Sarama ( Skt. सरमा , “fast”) is a character of ancient Indian mythology, a bitch of the gods ( Skt. देवशुनी , devashunī IAST ). It is first mentioned in the Rig Veda (X 108, 2, 4), where it helps Indra recover the cows stolen by the demons of . This legend is set forth in many later sacred texts of Hinduism, in which Sarama is usually described as the dog of Indra. Brief episodes involving Sarama are present in several parts of the Mahabharata and in individual Puranas . In the Rigveda, Sarama is not yet called a divine bitch, but in Vedic mythology she usually already has the nature of a dog. In later myths, Sarama acts as the mother of two monstrous four-eyed dogs Sharbar (they are also called "Saramea", which literally means "descendant of Sarama" or "dog"), protecting the kingdom of the god of death, Yama . In the RV X.14 hymn dedicated to the Pit and containing parting words to the dead, they are described as follows:
10. Hurry past two dogs, descendants of Sarama ( sarameyau - dv. H. ),
Four-eyed, spotted ...
11. Two of your dogs, O Pit, are watchmen,
Four-eyed, guarding the way, overseeing people ...
12. Two captors of life, with wide nostrils, reddish (?),
Two messengers of the Pit, they roam among the people ... [1]
According to the Bhagavata Purana , Sarama is the progenitor of all wild animals [2] [3] .
In Mahabharata
At the beginning of the first book of the Mahabharata - Adiparva - the beating by the brothers of King Janamejaya of the son of Sarama during the snake sacrifice on Kurukshetra is described. The dog screeches and complains to his mother, after which she goes to the king and tells him that since her son was beaten innocently, Janamejay will suffer an unforeseen misfortune. Janamejaya is upset and begins to intensively search for a suitable house priest who could eliminate the effect of his sins [4] .
In the second book of the Mahabharata - Sabhaparve - Sarama is mentioned among the gods worshiping Brahma in his assembly palace [5] .
In the third book of the Mahabharata - Aranyakaparve - Markandeya mentions Sarama among the god of war Skanda , who, being in many forms, destroy human cubs until they are sixteen years of age. According to Markandei, the divine mother of the dogs of Sarama kills the human child in the mother’s womb [6] .
In the seventeenth, penultimate, book of Mahabharata - Mahaprasthanikaparve - Sarama is not mentioned, however, the dog plays the most important role in this part of the ancient Indian epic, which at the end of the story turns out to be the god of justice Dharma [7] [8] .
Notes
- ↑ Rigveda X 14.10-12
- ↑ Toporov V.N. Sarama // Mythological Dictionary / Ch. ed. E. M. Meletinsky . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1990 .-- 672 p.
- ↑ Bulich S.K.Sarama // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Mahabharata. Book One: Adiparva / Sanskrit Translation and Comments by V. I. Kalyanov / Ed. Acad. A. P. Barannikova .. - 2nd ed .. - M .: Scientific and Publishing Center "Ladomir", 1992 . - 736 p. - (Literary monuments). - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-86218-015-X .
- ↑ Mahabharata. Book Two: Sabhaparva, or Book of the Assembly / Transl. from Sanskrit and comment. V.I. Kalyanova / Resp. ed. Acad. Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR B.A. Larin. - M .: Scientific and Publishing Center "Ladomir", 1992. - 256 p. - (Literary monuments). - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-86218-016-8 .
- ↑ Mahabharata. The third book. Forest (Aranyakaparva) . - M .: Nauka , 1987 .-- 799 p. - (Monuments of the written language of the East). - 35,000 copies.
- ↑ Mahabharata. The final books of the XV – XVIII: Ashramavasikaparva, or the Book of life in the monastery; Mausalaparva, or the Book of the Butchery; Mahaprasthanikaparva, or Book of the Great Exodus; Svargarokhanaparva, or Book of Ascent to Heaven / S. L. Neveleva, Y. V. Vasilkov: translation, articles and commentary / Otv. ed. I. M. Steblin-Kamensky. - SPb. : Science, 2005 . - 236 p. - (Literary monuments). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-02-027034-2 .
- ↑ Mahabharata IV. Conversation of Markandei (Episodes from books III, XIV, books: XI, XVII, XVIII) . - Ashgabat: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the TSSR, 1958. - 676 p. - 1000 copies.
Literature
- Müller, Max. Lecture XI: Myths of the Dawn // Lectures on the science of language . - 1865. - Vol. 2. - P. 481–543.
- Singh, Nagendra KR. Indian Legends. - APH Publishing, 1997. - ISBN 81-7024-902-3 .
- Debroy, Bibek (2008). Sarama and Her Children: The Dog in Indian Myth , New Delhi: Penguin, ISBN 978-0-14-306470-1 .