The righteous forefathers of old who died before, they have found
another good place. Especially Yama, the first mortal, has gone to the
great rivers on high; he has searched out, like a pioneer, the way for
all his descendants: "He went before and found a dwelling which no power
can debar us from. Our fathers of old have traveled the path; it leads
every earth-born mortal thither. There in the midst of the highest
heaven beams unfading light and eternal waters flow; there every wish is
fulfilled on the rich meadows of Yama." Day by day Yama sends forth two
dogs, his messengers, to search out among men those who are to join the
fathers that are having an excellent time in Yama's company.
THE TWO DOGS OF YAMA.
The tenth book of the _Rig-Veda_ contains in hymns 14-18 a collection of
funeral stanzas quite unrivaled for mythological and ethnological
interest in the literature of ancient peoples. In hymn 14 there are
three stanzas (10-12) that deal with the two dogs of Yama. This is the
classical passage, all depends upon its interpretation.
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