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Shelf entry · Vedic

Rigveda 1.93.6, 1.141.3, 1.148.1 (Griffith)

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traditionVedic
cited by 1 connection
public domain yes
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fire · fire-5

Both traditions name a single non-human intermediary who fetches fire DOWN from heaven for mortals, and both hide the fire inside a plant in transit: latent in the araṇi wood until rubbed out; smoldering in the fennel pith until delivered. Comparative philology has linked the pair since Adalbert Kuhn (Die Herabkunft des Feuers, 1859) via Skt. pramantha (fire-drill churning stick) ~ Prometheus · the etymology is contested, but the shared motif structure (heavenly fire + named fetcher + fire concealed in a stalk of wood) is textually solid on both sides.

'One of you Mātariśvan brought from heaven' (1.93.6); the fire he brought is the one that 'lay concealed' and was 'rubbed forth' · 'What Mātariśvan, piercing, formed by friction' (1.148.1): the descent from heaven and the churning of the fire-drill are one continuous act, and the hidden fire lives in the wood between kindlings.

set against Hesiod, Works and Days ll. 50-52…

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