The Rebirth of Fire God

Lord Indra was the king of Gods and ruled the kingdom of Heaven (swarg lok). Among his council were Agni; the God of fire, Vayu; the God of air, Varuna; the God of water, the Sun God, the Moon God to name a few and their preacher (Guru) Braspati.

One day Lord Indra asked Agni and Vayu to kill all demons and destroy their kingdom (Patal lok). The Gods were able to kill most demons, but some if the demons concealed themselves in the ocean.

Agni and Vayu returned yo the heaven and told Lord Indra that few demons have mystetically concealed themselves under the ocean and survived their attack. Hearing this Lord Indra became very angry. He asked them to churn the ocean and pull the demons out and kill them

However, Agni and Vaju refusee to churn the ocean. They reasoned, 'The mighty ocean is abode of many dangerous creatures. They are a threat to entire human existence.  We should not  churn the ocean for sake of few demons, as it can destroy the harmony and balance of the Earth'.

But Lord Indra was not convinced. He said, 'The demons can reappear any time and attack our kindgom. It is important that they are killed. Also, if they are not killed they can destroy the entire existence on the Earth. But you are disobeying me and refraining from your duties. I curse you both - you will take birth as humans and woek to serve the humanity'

Thus by the curse of Lord Indra, Agni was reborn as Sage Agastya and Vayu took birth as Sage Vashishtha.