Page 98 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE ANTELOPE'S HEAD 85

9, the dogs arc called peshupana, or those that guard the way to the
region of death. The Avesta dog is chothru-chashmen ( Ved. viii.
16 ), while the Vedic dogs are described as chatur-ak.!hau ( ~ig.
x. 14. II ), both of which expressions mean ' four-eyed. ' The
dogs in the Avesta and the ~igveda, however, differ in colour. In
Ved. viii. I6 the dogs are said to zairitem or spactem zairi-gaoshem,
yellow or white with yellow ears, while the dogs of Yama are said
be shabalau, spotted or variegated. But the difference is neither very
material, nor such as cannot be accounted for. In the ~igveda we
can trace the yellow colour of the A vesta dog. The antelope of the
sun in ~igveda x. 86. 3 is said to be horita or yellow, the zaire/em
of the A vesta and if we suppose this antelope to be no other than
that represented by Orion, as the sun commenced the year at that
point we need not be surprised if the dogs in the A vesta are
described as yellow, especially when in the Atharva Veda viii. 1. 9
we find the two messsenger dogs of Yama named as Shyama and
Shabala, thus noting probably a difference in colour. The Atharva
Veda iv. 20. 7 mentions a four-eyed bitch, while in the Shatapatha
Brahmalla xiii. 1. 2. 9. the adjective is applied to a dog; and the
same animal is evidently intended in both places. In the Parsi
scriptures the dogs at the Chinvat Bridge are sometimes, spoken
of in singular ( Ved. viii. I6) and sometimes, as in ~ig. x. 14. II,
in dual ( Ved. xiii. 9 ). This shows that we niight disregard gender
and number in the description of these dogs; and we are thus
led to suppose that Sarama in the ~igveda is again to be identified
with the dogs that watch the gates of heaven. Whether Sarama •
in primitive days was or was not connected with the dawn, I do
not undertake to say. But there is an incident in her story which
confirms the identification I have proposed. The Pa1;1is tried to coax
SaramA by offering her milk which she drank. On her return she
denied having seen the cows of lndra, who thereupon kicked her
and she vomited the milk. Now the mention of milk at once suggests
the idea that it must be the milk in the galaxy on each side of
which the two dogs are stationed. In ~ig. iv. 57. 5 Shunawau are
.. invoked in order that they may pour down upon the earth the
' milk,' which they ' make in heaven. ' Prof. Max Muller records
a suggestion that Shunastrau, here spoken of, may be a very old

• See Max MH!ler's Lertur(S on the Science of Language, Vol. If,
p. SII.