They contain
detached statements which take up the idea from different points of
view, that are not easily harmonized as long as the dogs are merely
ordinary canines; they resolve themselves fitly and neatly into a pair
of natural objects, if we follow closely all the ideas which the Hindus
associated with them.
In the first place, it is clear that we are dealing with the conception
of Cerberus. In stanza 10 the two dogs are conceived as ill-disposed
creatures, standing guard to keep the departed souls out of bliss. The
soul on its way to heaven is addressed as follows:
"Run past straightway the two four-eyed dogs, the spotted and (the
dark), the brood of Saram[=a]; enter in among the propitious fathers who
hold high feast with Yama."
A somewhat later text, the book of house-rite of [=A]cval[=a]yana, has
the notion of the sop to Cerberus: "To the two dogs born in the house
of (Yama) Vivasvant's son, to the dark and the spotted, I have given a
cake; do ye guard me ever on my road!"
The twelfth stanza of the _Rig-Veda_ hymn strikes a somewhat different
note which suggests both good and evil in the character of the two dogs:
"The two brown, broad-nosed messengers of Yama, life-robbing, wander
among men.
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