Cerberus, the Dog of Hades: The History of an Idea

peoples. In hymn 14, there are three stanzas (10–12) that deal with the two dogs of Yama The king of the dead in Hindu mythology. This is the classical passage, and everything depends on how it is interpreted. These stanzas contain separate statements that approach the idea from different points of view; these are not easily reconciled as long as the dogs are seen as merely ordinary canines. However, they align themselves perfectly and neatly into a pair of natural objects if we closely follow all the ideas that the Hindus associated with them.

In the first place, it is clear that we are dealing with the concept of Cerberus In Greek mythology, the multi-headed watchdog of the underworld. In stanza 10, the two dogs are imagined as unfriendly creatures, standing guard to keep the departed souls out of a state of bliss. The soul on its way to heaven is addressed as follows:

“Immediately run past the two four-eyed dogs, the spotted and the dark ones, the offspring of Saramā The divine female dog of the gods; enter in among the kindly original: "propitious" ancestors who hold a high feast with Yama.”

A somewhat later text, the book of domestic rituals original: "house-rite" by Āçvalāyana An ancient teacher and author of Vedic manuals on religious ceremonies, contains the notion of the...