts and crafts from Hephaestus and Athena, and he gives these items
to humans. Along with the blood of a pig, fire purifies a person guilty of
homicide. In Zoroastrianism, fire is sacred and central to the cultic activ-
ity. Zoroastrians believe that fire is a living symbol of righteousness, and
it is represented by three grades: Atash Bahram, which is always kept
burning even during the night; Atash Adaran, which is served by priests;
and Dadgah, which can be served by a priest or layperson.
Similar to the centrality of fire in Zoroastrianism is the fire cult of the
ancient Indian Vedic religion where it is used to send food to the gods in
return for rain. Fire is called the messenger of the gods, and is personified
as the deity Agni. Fire possesses the ability to purify people, to transform
profane areas into holy places for sacrificial purposes, necessary for the
cremation of the dead, and to drive away evil spirits. The household fire