Cerberus, The Dog of Hades | Page 4

twelfth stanza of the Rig-Veda hymn strikes a somewhat different
note which suggests both good and evil in the character of the two dogs:
"The two brown, broad-nosed messengers of Yama, life-robbing,
wander among men. May they restore to us to-day the auspicious
breath of life, that we may behold the sun." Evidently the part of the
Cerberi here is not in harmony with their function in stanza 10: instead
of debarring men from the abodes of bliss they pick out the dead that
are ultimately destined to boon companionship with Yama. The same
idea is expressed simply and clearly in prayers for long life in the
Atharva-Veda: "The two dogs of Yama, the dark and the spotted, that
guard the road (to heaven), that have been dispatched, shall not (go
after) thee! Come hither, do not long to be away! Do not tarry here with
thy mind turned to a distance." (viii. 1. 9.) And again: "Remain here, O
man, with thy soul entire! Do not follow the two messengers of Yama;
come to the abodes of the living." (v. 30. 6.)
These prayers contain the natural, yet under the circumstances rather
paradoxical, desire to live yet a little longer upon the earth in the light
of the sun. Fitfully the mortal Hindu regales himself with saccharine
promises of paradise; in his every-day mood he clings to life and
shrinks with the uneasy sense that his paradise may not materialize,
even if the hope is expressed glibly and fluently. The real craving is
expressed in numberless passages: "May we live a hundred autumns,
surrounded by lusty sons." Homer's Hades has wiped out this
inconsistency, only to substitute another. Odysseus, on returning from
his visit to Hades, exclaims baldly: "Better a swineherd on the surface
of the earth in the light of the sun than king of the shades in Hades." It
is almost adding insult to injury to have the road to such a Hades barred
by Cerberus. This latter paradox must be removed in order that the
myth shall become intelligible.
The eleventh of the Rig-Veda stanzas presents the two dogs as guides
of the soul [Greek: psychopompoi] to heaven: "To thy two four-eyed,
road-guarding, man-beholding watch-dogs entrust him, O King Yama,

and bestow on him prosperity and health."
THE TWO DOGS IN HEAVEN.
With the change of the abode of the dead from inferno to heaven the
two Cerberi are eo ipso also evicted. That follows of itself, even if we
had not explicit testimony. A legend of the Br[=a]hmana-texts, the
Hindu equivalent of the Talmud, tells repeatedly that there are two dogs
in heaven, and that these two dogs are Yama's dogs. I shall present two
versions of the story, a kind of [Greek: Gigantomachia] in order to
establish the equation between the terms "two dogs of Yama," and "two
heavenly dogs."
"There were Asuras (demons) named K[=a]lak[=a]njas. They piled up
a fire altar in order to obtain the world of heaven. Man by man they
placed a brick upon it. The god Indra, passing himself off for a
Brahmin, put on a brick for himself. They climbed up to heaven. Indra
pulled out his brick; they tumbled down. And they who tumbled down
became spiders; two flew up, and became the two heavenly dogs."
(Br[=a]hmana of the T[=a]ittir[=i]yas 1. 1. 2.)
"The Asuras (demons) called K[=a]lak[=a]njas piled bricks for an altar,
saying: 'We will ascend to heaven.' Indra, passing himself off for a
Brahmin, came to them; he put on a brick. They at first came near
getting to heaven; then Indra tore out his brick. The Asuras becoming
quite feeble fell down; the two that were uppermost became the dogs of
Yama, those which were lower became spiders." (Br[=a]hmana of the
M[=a]itra 1. 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