Sun and moon, as they move across the sky, are
the natural messengers of Yama, seated on high in the abode of the
blessed, but Yama is after all death, and death hounds us all. Epithets
like "man-beholding," or "guarding the way," suit neutrally both
conceptions. Above all, the earliest statements about Yama's dogs are
relieved of their inconsistencies. On the one hand the exhortation to
the dead to run past the two dogs in order to get to heaven, suits the
idea of the heavenly dogs who are coursing across the sky. On the other
hand, by an easy, though quite contrary, change of mental position, the
same two heavenly dogs are the guides who guard the way and look upon
men favorably; hence they are ordered by Yama to take charge of the dead
and to furnish them such health and prosperity as the shades happen to
have use for. Again, by an equally simple shift of position, sun and
moon move among men as the messengers of death; by night and by day men
perish, while these heavenly bodies alternate in their presence among
men.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35