- Summary - Gautama was a Brahmin who begged for food. One day he begged a robber for a meal, and instead of robbing him, the robber offered Gautama to accompany him. Gautama then became a robber himself, doing immoral acts to get food. When he was going home with the animals he killed, another Brahmin passed him and questioned what he was doing. Because of this encounter, Gautama wanted to go back to his old home. During his journey, he stayed under a tree guarded by a crane. The crane guarded Gautama while he slept and helped him to ease his journey. The crane introduced Gautama to his friend who provided Gautama with a bag of gold. On his second night sleeping under the tree, Gautama realized he would need to eat in preparation for his journey, so he killed and ate the crane. Gautama took advantage of the crane's generosity, and so he was killed because of it. The executioner planned to feed Gautama's remains to the vultures, then dogs and jackals, then worms, but all of the animals refused to eat the remains of such an ungrateful person.
- Summary - After the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas and the Pandavas' rule, Yudhishtir gave up the throne and accompanied his brothers and wife to Mount Sumeru, towards the Heavens. He encountered a dog along the way. His brothers and wife all fell to Hell during the trip up the mountain, but the dog remained by his side. When they reached the gates of Heaven, Yudhishtir refused to enter unless his dog could come to Heaven with him. The Gods were hesitant because dogs are not worthy creatures for Heaven, but Yama came and spoke. Thanks to Yama, Yudhishtir and his dog were both allowed into Heaven.
- Summary - Since the beginning, Yama had two loyal dogs by his side. Each dog had four eyes and guarded to Hall of Yama. The reason they have four eyes is because each eye points to one of the four cardinal directions, so they are constantly on watch and on guard.
I had never heard of any of these tales before, but I really enjoyed many of them. I especially loved that most, if not all, of them included a few lines of poetry to explain the story. All of the tales I summarized included lines of poetry. I chose to write about these three for two reasons: first, they were some of the few that I actually understood, and second, I really liked the messages behind them. The story of Gautama has a clear moral associated with it: be thankful. The other two stories showed a clear dichotomy of dogs in Heaven or in Hell, but either way they are loyal companions who will remain by your side. After all, dogs are man's (or God's) best friend.
Bibliography: Indian Fables and Folklore by Shovona Devi. Part A.
Links to each tale above.
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