SyAmaSavala
śyāma-śavala ( Senart ʼs em. , mss. śāma- , semi- MIndic , or soma-, intending sāma-, MIndic ), pl. , dogs : (so pi agninā dagdho mahānarake) upapanno °lehi ahorātrāṇi khādyati Mv iii.361.15 , born in hell, is eaten by dogs (? see below) day and night . This old Vedic dvandva cpd. , there used of the dogs of Yama, is not otherwise clearly used in the mg. dog . The comm. to Hāla (Weber) vss 185 and 211 knows a vrata called śyāma-(also śāma, sāma-)-śavala (also -sa°), which has something to do with fire and water; whether it is to be equated with kukkuravrata implied by BHS °vratika , q.v. , seems doubtful; Weber assumes that it refers to the two dogs of Yama, but admits inability to explain the term. In Pali sāma and sabala are used as adj. with soṇa, dog (so correctly comm. ) Jāt. vi.106.21 , and as names of two dogs in the Lokantara hell Jāt. vi.247.16 ; barely possibly, the Mv may mean the word as a dvandva, two nn. pr.