Agni

Janamejaya asks Vaishampayana what Dhritarashtra said upon hearing of Arjuna's extraordinary deeds. The blind king delivers a long lament to Sanjaya — cataloguing Arjuna's feats, despairing that no warrior can withstand him, and resigning himself to fate: that which is bound to happen cannot be avoided.

The rishis Narada and Parvata visit Indra's celestial court, and Indra notices that the brave kshatriya kings no longer come to him. Narada explains that Damayanti's svayamvara is imminent — and the lokapalas (guardians of the world), overhearing, decide to go as well. On their way to Vidarbha, the gods encounter Nala and ask him to become their messenger.

Four gods — Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama — desire Damayanti and choose Nala to deliver their proposal. Nala has already promised to do their bidding, but when he learns the task, he protests: he himself desires Damayanti. The gods insist he keep his word.

When Damayanti enters the svayamvara arena, she finds five identical men — the four gods disguised as Nala and Nala himself — and cannot tell which is her chosen husband. She prays to the gods, asking them to reveal their true forms, and they grant her request, allowing her to see Nala's mortal signs and place the garland around his shoulders.

After Damayanti chooses Nala, the four gods — delighted by her choice — each grant Nala two boons: Indra gives him presence at sacrifices and supreme sacred goals; Agni gives him his presence whenever desired and resplendent worlds; Yama gives him taste of food and establishment in dharma; Varuna gives him his presence and a fragrant garland. The gods return to heaven, the kings depart, and Nala marries Damayanti, ruling righteously like Yayati.

At a sacrifice performed by Vishvakarma, the Self-created One gives the entire earth to the sage Kashyapa. The earth, furious at being handed to a mortal, threatens to descend into the underworld — and only Kashyapa's austerities can bring her back.

King Ushinara's sacrifice surpasses Indra's own, drawing the king of the gods and Agni down to test him. Indra becomes a hawk, Agni a dove — and the dove, fleeing the hawk, alights on the king's thigh seeking refuge, beginning a trial that will reveal the measure of a mortal king.

Lomasa begins a tour of the sacred region of Kashmira, pointing out holy lakes, mountains, and hermitages to Yudhishthira. He recounts the story of King Ushinara's sacrifice — a test by Indra and Agni that would determine whether a mortal king could equal the gods.

Arvavasu returns to the sacrifice, cleansed of his brother's sin — but Paravasu sees him approaching and tells King Brihaddyumna that Arvavasu is the killer of a brahmana who must be expelled. The servants throw Arvavasu out, though he cries out that he is innocent and that he performed the vow for his brother's sake.

After being revived, Yavakrita asks the gods — with Agni at the forefront — how Raibhya was able to slay him, a learned ascetic who had accomplished the vow of knowing the brahman. He cannot understand how he, who mastered the Vedas easily, could be killed by Raibhya, who studied with such difficulty.

Yudhishthira, having heard holy accounts, asks Markandeya why Agni left for the forest, how Angiras became fire in his absence, and how Kumara was born. Markandeya begins to narrate the ancient history of the fire-god's displacement.

Agni, displaced by the sage Angiras who has become the new fire-god, returns from his austerities to find himself forgotten. He approaches Angiras fearfully, and the sage offers him a way to regain his position — not by reclaiming his role, but by obtaining his first son through Angiras himself.

Markandeya begins a systematic enumeration of the fires descended from Brihaspati and Chandramasi — their births, marriages, children, and ritual roles. From Shamyu, the first recipient of oblations at chaturmasya, to Uktha, praised by the three uktha hymns, the entire genealogy of the sacred fires is recited, establishing their names, attributes, and places in sacrificial rites.

Five sages perform terrible austerities for many years, seeking a son equal to Brahma. From their combined power, a five-colored fire named Panchajanya is born — and then proceeds to perform his own austerities for ten thousand years, creating gods, ancestors, and the entire cosmic order of sacrificial fire.

When the sage Niyata arrives, Agni is so frightened he abandons his cosmic duty and hides in the ocean. The gods cannot find him. He asks Atharva to carry oblations in his place, then discards his body entirely — creating minerals, gems, and metals from his flesh — before being restored to his sacrificial role through Atharva's churning.

Markandeya narrates the entire genealogy of fire — from Mudita and Saha Apa, through Apamgarbha, Bharata, and Niyata, to Agni's flight, his discarding of his body, and his restoration by Atharva. The account reveals that all fires are ultimately one, issuing from Angiras's body in many forms.

Emerging from a sacrifice, Agni sees the wives of the seven great rishis bathing and is overcome with desire. Unable to act on his feelings, he retreats to the forest to give up his body — but Svaha, who has long desired Agni, sees his weakness and resolves to assume the forms of those very wives to seduce him.

Pleased with the union, Shiva catches Agni's semen in her hand and fears that people will see it and speak of the brahmanas' wives' misdeeds. She becomes a Garudi (Suparni), flies to Mount Shveta guarded by serpents, and hurls the semen into a golden well. She then assumes the forms of the other wives of the saptarshis and unites with Agni six times — but cannot assume Arundhati's form due to her faithfulness.

Tormented by desire, Shiva — the wife of the sage Angiras — approaches Agni and threatens to kill herself if he does not satisfy her. She reveals that the wives of the saptarshis have learned of Agni's longing through signs and have sent her to him. Agni, overjoyed, accepts her.

On the first lunar day, the energy of Agni's fallen semen gives birth to Skanda — a child with six heads, twelve eyes, and twelve arms. He seizes a giant bow, roars so terribly that the three worlds tremble, grabs the nagas Chitra and Airavata, shatters Mount Krouncha with arrows, and hurls his spear at Mount Shveta, terrifying all beings into seeking refuge with him.

Terrible portents shake the world, and the rishis fear the calamities have come because Agni slept with the wives of the saptarshis. But no one knows the truth — that the deed was done by Svaha, the goddess of offering, who had taken the form of each wife to seduce the fire god. When the child Skanda is born, the gods themselves tremble at his power and send the mothers of the world to destroy him.

Indra, king of the gods, rides out on Airavata with the full army of heaven to kill Agni's son, Mahasena. But when the boy god roars back and belches flames that burn the divine army to cinders, the gods abandon their king — and Indra is left alone to hurl his vajra at a being who cannot be killed by it.

Markandeya narrates the origin of Skanda's terrifying companions — sons and daughters born when the vajra struck him. The mothers of the world approach Skanda and ask to be made supreme, worshipped by all. He grants their wish, and through his favour, each mother bears a terrible son named Shishu, establishing the group of eight brave ones and the nine including Bhadrashakha.

Prajapati Brahma tells Mahasena (Skanda) to go to his father Mahadeva, then explains the strange circumstances of his birth — how Rudra entered Agni and Uma entered Svaha, how the semen was scattered five ways, and how the flesh-eating ganas were born from it. Skanda agrees, worships his father, and is affectionately received.

Svaha appears before Skanda and declares she is Daksha's daughter who has always desired Agni — but the fire god does not fully know her love. She asks Skanda to grant her eternal residence with Agni. Skanda decrees that henceforth every oblation offered through Agni will be rendered with the utterance of the word "svaha," ensuring she will always reside with him.

With Skanda instated as general of the gods, Rudra departs for Bhadravata in a chariot yoked to a thousand lions, followed by a vast celestial procession — gods, yakshas, rishis, weapons, rivers, and the very branches of knowledge — establishing the new cosmic order.

Dashagriva, the ten-headed king of the rakshasas, is rampaging through the three worlds, protected by a boon that makes him invincible to gods and asuras. The gods, led by Agni, flee to Brahma for refuge — and learn that the solution has already been set in motion. Vishnu has already descended to earth, and the gods themselves must take birth among monkeys and bears to serve as his army.

Sita has collapsed after Rama's public rejection. As she lies on the ground, the sky fills with gods — Brahma, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Yama, Varuna — and the radiant form of King Dasharatha descends in a swan-drawn chariot. Sita rises and calls upon the elements themselves to witness her truth.

Yudhishthira is weighed down by the calamity that has befallen him. Dhoumya, his priest, speaks to him — not with empty consolation, but with a catalogue of gods who once hid in the most unlikely places: Indra in a hermitage, Vishnu in a womb, Agni in water. If the great-souled ones concealed themselves to conquer their enemies, Dhoumya asks, why should a king not do the same?