[Advaita-l] Question on Purvakanda

[Venkata sriram P via Advaita-l]

Namaste,

"tisrEva dEvatA iti nairuktAH" - ie., the nirukta says that the main
vaidika devatAs are only 3 in number viz., agni, vAyu / indra, sUrya respectively.

"agniH pruthivIsthAnO vAyurva indrO vA antarikSasthAnaH sUryO dyusthAnaH"
ie., the agni tattva presides over pruthivi; vAyu / indra tattva presides over antarikSa;
sUrya presides over dyu sthAna.

The karma-kANDa bhAga having pUrva-mimAmsa sUtras dealing 
with yajna, yAga & kratus are meant for propitiating the above deities only. 

The "agni-tattva" is the pradhAna upAsya tattva in karma-kANDa and hence
whatever be the samsakarAs performed right from birth to death, is performed
with "Agni-AdhAna" only whether it is "laukika-agni" or "samskAra-agni".

After upanayana, the brahmachAri performs sandhyavandana which is sUryOpAsana
where the hiraNmaya-puruSa is contemplated amidst solar orbit; this is followed
by "agni-kArya" and "samidhAdAna".  After grihasthAshrama, he performs "agni-hOtra",
"vaishwadEva" etc. which involves the agni.  After taking sanyAsa, he draws the 
external agni inside into himself and becomes one with it and thus sports with
"jnAna-shikha" and "jnAna-agni".

So, this is how the agni plays an important role as upAsya-tattva in our 
vaidika sanAtana dharma. 

It is this agni which is extolled as viSNu / rudra / vAk / durga etc. 

The prateekOpAsana, per se, in the form of vigraha-ArAdhana has evolved
out of smritis and purANAs.  But in karma-kANDa, per se, which is a part of
pUrva-mimAmsa, there is no involvement of "pratIkOpAsana" and "vigraha-ArAdhana".

Even kAvyakantha gaNapati muni was also of the same view and according to
him, the pradhAna-upAsya-tattva of veda is Indra.  Infact, it is "indha" which
denotes "agni" but changed to "Indra" owing to the "parOkshapriyatva" of 
vaidika devata rahasya.

My 2 cents..

sriram