Burnouf[37] recounts the myth of Agni (from which comes, through the Latin _ignis_, the English word igneous), the god of Sacred Fire, as told in the Veda:[38] The young queen, the mother of Fire, carried the royal infant mysteriously concealed in her bosom. She was a woman of the people, whose common name was "Arani"--that is, the instrument of wood (the Swastika) from which fire was made or brought by rubbing. * * * The origin of the sign [Swastika] is now easy to recognize. It represents the two pieces of wood which compose _l'arani_, of which the extremities were bent to be retained by the four nails. At the junction of the two pieces of wood was a fossette or cup-like hole, and there they placed a piece of wood upright, in form of a lance (the Pramantha), violent rotation of which, by whipping (after the fashion of top-whipping), produced fire, as did Prometheus, the _porteur du feu_, in Greece. And this myth was made, as have been others, probably by the priests and poets of succeeding times, to do duty for different philosophies. The Swastika was made to represent Arani (the female principle); the Pramantha or upright fire stake representing Agni, the fire god (the male); and so the myth served its part to account for the birth of fire. Burnouf hints that the myth grew out of the production of holy fire for the sacred altars by the use of the Pramantha and Swastika, after the manner of savages in all times. Zmigrodzki accepts this myth, and claims all specimens with dots or points--supposed nail holes--as Swastikas. The Count Goblet d'Alviella[39] argues in opposition to the theory announced by Burnouf and by Zmigrodzki, that the Swastika or croix swasticale, when presenting dots or points, had relation to fire making. He denies that the points represent nails, or that nails were made or necessary either for the Swastika or the Arani, and concludes that there is no evidence to support the theory, and nothing to show the Swastika to have been used as a fire-making apparatus, whether with or without the dots or points. Mr. Greg[40] opposes this entire theory, saying: The difficulty about the Swastika and its supposed connection with fire appears to me to be in not knowing precisely what the old fire drill and chark were like. * * * I much doubt whether the Swastika had originally any connection either with the fire-chark or with the sun. * * * The best authorities consider Burnouf is in error as to the earlier use of the two lower cross pieces of wood and the four nails said to have been used to fix or steady the framework.