– for no reason. The epic Mahabharata has a similar story. In the first book of the epic Adi Parva, king Janamejaya's brothers beat up a dog, who comes near Janamejaya's yajna site. The crying dog complains to its mother Sarama that it was beaten by Janamejaya's brothers for no reason. Sarama reaches Janamejaya's sacrifice site and curses him that since he has harmed her son without reason, unseen danger will befall him. The curse frightens the king and he finds a priest, named Somashravas, to free him from the curse. In the second book, Sabha Parva, Sarama is listed among the many goddesses that worship the god Brahma in his court or are members of his court. In the third book, Vana Parva, Sarama is listed among the Matrika ("Mothers") or manushya-grahas (evil spirits), who are allowed by their "son", the war-god Skanda to devour children under the age of sixteen. It says Sarama, the mother of all dogs, Lord of the world, snatches human fetuses from wombs. Interpretations and associations Scholars, including Max Müller, Sri Aurobindo and Wendy Doniger emphasize that most references in the early Veda do not refer to Sarama as canine. She may be a fair-footed goddess to whom the Panis are attracted and whom they ask to be their sister. It is only in later interpretations of the Vedic imagery that Sarama becomes a divine hound, who sniffs out the Panis and leads her master to them. According to Sri Aurobindo, the phrase in which Sarama demands food for her progeny is misinterpreted with equating Sarama's children to a dog-race born of Sarama. It is the reference to the Sarameya dogs – sons of Sarama – in a late hymn that cements the notion of Sarama being a dog. The role of Sarama in the Rig Vedic legend leads Sri Aurobindo to say, "Sarama is some power of Light and probably of Dawn". She "must be a forerunner of the dawn of Truth in the human mind". Sarama is "the traveller and the seeker who does not herself possess [the Truth] but rather finds what is lost". However, about the interpretation of Sarama as canine, Sri Aurobindo adds, "The image of the hound of heaven is, however, exceedingly apt and striking and was bound to develop out of the legend". Max Müller relates Sarama to the Ushas, the Dawn. The tale of kidnapping of