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wolf

The Arya really disliked wolves. Mostly because they used to eat our flock; our cows and sheep. This is why wolves are looked down upon in both the Rigveda and the Avesta. The vṛka/vehrka is a nasty animal. Thus the Arya pray to Viṣṇu & to Pūṣan to keep the wolf away. The word wolf itself is used in the RV to mean “hostility” in quite a few passages (i.e - क्व१॒॑ त्यानि॑ नौ स॒ख्या ब॑भूवुः॒ सचा॑वहे॒ यद॑वृ॒कं पु॒रा चि॑त्) where avṛka is “un-hostile”.

ýatha vâ vehrkånghô sravanghavô ýatha vâ vehrkãm azrô-daidhîm gaêthãm avi frapataiti

“like the she-wolf who kills our flock” - here Ahura Mazda is comparing evil (human women) to she-wolves who eat the flock.

In Yasht 9.21, the wolf is associated with the thief and the robber.

(paurva tâyûm paurva gadem paurva vehrkem bûidhyôimaidhe - Y.9.21)

“First (पूर्व) we may notice (बुध्यामहे) the thief (तायु), the robber? (dont get the sanskrit equivalent here), the wolf (वृक) /…

There are numerous references to wolves in the Rigveda, they are all negative. Wolfish is adjective for hostility, numerous devas (Agni, Vishnu, Pushan, Maruts) are prayed to protect the Arya from the wolf. Lines up 1:1 with the Avesta.

Agreed that the references to wolves are negative; even in the context of Rudra & the Aśvinau-Ṛjraśva story, where a divine she-wolf is sent by the Aśvinau, ostensibly to test the piety of Ṛjraśva who feeds his father’s sheep to her after recognizing it as divine.

The wolf, in the context of Rudra/Aśvinau, is still negative but qualified by divine sovereignty that allows a Deva to put humans through difficult circumstances. Something divinely connected can still be negative.

The one instance of wolf being something positive may be the name of dasyavevṛka (a wolf to the Dasyus). The wolf features as a symbol of terror to one’s foes. Positive in a dark way though.