Agni Desires the Saptarshi Wives and Svaha's Plan
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.
Agni emerged from the sacrifice and saw them.
The wives of the seven great rishis — the saptarshis — were seated in their hermitages, bathing happily. Their complexions were as golden as sacrificial altars, as unblemished as a digit of the moon. Their limbs glowed with the radiance of the fire itself. They were as extraordinary as the stars.
Agni became overcome with desire. His mind and his senses were stirred.
But he thought: *It is not proper for me to be excited. These are the wives of the foremost among brahmanas. They are beyond the reach of desire, and I am desiring them. I cannot look at them, or touch them, without justified reason.*
So he entered the household fire — the fire that burns in every home, the fire that receives every offering — and from within it, he looked at them. He touched all of them with his flames, golden in complexion. Overcome by those beautiful ones, Agni lived there, his heart attracted by love for them.
But he was not able to obtain them. And since his heart was tormented by desire, Agni decided that he would give up his body. He went to the forest.
Now Svaha — Daksha's daughter — had desired Agni for a long time. For a long time, the beautiful one had been watching for a weakness. But she had never found one in the god who was never distracted.
On learning that Agni had left for the forest, the beautiful one, tormented by her own desire, began to think.
*I will assume the forms of the wives of the saptarshis and seek out Agni. He is overcome with desire. I will seduce and desire him in those forms. On doing this, he will be delighted and my desire will be satisfied.* Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 510