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Shvaana, a Sanskrit word meaning a dog, finds repeated references in Vedic and later Hindu mythologies, and such references include the following:
*The Apsara of
Shvaana, a Sanskrit word meaning a dog, finds repeated references in Vedic and later Hindu mythologies, and such references include the following:
*The Apsara of Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
, a Vedic god, is named Sarama, and it is mentioned in the Rig Veda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
. Its offspring became the watch dog of Yama.
* Yudhishthira, one of the Pandavas, insisted that he be allowed to enter Svarga
Svarga (), also known as Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is regarded to b ...
(Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
) with the ''Shvan'' which had followed him from their advent to Swarga where in Yudhishthira lost his brother and wife, only Shavana followed him when the devadhootha came in front of Yudishtara to take him to Svarga the dog transformed itself into Yama.
*Deities like Rudra, Nirriti and Virabhadra are associated with dogs.
* Shiva, in his aspect as Bhairava, had a dog as a vahana (vehicle) (mentioned in the Mahabharata).
* Khandoba, a deity, is associated with a dog on which he rides.
*Dattatreya
Dattatreya ( sa, दत्तात्रेय, ), Dattā or Dattaguru, is a paradigmatic Sannyasi (monk) and one of the lords of yoga, venerated as a Hindu god. In Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Madhya ...
is associated with four dogs, considered to symbolize the four Vedas.
*Sri thiyagaraja swamy of thiruvarur, in his chanda form taken to visit somasi yaga, he is surrounded by four dogs which are the personification of vedas.
References
*''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'' () by Anna Dallapiccola Mythological dogs {{Hinduism-stub