अथ एनम् अग्नये हरन्ति तस्य अग्निः एव अग्निः भवति समित् समित् धूमः धूमः अर्चिः अर्चिः अङ्गाराः अङ्गाराः विष्फुलिङ्गाः विष्फुलिङ्गाः तस्मिन् एतस्मिन् अग्नौ देवाः पुरुषं जुह्वति तस्याः आहुत्यै पुरुषः भास्वरवर्णः संभवति
atha enam agnaye haranti tasya agniḥ eva agniḥ bhavati samit samit dhūmaḥ dhūmaḥ arciḥ arciḥ aṅgārāḥ aṅgārāḥ viṣphuliṅgāḥ viṣphuliṅgāḥ tasmin etasmin agnau devāḥ puruṣaṃ juhvati tasyāḥ āhutyai puruṣaḥ bhāsvaravarṇaḥ saṃbhavati
— they carry him to the fire. His fire becomes [for him] the fire, the fuel the fuel, the smoke the smoke, the flame the flame, the coals the coals, the sparks the sparks. Into this fire the gods offer the man; out of this oblation a man of shining colour is born.
d034e15b6b5f · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:25:52 AM UTC
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The sixth fire is the funeral pyre, and here the Bṛhadāraṇyaka is more solemn than her sister: "the fire becomes the fire, the fuel the fuel…": at the last altar the images coincide with the things — the metaphor has ended, the liturgy has become literal: the man is himself the oblation.
And out of the sixth oblation "a man of shining colour is born" (bhāsvara-varṇaḥ): the pyre is not an end but a final smelting: the perishable burns away, the luminous rises. Death is built into the same chain of births by fire: the antyeṣṭi, "the last sacrifice", gives birth to a being of light — the one who is now to set foot on one of the two roads.