Who would give them up to thee without fighting? for our weapons too are sharp." (5.) Sarama: "Though your words, O Panis, be unconquerable, though your wretched bodies be arrowproof, though the way to you be hard to go, Bṛihaspati will not bless you for either."3 (6.) 2 The Panis: "That store, O Sarama, is fastened to the rock; furnished with cows, horses, and treasures. Panis watch it who are good watchers; thou art come in vain to this bright place." (7.) Sarama: "Let the Rishis come here fired with Soma, Ayasya (Indra1) and the ninefold Angiras; they will divide this stable 5 of cows; then the Panis will vomit out this speech."6 (8.) The Panis: "Even thus, O Sarama, thou art come hither driven by the violence of the gods; let us make thee our sister, do not go away again; we will give thee part of the cows, O darling." (9.) Saramâ: "I know nothing of brotherhood or sisterhood; Indra knows it and the awful Angiras. They seemed to me anxious for their cows when I came; therefore get away from here, O Panis, far away." 7 (10.) "Go far away, Paņis, far away; let the cows come out straight; the cows which Brihaspati found hid away, Soma, the stones, and the wise Rishis.” (11.) In none of these verses is there the slightest indi 1 asenyá, not hurtful, B. R. 3 anishavyá, not to be destroyed, B. R. 8 Ubhaya, with the accent on the last syllable, is doubtful. 4 Cf. i. 62, 7, and B. R. s. v. 5 ûrva is called drilha, Rv. i. 72, 8. Will be sorry for their former speech. cation of Sarama as the representative of the storm, nor do the explanations of Indian commentators, which have next to be considered, point at all in that direction. Sâyana, in his commentary on the Rig-Veda (i. 6, 5), tells the story of Sarama most simply. The cows, he says, were carried off by the Panis from the world of the gods and thrown into darkness; Indra, together with the Maruts, or storms, conquered them. In the Anukramanikâ, the index to the Rigvedasanhitâ (x. 103), the story is related in fuller detail. It is there said that the cows were hidden by the demons, the Panis; that Indra sent the dog of the gods, Sarama, to look for the cows; and that a parley took place between her and the Panis, which forms the 108th hymn of the last book of the Rig'Veda. Further additions to the story are to be found in Sayana's Commentary on iii. 31, 5. The cows are there called the property of the Angiras, and it was at their instance that Indra sent the dog, and then, being apprised of their hiding-place, brought them back to the Angiras. So, at least, says the commentator, while the text of the hymn represents the seven sages, the Angiras, as taking themselves a more active part in effecting the breach in the mountain. Again, in his commentary on Rv. x. 108, Sấyana adds that the cows belonged to Brihaspati, the chief-priest of Indra, that they were stolen by the Panis, the people of Vala, and that Indra, at Brihaspati's instance, sent the dog Sarama. The dog, after crossing a river, came to the town of Vala, and saw the cows in a secret place; whereupon the Panis tried to coax her to stay with them.' As we read the hymn in the text of the Rig-Veda, the parley between Sarama and the Panis would seem to have ended with Surama warning the robbers to flee before the wrath of Indra, Brihaspati, and the Angiras. But in the Brihaddevatâ a new trait is added. It is there said, that, although Sarama declined to divide the booty with the Panis, she asked them for a drink of milk. After having drunk the milk, she recrossed the Rasa, and when she was asked after the cows by Indra, she denied having seen them. Indra thereupon kicked her with his foot, and she vomited the milk, and ran back to the Panis. Indra then followed her, killed the demons, and recovered the cows. This faithlessness of Sarama is not alluded to in the hymn; and in another passage, where it is said that Sarama found food for her offspring (Rv. i. 62, 3), Sayana merely states that Saramâ, before going to look for the cows, made a bargain with Indra that her young should receive milk and other food, and then proceeded on her journey. This being nearly the whole evidence on which we must form our opinion of the original conception of Sarama, there can be little doubt that she was meant for the early dawn, and not for the storm. In the ancient hymns of the Rig-Veda she is never spoken of as a dog, nor can we find there the slightest allusion to her canine nature. This is evidently a later thought,' and it is high time that this much-talked-of 1 It probably arose from Sârameya being used as a name or epithet of the dogs of Yama. See page 476. greyhound should be driven out of the Vedic Pantheon. There are but few epithets of Sarama from which we might form a guess as to her character. She is called supadi, having good feet, or quick, an adjective which never occurs again in the Rig-Veda. The second epithet, however, which is applied to her, subhaga, fortunate, beloved, is one she shares in common with the Dawn nay, which is almost a stereotyped epithet of the Dawn. But more than this. Of whom is it so constantly said, as of Saramâ, that she appears before Indra, that Indra follows her? It is Ushas, the Dawn, who wakes first (i. 123, 2), who comes first to the morning prayer (i. 123, 2). The Sun follows behind, as a man follows a woman (Rv. i. 115, 2). Of whom is it said, as of Sarama, that she brings to light the precious things hidden in darkness? It is Ushas, the Dawn, who reveals the bright treasures that were covered by the gloom (i. 123, 6). She crosses the water unhurt (vi. 64, 4); she lays open the ends of heaven (i. 92, 11), — those very ends where, as the Panis said, the cows were to be found. She is said to break the strongholds and bring back the cows (vii. 75, 7; 79, 4). It is she who, like Sarama, distributes wealth among the sons of men (i. 92, 3; 123, 3). She possesses the cows (i. 123, 12, &c.); she is even called the mother of the cows (iv. 52, 2). She is said to produce the cows and to bring light (i. 124, 5); she is asked to open the doors of heaven, and to bestow on man wealth of cows (i. 48, 15). The Angiras, we read, asked her for the cows (vi. 65, 5), and the doors of the dark stable are said to be opened 1 Comparative Mythology, p. 57. Oxford Essays, 1856. by her (iv. 51, 2). In one place her splendor is said to be spreading as if she were driving forth cattle (i. 92, 12); in another the splendors of the dawn are themselves called a drove of cows (iv. 51, 8; 52, 5). Again, as it was said of Sarama, that she follows the right path, the path which all the heavenly powers are ordained to follow, so it is particularly said of the Dawn that she walks in the right way (i. 124, 3; 113, 12). Nay, even the Panis, to whom Sarama was sent to claim the cows, are mentioned together with Ushas, the Dawn. She is asked to wake those who worship the gods, but not to wake the Panis (i. 124, 10). In another passage (iv. 51, 3) it is said that the Panis ought to sleep in the midst of darkness, while the Dawn rises to bring treasures for man. It is more than probable, therefore, that Sarama was but one of the many names of the Dawn; it is almost certain that the idea of storm never entered into the conception of her. The myth of which we have collected the fragments is clear enough. It is a reproduction of the old story of the break of day. The bright cows, the rays of the sun or the rain-clouds, for both go by the same name, have been stolen by the powers of darkness, by the Night and her manifold progeny. Gods and men are anxious for their return. But where are they to be found? They are hidden in a dark and strong stable, or scattered along the ends of the sky, and the robbers will not restore them. At last in the farthest distance the first signs of the Dawn appear; she peers about, and runs with lightning quickness, it may be, like a hound after a scent,' across the darkness of the sky. She is look 1 Erigone, the early-born, also called Aletis, the rover, when looking for |