Yama

God of death and the dead, judge of souls, son of Surya, twin of Yami (distinct from hindu_dharma)

Parentage

• parent: Sūrya

Domains

• death
• justice

Powers

• Judge the dead and assign their fated destinations
• Pioneer the path of death as the first mortal to die

Epithets

• धर्मराज sanskrit · Dharmarāja · epithetKing of righteousness/justice; judge of the deadMahābhārata; Garuḍa Purāṇa (Preta Khaṇḍa) (primary)
• यमराज sanskrit · Yamarāja · epithetKing Yama, lord of deathKaṭha Upaniṣad 1 (Yama instructs Naciketas); Ṛgveda 10.14 (primary)
• अन्तक sanskrit · Antaka · epithetThe Ender, he who brings the endMahābhārata; Purāṇic tradition (primary)
• वैवस्वत sanskrit · Vaivasvata · epithetSon of Vivasvat (the sun)Ṛgveda 10.14.1; Mahābhārata (primary)
• पितृपति sanskrit · Pitṛpati · vedaLord of the ancestors; king of the departed fathersṚgveda 10.14 (Yama and the pitṛs) (primary)
• काल sanskrit · Kāla · epicTime; the all-devouring enderMahābhārata (Yama as Kāla) (primary)
• दण्डधर sanskrit · Daṇḍadhara · puranaBearer of the rod of punishmentPurāṇic tradition (Yama with the daṇḍa) (primary)

Relations

• twin sibling: Yamīthe Mahābhārata and Purāṇic genealogy (secondary)
• sibling: Vaivasvata Manuthe Mahābhārata and Purāṇic genealogy (secondary)
• sibling: SugrivaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Sūrya) per the figures' cited genealogy.
• equated with: Imra the CreatorReciprocal of nuristani_imra.equated-with — Imra/Imro continues *Yama-rāja(n) 'King Yama' in name, but the Nuristani figure inverted function: from first mortal and lord of the dead to supreme creator. Cognate name, radically re-assigned office.G.S. Robertson, The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush (1896); Michael Witzel, 'The Ṛgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents' (2004) on Imra < *Yama-rāja (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Rigveda 10.14 (primary); Katha Upanishad (primary)