6. 9.)
This theme is so well fixed in the minds of the time that it is
elaborated in a charm to preserve from some kind of injury, addressed to
the mythic figures of the legend:
"Through the air he flies looking down upon all beings: with the majesty
of the heavenly dog, with that oblation would we pay homage to thee.
"The three K[=a]lak[=a]njas, that are fixed upon the sky like gods, all
these I have called to help, to render this person free from harm.
"In the waters is thy origin, upon the heavens thy home, in the middle
of the sea, and upon the earth, thy greatness; with the majesty of the
heavenly dog, with that oblation would we pay homage to thee."
(_Atharva-Veda_ vi., 80.)
The single heavenly dog that is described here is of no mean interest.
The passage proves the individual character of each of the two dogs of
Yama; they cannot be a vague pair of heavenly dogs, but must be based
each upon some definite phenomenon in the heavens.
Yet another text, Hiranyakecin's book of house-rites, locates the dogs
of Yama, describing them in unmistakable language, in heaven: "The brood
of Saram[=a], dark beneath and brown, run, looking down upon the sea.
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