Greek and Avestan parallels for Vedic narasamsa


Vedic narasamsa, an epithet of Agni, is fairly transparently made up from nr "man" and sams "praise". It not so clear, though, why the combination is regularly associated with Agni as a mediator between men and gods.

Indo-European poetics, when examined in sufficient depth, provides an answer. There is an obvious Avestan congener nairiio-sangha. In addition, Watkins, How to Kill a Dragon (1995), pp. 90-92, discusses various Greek parallels which combine aner "man" and kekasmai "be pre-eminent". Watkins' treatment, however, focuses just on "praise" as part of the Indo-European poet's image and presentation of himself. Drawing in part on my paper "Greek Kosmos 'Order, Arrangement' and Indo-European Poetics", in Actes du XVe Congrès International des Linguistes 4:15-18 (Sainte-Foy, Québec, 1993), I show that the idea of some appointed position among men, illustrated for Indo-European *kens- in Greek passages such as Odyssey 7.153-157, is also important in Indo-Iranian. Yasna 17.11, for example, connects Avestan nairiio-sangha with a reference to royal lineage.

Vedic narasamsa is also regularly associated with a proper sequence into which Agni and humans alike fit. As a result, Agni, when properly praised by the Vedic rishi, is indeed a divine mediator.