Dogs (was Re. The Cat)

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 98-01-29 06:42:30 EST, mmdesh at UMICH.EDU writes:

<< Growing up in
 Pune in the Brahmin community, it was more common to have cats as pets
 than dogs. >>


In a Classical Tamil text perumpANARRuppaTai, there is a description of a
brahmin neighborhood. A calf is tied under a small shed. The house has idols
smeared with cow dung. There are no domestic chicken or dogs. The parrot in
the house will utter vedic calls/mantras. (The word used is maRaiviLi , maRai-
veda, viLi-call). Per.

In non-brahmin neighborhoods and especially among the hunters there were dogs.

yAn2ai an2aiyavar naNpu orIi nAy an2aiyAr
kENmai kezIik koLalvENTum yAn2ai
aRintu aRintum pAkan2aiyE kollum eRinta vEl
meyyatA vAl kuzaikkum nAy

A poem in nAlaTiyAr, a didactic work, says that "one should get as friends
people who are like dogs instead of those like elephants. Elephant will kill
the keeper whom it knows well. But the dog, even with  a spear thrown into its
body, will wag its tail."

Regards

S. Palaniappan