aṃgiraḥ, aṃgiras m. [
aṃgati-aṃgagatau asi iruṭ;]
Uṇ. 4. 235; according to
Ait. Br. aṃgiras is from
aṃgāra; ye aṃgārā āsaṃsteṃgiraso'bhavan; so
Nir.;
aṃgāreṣu yobabhūva soṃgirāḥ N. of a celebrated sage to whom many hymns of the Ṛgveda are ascribed. Etymologically Aṅgiras is connected with the word Agni and is often regarded as its synonym (
śivo bhava prajābhyo mānuṣībhyastvamaṃgiraḥ; aṃgirobhiḥ ṛṣibhiḥ saṃpāditatvāt aṃgasauṣṭhavādvā aṃgirā agnirūpaḥ). According to Bhārata he was a son of Agni. When Agni began to practise penance, Aṅgiras himself became Agni and surpassed him in power and lustre, seeing which Agni came to the sage and said:
nikṣipāmyahamagnitvaṃ tvamagniḥ prathamo bhava . bhaviṣyāmi dvitīyohaṃ prājāpatyaka eva ca .. Aṅgiras said:
kuru puṇyaṃ prajāsargaṃ bhavāgnistimirāpahaḥ . māṃ ca deva kuruṣvāgne prathamaṃ putramaṃjasā .. tacchrutvāṃgiraso vākyaṃ jātavedāstathā'karot. He was one of the 10 mind-born sons of Brahmā. His wife was Śraddhā, daughter of Kardama and bore him
3 sons, Bṛhaspati, Utathya and Saṃvarta, and
4 daughters Kuhū, Sinīvālī, Rākā and Anumati. The Matsya Purāṇa says that Aṅgiras was one of the three sages produced from the sacrifice of Varuṇa and that he was adopted by Agni as his son and acted for some time as his regent. Another account, however, makes him father of Agni. He was one of the seven great sages and also one of the 10 Prajāpatis or progenitors of mankind. In latter times Aṅgiras was one of the inspired lawgivers, and also a writer on Astronomy. As an astronomical personification he is Bṛhaspati, regent of Jupiter or Jupiter itself. He is also regarded as the priest of the gods and the lord of sacrifices. Besides Śraddhā his wives were Smṛti, two daughters of Maitreya, some daughters of Dakṣa, Svadhā and Satī. He is also regarded as a teacher of the Brahmavidyā. The Vedic hymns are also said to be his daughters. According to the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Aṅgiras begot sons possessing Brāhmanical glory on the wife of Rathītara, a Kṣatriya who was childless and these persons were afterwards called descendants of Aṅgiras. The principal authors of vedic hymns in the family of Angiras were 33. His family has three distinct branches
kevalāṃgirasa, gautamāṃgirasa and
bhāradvājāṃgirasa, each branch having a number of subdivisions. (
pl.)
1 Descendants of Aṅgiras, [Aṅgiras being father of Agni they are considered as descendants of Agni himself who is called the first of the Aṅgirasas. Like Aṅgiras they occur in hymns addressed to luminous (
pb) objects, and at a later period they became for the most part personifications of light, of luminous bodies, of divisions of time, celestial phenomena and fires adapted to peculiar occasions, as the full moon and change of the moon, or to particular rites, as the
aśvamedha, rājasūya &c.]
2 Hymns of the Atharvaveda.
3 Priests, who, by using magical formulas of the Atharvaveda, protect the sacrifice against the effects of inauspicious accidents.