Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s8.914

v2.c4.s8.914

Śvan in the Rigveda¹ and later² is the word for ‘dog,’ the feminine being Śunī.³ The dog was a tame animal,⁴ and used to guard the house from thieves or other intruders.5 He was also employed in hunting the boar (varāha-yu),6 but was no match for the lion.7 A hundred dogs are mentioned as a gift in a Dānastuti (‘Praise of Gifts’) in a Vālakhilya hymn.⁸ Elsewhere the dog is regarded as unfit for sacrifice, as being unclean,⁹ and is driven away from the sacrifice.¹⁰ To eat dog’s flesh was a last resort of despair and hunger.¹¹ The bones of the feast were given to the dog.¹² Saramā figures in legend as Indra’s faithful dog¹³ searching for the cows. Rudra is lord of dogs (śva-pati) in the Yajurveda;¹⁴ the ‘dog-keeper’ (śvanin) is mentioned in the list of sacrificial victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) in the same Saṃhitā.¹⁵ The four-eyed (catur-akṣa) dogs of certain texts¹⁶ are, of course, mythological.¹⁷ Cf. Kurkura.