Sarama and Her Children- The Dog in Indian Myth

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The most recognized dog in Indian. Myth is the dog in the Mahabharata that accompanied the Pandavas- not actually a dog but Dharma in disguise. There are, however, several more references to dogs in the classical texts. Mentioned for the first time in the Rig Veda, the eponymous Sarama is the dog of the gods and the ancestor of all dogs. In Sarama and Her Children, the evolution of the Indian attitude towards dogs is traced through the vedas, epics, puranas, dharmashastras and nitishastras.

The widespread assumption is that dogs have always been looked down upon in Hinduism and a legacy of that attitude persists even now. Tracing the Indian attitude towards dogs in a chronological fashion, beginning with the pre-Vedic Indus Valley civilization, Bibek Debroy discovers that the truth is more complicated. Dogs had a utilitarian role in pre- Vedic and Vedic times. There were herd dogs, watchdogs and hunting dogs, and dogs were used as beasts of burden. India even exported them to Alexander the Great and to Persian kings. There were no negative connotations associated with dogs.

But by the time of the Mahabharata, negative associations had begun to creep in. How did this come about? Bibek Debroy argues convincingly that the change in the status of the dog in India has to do with the progressive decline of the traditional Vedic gods Indris, Yama ata and Rudra (who were associated with dogs), and the accompanying elevation of Vishnu, associated with an increase in brahmana influence. This is typified in the nasty things said about dogs (and women and shudras) in the dharmashastra texts. Debroy demonstrates that outside the mainstream caste Hindu influence, as reflected in doctrines associated with Shiva and in Buddhist jataka tales, dogs did not become outcasts or outcastes. Drawing references from high and low literature, folk tales and temple art, Sarama and Her Children dispels some myths and ensures that the Indian dog also has its day.

Sarama has been in the making for a couple of years. In the S Hindu tradition, Sarama is the mother of all dogs. She is the dog of the gods. Thus, dogs are known as 'sarameya's. I have always liked dogs. In my growing-up years, a succession of dogs populated the house. Later, when I grew up and had a house of my own, there were dogs there too. Invariably, these were pure-bred Indian mongrels, usually picked up from the streets. When the first chapters were written, there were three pet dogs. Sunday and Peppy have now gone off to dog heaven. Byte is still around. And then there was Scruffy, who is dead too. She was not quite a pet. She was a happy stray, fed occasionally and looked after when she had a litter, before she was eventually taken to a vet and sterilized. At the time when the first chapters were written, Scruffy's latest litter of six balls of fur were also in the house, inside a basket that kept toppling over as they tried to climb out. By the time the last chapters were written, there were more strays that were half-pets, and more puppies-two unnamed mothers, twelve pups and three male dogs-with Bori and Bhuri (now three months old) spending the occasional night on our bed.

With so many dogs that came and went, you have to be interested in dogs. The dog versus cat debate is a pointless one. I don't mind cats, but I must confess I prefer dogs.