Jataveda ( sa, जातवेद, translit=Jātaveda) is a

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally prese ...

term for a particular form/epithet of

Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

, the Vedic god of fire.

Description

In a tradition originating in the late Vedic period, but already alluded to in the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

, Agni has three forms: a celestial form (fire of the sun and the stars), an aerial form (lightning and the life-force of vegetation called the 'Child/Embryo of the Waters'), and a terrestrial form (e.g., the altar fire at worship). In this scheme, Jataveda ( mass noun) represents the class of terrestrial fires (i.e. hearth fire, kiln fire, and so on), but in particular as ''the'' Jataveda representing Agni as the altar fire. In that aspect as the altar fire, Agni-Jataveda was perceived to be the means through which his worshippers were to gain knowledge/wisdom/understanding (''veda'') of all existence (''jata''). In an extended sense, the altar fire/Agni-Jataveda was then also perceived to be the hypostasis of the inspiration that engendered the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

themselves. This exact sense of word appears to have been lost very early, and there are numerous speculations on the nature of the Jatavedas in the commentaries of the late Vedas and the

Brahmanas The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...

. The word is explained five ways: (1) Knowing all created beings; (2) Possessing all creatures or everything existent; (3) Known by created beings; (4) Possessing the ''Vedas'', riches; (5.) Possessing the ''Vedas'', wisdom. Even more derivations and explanations are found in the Brahmanas. In post-Vedic literature, the term is also used as an epithet of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

. According to the

Brahma Purana The ''Brahma Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्मपुराण or ; ) is one of the eighteen major Puranas collections of Hindu texts in Sanskrit Language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, and therefore also called Ad ...

, Jataveda is the brother of

who performed ritual offerings.

References

. Rigveda {{Hindu-myth-stub