DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



Dragon Throne into a dual menace that of being smitten 

 with the magic sword and eaten by the " Dog that Barks in 

 the Heavens." 



This Chinese mythical dog may be akin to the Aryan hedge- 

 dog, having a long and thin muzzle, the prickles on whose 

 back were compared to the rays of the sun piercing the veil of 

 darkness. " Whosoever, O Zarathustra ! shall kill the dog 

 with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the 

 hedge-dog, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills 

 his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way 

 over the Kinvad bridge unless he has, while alive, atoned for 

 his sin by offering up a sacrifice to Sraosha." * 



The idea of the heavenly dog appears to have reached the 

 Chinese and the Hindus from a common source. From the 

 fifth Brahmana we read : " (i) He observes the fast thinking 

 ' to-day is the day of new moon ' ; and then that moon is seen 

 in the West. But, indeed, he (the moon) is that heavenly 

 dog : he watches the sacrificer's cattle (to seize them) and 

 that would not be good for the cattle in the case of the owner 

 who did not make amends . . . and through fear of that 

 ' downcoming moon,' as they think him to be, (2) they 

 steal away into the shade. And, therefore, indeed, people 

 call that burning pain ' svalukita ' (dog's clutch)." (10) " A 

 bow with three arrows he gives as dakshina ; for with the bow 

 a dog is driven away : he thus drives away that dog (the 

 moon) when he gives a bow with three arrows as dakshina." f 

 The substance of the Brahmana legend is that certain demons 

 piled up a fire-altar in order to ascend by it to heaven. Indra 

 joined them, adding a brick of his own. When they had 

 climbed to heaven Indra pulled out his brick and the demons 

 fell. They became spiders, all but two, who flew up and 



* " Sacred Books of the East," Zend Avesta, vol. iv, p. 152. 

 f " Sacred Books of the East," F. Max Miiller, vol. xliv, p. 10 



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