Dharma
Hindu · deity · satya yuga · deity
Hindu personification of dharma — cosmic order and righteousness. In Mahabharata genealogy he is the divine father of Yudhiṣṭhira, conceived by Kuntī through Sage Durvāsā's mantra. The Yakṣa-praśna at the lake (Vana Parva 297) is Dharma testing his son's wisdom. Compound identification with Yama as Yama-Dharma — the god of death whose judgment weighs the moral life. The Mahabharata's closing Svargārohaṇa Parva has Yudhiṣṭhira merge with Dharma, completing the father-son identification.
Children
Domains
- righteousness cosmic order
- death judgment yama identification
Powers
- Assumes disguising forms to test righteousness
- Judges the dead and allots their fate
- Judges and assigns fate to the dead
- Restores the dead to life
- Revives the dead
- Tests righteousness in disguise
Epithets
- धर्मराज
Relations
- lover: Kuntī