Yama
deity figure · 17 works · 111 mentions · 213 anchored passages · author page
Vaivasvata · Death · King Yama · son of Vivasvat · Antaka · Dharmarāja · Kāla · Lord Yama · Vaivasvata Yama · Yama Vaivasvata
spoken of as
1 expressionKing of Dharma“Yama”1 mention
Viṣṇu Smṛti (Sanskrit)
By bathing in a river on every fourteenth day and worshipping the King of Dharma, he is purified from all sins.
in the texts
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
God of death invoked as a figure of comparison for Rāma's valour.
"Equal to Yama and Śakra in valour, equal to Bṛhaspati in wisdom, equal to a mountain in steadfastness — and yet surpassing even me in virtue.
"Surely death does not exist for me, nor is there room for me in Yama's realm, since Death does not this very day carry me off by force, as a lion carries off a weeping doe.
"You must so provide for this my mother — who bore within her a child comparable to great Indra — that, wasting away in grief while I abide in the forest, she does not lay down her life and depart to the realm of Yama.
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
God of the dead and lord of the ancestral realm, to whom a maiden is ritually delivered.
O king, this one is your guardian of emblems;
O Yama, king, this maiden is shaken loose as a bride for you.
may your life-breath go to Yama.
Rigveda
God/ruler of the dead, whose 'path' represents death and whose world forms part of the threefold heavens.
May your praiser not become like a beast in the pasture, unwanted — may he not go along Yama's path.
Three heavens belong to Savitṛ — two are his lap, one belongs in the world of Yama, the all-conquering.
He is indeed Yama when born, Yama in birthhood, the lover of maidens, the lord of wives.
Vīramitrodaya
God of death and dharma, cited as the authority for a rule on the lapsed year exception.
"If Jupiter is in accelerated motion in Aries, Scorpio, Taurus, or Aquarius, there is no lapse of time, says the blessed Yama.
" The Kārtika-Śukla-Dvitīyā for the worship of Yama should be the one in the afternoon.
For all divine rites, the bright-fortnight Dvitīyā should be the next day, and the dark-fortnight one should be the previous day.
Manusmṛti
God of death and the ancestral realm, propitiated at the start of the śrāddha
210[200M] // Having first performed the rite of propitiation to Agni, Soma, and Yama, he should afterwards satisfy the ancestors by the offering of oblations according to the rule.
95[94M] // A king bears the form of the eight world-protectors:
Through his power, he is Agni and he is the Wind, he is the Sun, he is Soma, he is the King of Dharma (Yama);
Viṣṇu Smṛti
The god of death, whose path only the deceased's wife is permitted to follow
For everyone except the wife, the path of Yama is barred.
To Yama, accompanied by the Aṅgirasas, *svadhā*, salutation!
> Sinners, having committed sins, immediately after giving up their lives, / > Reach the path of Yama and suffer terrible pain.
Kunjarakarna Dharmakathana
The god of death who rules the abode of the dead, explains karma and the causes of suffering, and reveals the fate of the sinner Pūrṇavijaya to Kuñjarakarṇa.
"The soul is thus:
"Again I ask of the Lord Yama:
"Now my course is clear, Lord Yama.
Sāmaveda
God/lord associated with death and the ancestors.
The golden-winged bird, messenger of Varuṇa, the restless bird in the womb of Yama.
let us accompany him to the end — the golden-winged bird, Varuṇa's messenger, the agile one in Yama's womb.
Āṅgirasa Smṛti
The god of death, son of Vivasvat, to whom the impure eater's sins are said to be answered and who receives an offering portion in the rite.
With the remainder, one should offer to Yama and then to Agni.
For however many morsels of the oblation that lowly one eats, so many spikes he swallows upon reaching Yama, the son of Vivasvat.
[137] The chastiser of those with hidden sins is Yama, the son of Vivasvat.
Nāradasmṛti
God of death and judgment, invoked as the exemplar of impartiality for a righteous king.
Therefore, having ascended the throne of justice, the king, free from envy, should be impartial to all beings, observing the vow of Yama.
And in the hells, the cruel and powerful servants of Yama will forever cut out your tongue with swords.
Bṛhaspati Smṛti
God of death and justice, one of the eight source-deities of the king and the exemplar of impartial restraint invoked for the king's disciplinary duty.
from Soma, Agni, the Sun, the Wind, Indra, the Lord of Wealth, the Lord of Waters, and Yama.
Just as Yama restrains both friend and foe when their time has come, so should the king restrain his subjects;
San Hyan Kamahayanikan
Lord of the underworld/hell, into whose cauldron the disrespectful fall.
He will return to hell, falling into the cauldron of Yama, to be the dregs of the Copper-Faced Demon.
San Hyan Tattvajnana
The deity of death whose host administers rebirths to those who have died after committing evil deeds, assigning deformed or animal births.
Kriyāśakti means He creates the entire world, and moreover all the hosts of deities.
After leaving hell, they are given rebirth as a being of the *triyak* realm by the host of Yama.
After leaving there, they are given rebirth as a being of the *triyak* realm by the host of Yama.
Slokantara
God of death and the underworld who metes out suffering to sinners.
This is the reason they are made to suffer by the holy god Yamarāja.
They will not fail to fall into hell, to have their life-force torn apart by the *kiṅkara* demons of the god Yama.
[Slo_12s-ab] nimattonmattakuṣṭhāś ca rogakukṣir vigantikaḥ | [Slo_12s-cd] khañjaḥ kubjo [']ndha ekadṛg ghrasvaḥ śleṣmikunetrakau || 12 ||
Vratisasana
The god of death and the underworld whose realm and cauldron are the destination of punishment for those who fail to protect their vows.
One who does so will unfailingly plunge into the world of hell, seized in the cauldron by the soldiers of Yama.
That sacred thread will become a club, a mace to beat your body there in the world of Yama, if the *śīla* is not protected by you.
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
God of death, invoked through a recited hymn during cremation rites.
While reciting the hymn to Yama and the Gāthās, with the domestic fire, he should be cremated, if he has been initiated;
Yama Smṛti
The god of death and of the law, depicted as a sage-teacher residing in a hermitage who instructs on purification and punishment.
Yama:
no other purification is ordained.
and those who have attempted suicide with a weapon;