Yama

YAMA. In the earliest Ṛgvedic hymns, Yama is a benign god who looks after the well-being of the dead, whom he entertains with food and shelter. His abode and its environment are pleasant and comfortable; survivors supplicate him for the care of their departed relatives.

Yama is the son of Vivasvat and Saraṇyū; he has a twin sister, Yamī. In the Ṛgveda, Amṛta ("ambrosia") is Yama's son, but in the Atharvaveda, Yama has a son, Duḥsvapna ("bad dream"), by Varuṇānī. In the epic-Puranic literature, the Aśvins are his brothers, and Śani and Manu are his half brothers. The Aṅgirasas are his associates.

The name Yama is derived from a stem meaning "twins"; Latin gemini and the Avestan names Yima and Yimeh are cognates. In a Ṛgvedic hymn, Yamī implores Yama to unite with her, but he rejects her advances. The hymn has an abrupt, inconclusive end. In Buddhist literature, Yama is identified with Kāma ("desire") and Māra ("death"). In the Vedic literature, Yama has close relations with Rudra, Soma, Agni, Kāla, and Nirṛti. Yama also bears a remote relationship to Varuṇa.

Yama in the Vedas was the first mortal to die. He then went to heaven, where he ruled over the dead. But toward the close of the Vedic period sinister traits began to appear in him, and they grew stronger with time. Yama then became the god of death and the lord of Hell. In the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, as death personified, he holds a long discourse with the boy Naciketas, whom he initiates into the mysteries of life, death, and immortality. Prayers are offered to Yama for longevity and deliverance from recurring deaths. Yama also grants release from aśanāyā (hunger). In many rituals of ancestor worship, oblations are offered to Yama with prayers for averting recurring deaths. In the Gṛhyasūtras, oblations are offered to Yama's men, presumably his associates, in the realm of the dead.

Of the two paths in later Vedic eschatology, Devayāna and Pitṛyāṇa, the latter is that of the fathers and of spirits doomed to rebirth. These spirits proceed through Soma, the moon, and are judged by Yama. In the epics and Purāṇas, Yama has a palace, Śubhāvatī, in the netherworld. Yama's realm begins, in Buddhist literature, to shift from the heaven of the gods until, in the Hindu epics and Purāṇas, it assumes distinctly sinister characteristics. As god of death and lord of Hell, Yama is dark and malevolent, yet still a giver of boons.

The south is the region of Yama (as it is that of the Avestan Yima) and the region of death. Yama has two dogs, Śyāma and Śabala, who are associated with the final judgment of souls, as are Hades' dog, Kerberos, the Egyptian Anubis, and Yima's four dogs. Yama is also associated with oil and with the dove, eagle, and raven (all of which are endowed with sinister traits). The epic and Puranic Yama has a buffalo for a mount. Dread monsters (rākṣasas), semidivine yakṣas, demons, cruel messengers, the Aṅgirasas, and the souls of the departed throng his realm. His ritual oblations in ancestor worship are gruesome and evil. The symbols associated with his various aspects as Kāla, Mṛtyu, and Antaka are images of repulsiveness, cruelty, and deformity. In descriptions of Yama red and black colors predominate.

In the final stage of his evolution, Yama shares two significant characteristics with Śiva: He is Kāla ("time") and Dharmarāja ("lord of righteousness"). As Kāla, he is also Antaka, the "ender" (i. e., Death). As Dharmarāja, he takes over Varuṇa's role as the moral judge and punisher whose assistants torture the wicked in hell. At this stage his name is clearly derived differently, from the root yam ("to control"), from which are derived yantraṇa ("constriction") and yantraṇā ("torture"). As Dharmarāja, Yama can also be lenient to supplicants and revoke his own order (as he did for Sāvitrī) or modify it (as he did for Pramadvarā in the Mahābhārata).

Numerous episodes in the epics and Purāṇas contribute to Yama's almighty and sinister image. This image contrasts with his early Vedic appearance as a minor god who is simply a "gatherer of men." A cluster of hymns in the tenth and last book of the Ṛgveda presents him as a benign god like any other in the pantheon. But from the Yajurveda (especially in the Puruṣamedha sacrifice), where different oblations are prescribed for each of the various aspects of Yama, his personality undergoes a radical change: From the benevolent god of the dead he becomes the dread god of death. The theophany of Yama as Kāla, Antaka, and Dharmarāja brings him closer to Śiva.

Barua, P. R. "The Conception of Yama in Early Buddhism." Journal of the Asiatic Society (Pakistan) 9 (December 1964): 1–14.

Bhattacharji, Sukumari. The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Purāṇas. Cambridge, 1970. The chapter on Yama (pp. 48–64) seeks to trace Yama's evolution from the Vedic to the epic-Puranic period and his transformation from a benign god of the dead to an agent of Śiva.

Chapekar, N. G. "Pitārāḥ and Yama." In Belvalkar Commemoration Volume, Benares, 1957, pp. 36–42. Deals with Yama's relationship with ancestral spirits.

Dandekar, R. N. "Yama in the Veda." In B. C. Law Commemorative Volume, edited by D. R. Bhandarkar. Calcutta, 1945. A critical and comprehensive account.

Dumézil, Georges. "La sabhā de Yama." Journal asiatique 253 (1965): 161–165.

Ehni, Jacques. Die ursprüngliche Gottheit des vedischen Yama. Leipzig, 1896. One of the earliest studies.

Heras, Henry. "The Personality of Yama in the Ṛgveda." In Jadunath Sarkar Commemoration Volume, edited by Gupta Hari Ram, vol. 2. Hoshiarpur, 1958. Discusses the Vedic antecedents of Yama.

Karmarkar, A. P. "Yama—The God of Death of the Dravidians." Indica 4 (March 1967): 7–10.

Varma, M. Yama. Allahabad, 1939. A fairly full study of some important aspects of Yama's personality.

Wayman, Alex. "Studies in Yama and Māra." Indo-Iranian Journal 3 (1959): 44–73, 112–131. A critical and comparative treatment of the Vedic Yama and his transformation into Māra in Buddhist literature.

Merh, Kusum P. "Yama, the Glorious Lord of the Other World." Reconstructing Indian History & Culture no. 12. New Delhi, 1996.

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