Svaha

Svaha

स्वाहा, svāhā

"let it be so", "offering".

Svaha is Agni’s wife, his shakti, without whom he cannot burn, she is one of Prakriti’s forms. It is believed that it is thanks to her that sacrifices reach the gods. Fire sacrifices are not effective if "svaha" is not pronounced at the end of the mantra at the time of the samagri offering. In "Devi Mahatmya", Svaha is listed as one of the names of the Great Goddess.

According to legend, Svaha was one of the sixty daughters of Daksha Prajapati. Having seen Agni one day, she fell in love with him, but he did not notice her, overwhelmed by sensual desire for the wives of the seven rishis – the Krittikas. Being devoted wives, they all rejected Agni and he, upset, went into the forest. The fire of desire engulfed Agni so much that he thought about renunciation. Seeing Agni suffering, Svaha decided on a cunning plan: she took the form of one of the rishi's wives every new day and so easily seduced Agni six times. Svaha could not take the form of the seventh of the wives, Arundhati, the wife of Vasishtha, because of her outstanding devotion to her husband. At this point, her deception was revealed and Agni had to marry her. According to one version of the continuation of this legend, the six-headed god Skanda was born from the union of Svaha and Agni. 

The body of the Goddess is described as woven from the four Vedas, and her six limbs are the six Angas of the Vedas. Svaha and Agni have three sons, who in the life of a Hindu are represented as three types of fire: Dakshina (agni that protects from evil), Garbhatya (agni that maintains life in the house) and Ahavaniya (agni of sacrifices).