Page 22 - (DK) The Dog Encyclopedia

INTRODUCTION TO DOGS | DOGS IN RELIGION, MYTH, AND CULTURE

Dogs in religion,

myth, and culture A SACRED

FU DOG

With a relationship that began before the dawn of civilization, it is not surprising that, over
millennia, dogs and humans have developed strong cultural links. From being servants of
man in the material world, dogs crossed the spiritual divide to become servants of heaven
and hell. And as the bond between humans and canines strengthened into one of love and
loyalty, dogs were finally seen as characters—which has made them indispensable
role-players in popular literature and entertainment for adults and children alike.

DOGS IN RELIGION spirits in the Underworld. Similar evidence of is more monstrous than the three-headed
With dogs seen as traditional protectors, it the religious significance of dogs has been hound Cerberus, keeper of the entrance
was natural that they should be given found at burial sites of the Mayan Classic to Hades, whose capture was the 12th
symbolic duties as guardians in many belief era (c.300–900CE), where sculptures and and most dangerous Labor of Hercules.
systems. In ancient Egypt, as tomb paintings mummies suggest that dogs were buried The concept of the phantom dog occurs
and hieroglyphs reveal, dogs were associated with their owners to lead their souls in the time and again in stories of the supernatural.
with the jackal-headed god Anubis, guide of afterlife. The Aztecs (14th–16th century) Malevolent dogs are part of the folklore
buried pottery figures of dogs with their of peoples across the world, from North
dead and probably used dogs as sacrifices and South America to Asia. Many legends
in religious ceremonies. In China statues originate in Britain and Ireland, where
of Fu dogs, also known as guardian lions, ghostly dogs, usually large and black,
are seen at the entrances of many Buddhist frightened people by haunting graveyards
temples—their lionlike appearance giving or lonely crossroads. Phantom dogs were
them sacred significance. given various regional names, such as the
Most major religions practiced today Barghest and the Grim. On a dark and
are largely dismissive of dogs, and some deserted road, Charlotte Bronte’s usually
shun them as unclean. But to Hindus in strong-minded heroine Jane Eyre is briefly
parts of present-day India and Nepal, dogs spooked into thinking she has seen the
are regarded as guardians of the gates to Gytrash, the spirit-hound of northern
heaven and are associated with the god England. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle picked
Vishnu, whose four dogs are said to up on the black dog legend in The Hound
represent the four Vedas, the ancient holy of the Baskervilles (1901), his eerie tale
texts of the Hindus. At an annual religious of a fiery-eyed hound visiting terror on
festival dogs are decorated with flower Dartmoor in Britain.
garlands and marked with the sacred red
dot (tika) on their foreheads. DOGS IN LITERATURE
People have been writing about dogs for
CANINE MYTHS AND LEGENDS around 2,000 years, but the earliest books
Dogs both faithful and frightening have were practical guides for people who
featured in classical myths, legends, and kept dogs for working, primarily hunting.
folk tales throughout the ages and in all Fictional dogs certainly appear in dozens
countries. None is more loyal than Argos, of Aesop’s Fables, written around 500 years
Odysseus’s hunting dog, who waits 20 years BCE, but here the Greek moralizer was
to welcome his master home and then dies using dogs as a way of illustrating human
with a final wag of his tail. And possibly none characteristics and failings, such as greed
or gullibility. It was only in much later
Argos, the great dog centuries, when dogs became pets and
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Argos is Odysseus’s faithful dog. companions, that they began to be treated
When Odysseus arrives back to his homeland, Ithaca, in
disguise after 20 years, Argos is the first to recognize him. as personalities in their own right.

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