Sarama and Her Children

by Bibek Debroy

  But the legacy of looking down upon the dog remained and there was a bit of an identity crisis when the British brought the western influence, with its emphasis on horizontal relationships and treatment of the dog as an equal and a companion. This conflicted with our horizontal legacy and tendency of placing the dog in the lowest rung of the hierarchy. We resolved the schizophrenia by reserving the horizontal kind of relationship for the imported and pedigreed breed, not quite Indian. From exporting dogs two or three thousand years ago, we thus imported the acceptable variety of dog. As for the poor Indian indigenous dog, the descendant of Sarama, it continued to be somewhat looked down upon. This is particularly obvious from the sketch of Bengali literature, as representative of Indian vernacular literature in general. How one treated the dog was a function of whether one was, or was not, a brahmana. And this also probably explains why the issue of the dog and its role has never merited a paper or book in Indological literature, since such stuff is almost invariably written by brahmanas. But as the brahmana influence fades and India becomes more equal and moves away from caste, it is time we gave the pure-bred mongrel indigenous Indian dog its due. A faithful dog is indeed sometimes worth more than a brahmana family.

  Notes

  Chapter 1: Introduction and Tradition

  1. George R. Stewart, Man: An Autobiography (London: Cassell), condensed in The Reader’s Digest, July 1947, 141–76.

  2. E.P. Gee, The Wild Life of India, (New York: E.P. Dullon, 1964).

  3. Research undertaken at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. See Supriya Bezbaruah, “Wolf at Our Door,” India Today, 22 March 2004.

  4. Dipesh Satpathy, “Wolves, Did they Originate in South Asia?” Span, May/June 2004.

  5. Sirius is the dog star.

  6. The History of Herodotus, trans. George Rawlinson (1858; New York: Everyman’s Library, repr. 1992), book 2.67.

  7. One of the best carvings is from the palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (Iraq) and is now housed in the British Museum. This carving is dated to 645 BCE.

  8. Homer, The Odyssey, trans. Samuel Butler (1900; New York: Walter J. Black, 1944), book 17,.

  9. Plutarch, Themistocles,, trans. John Dryden (Boston: Little Brown, 1906), 10.5–6.

  10. Xenophon, Memorabilia of Socrates, book 1, chapter 7, 13–14.

  11. Aelian, On Animals, trans. A.F. Scholfield (London: Harvard University Press and W. Heinemann, London, 1958–59), 7.13.

  12. Michael Newton, Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children (London: Faber and Faber, 2002).

  13. Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. 2nd rev. ed. (New York: D. Appleton, 1883), 24.

  14. Sometimes, instead of a dog, there is a mongoose.

  15. Nennius, British History and the Welsh Annals: History from the Sources, ed. and trans. John Morris (Chichester: Philimore, 198), vol. 8, 42.

  16. The History Place: Great Speeches Collection.

  Chapter 2: Literature and Modernity

  1. Anatoly Rogozhkin, “Sharik, Bim and Rex,” Notes of a Nature Photographer (Moscow: Raduga Publishers, 1988), 46.

  Chapter 3: Sarama

  1. A.L. Basham, The Wonder that Was India (1954; London: Sidgwick & Jackson, repr., 1961), 36.

  2. Ibid., 196.

  3. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization (Karachi: Oxford University Press and American Institute of Pakistan Studies, 1998).

  4. S.P. Gupta, Disposal of the Dead and Physical Types in Ancient India (New Delhi: Oriental Publishers, 1972).

  5. There is yet another Sarameya. He is a king of the Bharata dynasty and rather interestingly, his father is Shvavalka or Shvaphalka, with a clear association with a dog.

  6. The Hymns of the Rig Veda, trans. Ralph T. H. Griffith (1889; New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, repr. 1999).

  7. Manorama Yearbook 2004, 509.

  8. The cows are hidden in a mountain cavern. This place is surrounded by a river.

  9. Shrikant G. Talageri, The Rig Veda: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2000), chapter 10, appendix 3.

  10. Max Muller, Lectures on the Science of Language, vol. 2 (London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1861–63), 513.

  11. John Dawson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature (London: Trubner, 1888), 282.

  12. Sri Aurobindo, On the Vedas (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1956), 142.

  13. 2/440–442. The brahmanas will take us to between 900 and 600 BCE.

  14. Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit (London: Penguin, 1975), 73.

  15. ‘Rasa may here denote a river; in later Hinduism, it is the name of the subterranean watery hell, abode of the demons. Clearly it acts, like the Styx, to separate the other world from this world.’

  16. ‘Paka (childish) is the name of a demon killed by Indra; the epithet may thus mean instructor of the childish or chastiser of Paka.’

  17. William Radice, Myths and Legends of India (New Delhi: Viking, 2001), 92.

  18. Max Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, vol.1, (New York: C. Scribner’s, 1872), 184–85.

  19. S.R Bakshi, Advanced History of India, vol.1 (New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1995), 51.

  20. Rg Veda, 10/14/10–12, Griffith’s translation.

  21. Atharva Veda, 18/2/12. Atharva Veda 18/2/2 mentions four-eyed yet again.

  22. Sukumari Bhattacharji, The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Puranas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), in particular, 48–74.

  23. Jogeshchandra Ray Vidyanidhi, Veder Devata O Krishitkala (Calcutta: Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, 1955).

  24. Wonder that Was India, 196.

  25. The History of Herodotus, trans. George Rawlinson (1858; London: Everyman’s Library, repr. 1992).

  26. Rg Veda, 8/46/28, Griffith’s translation.

  27. Rg Veda, 1/62/3, Griffith’s translation.

  28. Rg Veda, 7/55/1–5, Griffith’s translation.

  29. See Abinas Chandra Das, Rgvedic Culture (New Delhi: Mohit Publications, repr. 2002).

  30. Rg Veda, 6/51/14, Griffith’s translation.

  Chapter 4: Sarama’s Children in the Epics

  1. Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, 70/20.

  2. Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, 56/35.

  3. Uttara Kanda, three interpolated sargas between 59 and 60. Not a single commentator of the Valmiki Ramayana has accepted these three sargas—which include a sarga with a dialogue between an owl and a vulture—as part of the original. The dog’s story stretches across two sargas.

  4. Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Aranyayatraprakarana-parva.

  5. Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Poushyaparvadhyay.

  6. Mahabharata, Vana Parva, Arjunabhigamanaprakarana-parva.

  7. Mahabharata, Sabha Parva, 2/40.

  8. 12/34/13–18.

  9. 12/122/14–29.

  10. Kumarasambhava, 15/24.

  11. 12.139/13–92.

  12. 13/94/3–44 and 13/95/1–86,

  13. Buddhadeva Basu, Mahabharater Katha (Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar and Sons, 1974). In particular, the essay titled, “Shesh Yatra”.

  14. The Harivamsha, 8th and 9th adhyayas.

  15. Arthashastra, 2/15/57. (1 prastha = 32 palas, 1 pala = 4 karshas, and 1 karsha = 16 mashas. One masha was a very small quantity.)

  16. Arthashastra, 4/5/15.

  Chapter 5: Dharmashastras and the Puranas

  1. The word dharma is difficult to translate in English and can only be translated as law, though dharma has a broader nuance. Shastra means sacred text. The dharmashastras deal with religion, law, ethics, rituals and conduct, and have come to determine many Hindu attitudes and customs. They are associated with the ascendancy of the brahmana influence
. The original dharmashastra texts, dating to perhaps the third century to first century BCE are dharmasutras of Apastamba, Gautama, Baudhayana and Vashishtha. Equally important are the smriti texts of Manu, Yajnavalka, Narada, Vishnu, Brihaspati and Katyayana. These evolved by the sixth century CE.

  2. All quotes from the Manu Samhita are from G. Buhler’s English translation of the text, Sacred Books of the East: The Laws of Manus, vol. 25 (Oxford, 1886). Available online at .

  3. Manu Samhita, 3/115.

  4. Manu Samhita, 3/92.

  5. Atri Samhita, 73–74. Also see, Vishnu Samhita, 51/17.

  6. Manu Samhita, 4/216.

  7. Atri Samhita, 231.

  8. Ushanah Samhita, 9/46.

  9. Brihat Yama Smriti, 3/44,48.

  10. The duration of fasting depends on the day of menstruation. Apastamba Samhita, 7/5–18.

  11. Vishnu Samhita, 23/49–50.

  12. Manu Samhita, 8/239.

  13. Vishnu Samhita, 50/32.

  14. Ushanah Samhita, 9/9.

  15. Samvartta Samhita, 192.

  16. Parashara Samhita, 11/38. If such water is drunk, penance is indicated.

  17. See Rajendra Nath Sharma, Brahmins through the Ages (New Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1977).

  18. Alternatively, Pusan.

  19. Indian Express, 23 June 2004.

  20. Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology (New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976), 173.

  21. The puranas literally describe incidents from ancient times, and many myths and stories Hinduism is associated with actually come from the puranas. They represent popular beliefs, and Vedavyasa or Vyasadeva (the composer of the Mahabharata) is also supposed to have composed the original puranas, collectively in 400,000 shlokas. The major puranas evolved between third century CE and twelfth century CE, with perhaps an original purana text that has now disappeared. Each purana is supposed to describe five elements—sarga (the original creation), pratisarga (destruction and subsequent minor creations), vamsha (genealogies of gods and sages), manvantaras (eras when different Manus ruled and creation of humans), and vamshanucharita (histories of the solar and lunar dynasties). The major puranas are known as the mahapuranas and these are eighteen in number, though there is some variation about which should figure in the list of eighteen. The upapuranas are minor puranas. These too are supposed to be eighteen in number, but there are large local and regional variations in which text should be included in the list of eighteen upapuranas.

  22. Padma Purana, Bhumi Khanda, 34/15.

  23. Raghuvamsha, 9/53.

  24. Vishnu Purana, 1/5/39–51.

  25. Bhagavata Purana, 7/14/11.

  26. Bhagavata Purana, 9/21/1–9.

  27. Skanda Purana, Maheshavara Khanda, Kedara Khanda, 33/28–30.

  28. Kurma Purana, Uparibhaga, 32/52.

  29. Kurma Purana, Uparibhaga, 17/35, 33/8; and Padma Purana, Svarga Khanda, 28/34–35. Brahmanas are not supposed to eat food obtained from shvapakas (Padma Purana, Svarga Khanda, 28/8).

  30. S. Beal’s translation in, B.N. Pandey edited, A Book of India (New Delhi: HarperCollins, 2000), 52. Fa-hsien (399–414 CE) also comments on chandalas living outside places of habitation, dealing in flesh and going hunting.

  31. Bhagavata Purana, 3/30/10–17.

  32. Bhagavata Purana, 3/30/18–29.

  33. Bhagavata Purana, 5/26/27–28.

  34. Skanda Purana, Maheshvara Khanda, Kumarika Khanda, 39/14.

  35. Skanda Purana, Maheshvara Khanda, 1/31/1–78.

  36. Skanda Purana, Vishnu Khanda, Venkatachalma-hatmya, 19/60–61 and Brahma Khanda, 10/65.

  37. Skanda Purana, Vishnu Khanda, Venkatachalama-hatmya, 16/13–14.

  38. Garuda Purana, Purva Khanda, 221/13.

  39. Vishnu Purana, 3/18/51–103.

  40. Vishnu Purana, 3/16/11–20.

  41. Kurma Purana, Uparibhaga, 22/34.

  42. Vayu Purana, 78/38.

  43. Garuda Purana, Purva Khanda, 126/27–28.

  44. Garuda Purana, Purva Khanda, 26/47.

  45. Markandeya Purana, 8/107.

  46. Bhagavata Purana, 5/26/20–25.

  47. Skanda Purana, Maheshvara Khanda, Kumarika Khanda, 39/19–20.

  48. Vayu Purana, 78/68.

  49. Vamana Purana, 47/9–54 and 49/1–35.

  50. ‘Sarngadhara’s Guidebook’, 1363 CE.

  51. David Gordon White, “Predicting the Future with Dogs,” in Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Princeton Readings in Religions (Princeton University Press, 1995), 293.

  52. Garuda Purana, Purva Khanda, 16/12.

  53. White, “Predicting the Future with Dogs,” 13–14.

  54. Matysa Purana, 237/10.

  55. Bhagavata Purana, 1/3/6–13.

  56. Markandeya Purana, adhyayas 17–19.

  57. Shiva Purana, Vidheyshavara Samhita, 6/1–10.

  58. Skanda Purana, Maheshvara Khanda, Kumarika Khanda, 62/16–37.

  59. Garuda Purana, Purva Khanda, 24/8.

  60. For instance, Aghora is not in the list of sixty-four.

  61. Vishvasaratantra, Uma–Maheshvara Sambad.

  62. Pupul Jayakar, An Introduction to the Ritual Arts of Rural India (New Delhi: National Museum, 1980).

  63. Edward Moor, The Hindu Pantheon (1864; New Delhi: Indological Book House, repr. 1968), 106.

  64. See Diana L. Eck, Banaras: City of Light (New Delhi: Penguin, 1993).

  65. Ibid., 193.

  66. Jayakar, Introduction to the Ritual Arts.

  67. K. Bharatha Iyer, Animals in Indian Sculpture (Bombay: Taraporevala, 1977); and Pradip Saligram Meshram, Early Caves of Maharashtra: A Cultural Study, (New Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, 1991).

  Chapter 6: Niti Shashtras

  1. Neeti Shatak: The Wisdom of Bhartrihari’s, trans. Navnit Parekh (New Delhi: Hind Pocket Books, 1995).

  2. Kathasaritsagara, 5th taranga.

  3. Translation from the version edited by E.B. Cowell, 6 volumes, (1895–1907; London: Pali Text Society, repr. 1981).

  Chapter 7: Popular Tales

  1. The sthala puranas are minor puranas. They are usually in the vernacular and typically concern the history and myths associated with a particular holy place or temple.

  2. In Tamil Nadu.

  3. A.K. Ramanujan, Folk tales from India, (New Delhi: Penguin Viking, 1994). However, we have retold the story in our own language.

  4. A.K. Ramanujan, ed. A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). Yet again, we have retold the story in our own language.

  5. Ibid. Yet again, we have retold the story in our own language.

  6. Cecil Henry Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas (London: David Nutt, 1909). Our language again.

  7. Upendrakishore Raychoudhury, Tuntunir bai, 1898.

  8. Sudhin N. Ghose, Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India, (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1964). As in earlier instances, we have retold the story. This story also figures in the William Radice collection, Myths and Legends of India, (New Delhi: Penguin, 2002).

  9. Retold in Sudhin N. Ghose, Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from Farther India (New Delhi: Rupa, 1983). However, in our rendering, we have used our own language.

  Chapter 8: Dogs in Contemporary India

  1. Val C. Prinsep, Glimpses of Imperial India (1878; New Delhi: Mittal Publications, repr. 1979).

  2. See, for example, Christopher Hibbert, The Great Mutiny: India 1857, (London: Allen Lane, 1978).

  3. ‘Is this Humanity-I?’ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 36, 8 July 1926–10 November 1926.

  4. Ibid., 10 October 1926, 390–391.

  5. ‘Is this Humanity-II?’ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 36, 8 July 1926–10 November 1926.

  6. Ibid., 17 October 1926, 410–11.

  7. ‘Is this Humanity-III?’ Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 36, 8 July 1926–10 November 1926, 428–29.

  8
. “Is this Humanity-V?” Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 36, 8 July 1926–10 November 1926, 481–82.

  9. “Pariah Dogs,” Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 45, 4 February 1929–11 May 1929, 330.

  10. Jesse S. Palsetia, “Mad Dogs and Parsis: The Bombay Dog Riots of 1832,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11, April 2001.

  11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4376359.stm, accessed on 23 March 2005.

  12. http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0202/articles/020207a.htm, accessed on 7 February 2002.

  13. http://www.worldmag.com/articles/7418, accessed on 28 June 2003.

  14. http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0104/articles/010404z.htm, accessed on 4 April 2001.

  15. http://www.thegreatseparation.com/newsfront/2003/08/dog_bites_8_law.html, accessed on 20 August, 2003.

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