1890.] 
punoh-marhed coins of Hindustan, ^c. 
213 
as the preferential form of sepulture, over exposure to birds and wild 
beasts, iu the case of deceased monks or persons of position in Thibet. 
Strange and hoi-riblo* as it may seem to us to be devoured by domestic 
dogs, trained and bred for the purpose, it was the most honourable form 
of burial among Thibetan Buddhists. 
One of the most beautiful legends that the folk lore of any land can 
produce, is that in which the noble Yudhisihir takes high ground on be- 
half of this animal, and actually refuses to enter the heaven of Indra 
unless permitted to take the dog with him, which had attached itself to 
the hero and his party during their last sorrowful march together 
through the forest. The hero would not abandon to death and starva- 
tion on the mountain side his four-footed companion even to enter 
heaven, and his courageous behaviour on behalf of his humble attendant 
was rewarded by the discovery that it was no mortal dog, but the great 
‘ Yama ’ himself in guise of that animal, who thereupon, as a reward for 
his constancy permitted YudhistMr alone to enter Indra' s heaven without 
undergoing the*common doom of death. 
We may compare the medimval legend of the knight who passed 
triumphantly through a similar ordeal, and refused to enter heaven, 
while the soul of the fi-ail woman with whom he had sinned was com- 
mitted to penal fires, and his self-abnegation was rewarded by the 
pardon of the partner of his sin, but beautiful as this old legend is, it 
does not approach in pathos and high sentiment the Hindu legend of 
Yudhisthir and his dog. As a symbol of ‘ Yama ’ therefore, the dog 
may figure above the stupa ; or the dog may represent the Vedio bitch 
Saranid, the messenger of Indra ; and as the dog is standing on the 
stupa in a position often occupied by the crescent moon, wo have a 
strong confirmation of a surmise on other grounds, by Gubernatis that 
Saramd is merely “ another impersonation of the moon ” (Zoological 
Mythology by Angelo de Gubernatis, Vol. II, page 21). 
23. ‘ Stupa ’ with peacock on the top. Fig. 50. 
In this case too we have an animal connected with Indra watching 
* The direst extremity which the wretched Prian conjnred up in imagination, 
as following Troy’s darkest hour, was to be eaten by his own dogs on his own 
threshold. 
“ On me at last the ravening dogs shall feed, 
When by some fooman’s hand, by sword or lance. 
My soul shall from my body be divorced ; 
Those very dogs which I myself have bred. 
Fed at my table, guardians of my gate. 
Shall lap my blood and over-gorged shall lie 
E’en on my threshold.” Iliad XXII, 66. Lord Derby’s trauslation. 
