Thou dost go wisely between these two creations (Heaven and Earth) like a friendly messenger between two hamlets....
His worshippers might address him with great familiarity, as in the following extracts:—
If I were thee and thou wert me, thine aspirations should be fulfilled.
Rigveda, xiii, 44. 23.
If, O Agni, thou wert a mortal and I an immortal, I would not abandon thee to wrong or to penury: my worshippers should not be poor, nor distressed, nor miserable.
Rigveda, viii, 19.
These appeals are reminiscent of the quaint graveyard inscription:
Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde.
Hae mercy on my soul, Lord God,
As I wad dae were I Lord God,
And ye were Martin Elginbrodde.
The growth of monotheistic thought is usually evinced in all mythologies by the tendency to invest a popular deity with the attributes of other gods. Agni is sometimes referred to as the sky god and the storm god. In one of the hymns he is entreated to slay demons and send rain as if he were Indra: