Sharvara (शर्वर) is an ancient Hindu mythological dog belonging to

Yama Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...

. It is one of the two dogs that guard the netherworld. Yama’s other dog is named Syama (black or dark-blue). Sharvara is identified with the constellation

Canis Major Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin fo ...

, the other dog with

Canis Minor Canis Minor is a small constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included as an asterism, or pattern, of two stars in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and it is counted among the 88 modern constellation ...

; together they guard the gates of the netherworld, known as pitriloka or vaivasvataloka, which is the domain of Yama.

Etymology

The word ''sharvara'' means variegated or spotted. In older Sanskrit, शर्वर is written as कर्वर (karvara).

In mythology

Sharvara can be compared with the Greek Cerberus, the mythological dog of the Greeks with similar characteristics. However, there is no description of Cerberus having a companion, and he is usually depicted with three heads. Scholars have concluded that the three heads were a Greek addition to the underlying Indo-Aryan myth. Shavara can also be compared to

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

's wolves in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

. Odin (the all-father) just like Yama (the progenitor of all humans) sits on a chair guarded by two dogs. Although, Odin (Woden), the hunter, the wanderer, god of storm and winter, is more comparable to the Vedic

Rudra Rudra (; sa, रुद्र) is a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt. One translation of the name is 'the roarer'. In the Rigveda, Rudra is praised as the 'mightiest of the mighty'. Rud ...

. Tilak dates the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

antiquity using the assertion that the Milky Way (path of the dead) used to be guarded by Sharvara and a new year started upon the crossing of Milky Way by the sun. Using internal evidence he dated the timeframe of Vedic antiquity (taittriya samhita) to the time when at the vernal equinox the sun rose in the asterism of Orion (Mrigashiras).

References

{{Reflist Dogs in Hinduism Dogs in religion Mythological dogs Mythological canines