Hindu

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Hindu

Yama

The Lord of Death

Domain: Death & Justice of the Dead
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Element: Darkness
Relics of Power: Noose of Souls

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5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Hindu peoples

Region

Indian subcontinent

Period

c. 1500 BC – present

The Hindu deities have been worshipped for over three thousand years across the Indian subcontinent, from the Vedic hymns to the living Hinduism of today. Billions of devotees dedicate to them temples, festivals such as Diwali and Holi, and daily rituals in the home. It is one of the largest religious traditions still practiced in the world.

Diwali lights up India with oil lamps in honor of Lakshmi, and Holi celebrates spring with clouds of colored powder. At the Kumbh Mela, the largest pilgrimage on Earth, tens of millions bathe in the sacred rivers, and daily puja brings flowers, incense, and food to the altars.

At a glance

Yama is the august lord of moral justice, of physical death, and of the realm of the ancestors in the Vedic and Hindu tradition. The first mortal to tread the path to the beyond, he established the realm of Pitriloka to receive souls after the end of the earthly journey. Mounted on a black buffalo and wielding the scepter Danda and the noose Pasa, he judges every life with perfect and incorruptible equity.

15 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The noose, the buffalo, the staff and the book of deeds

Family

Parents

SuryaSanjna

Siblings

YamiShani

Yama

Unions

Dhumorna

Children

Yudhishthira

Genealogy according to Rigveda 10.14.1-16; 10.10.1-14; Katha Upanishad 1.1-3; Mahabharata, Adi Parva 1.123

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anônimo, Rigveda. translation: Stephanie W. Jamison e Joel P. Brereton, 2014.
Anônimo, Katha Upanishad. translation: Patrick Olivelle, 1996.
Vyasa, Mahabharata. translation: Kisari Mohan Ganguli, 1896.
Vyasa, Padma Purana. translation: N. A. Deshpande, 1988.

Studies

Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Vedic Mythology. Karl J. Trübner, 1897.
Jan Gonda, The Dual Deities in the Religion of the Veda. North-Holland Publishing Company, 1974.
Georges Dumézil, Mythe et épopée I: L'idéologie des trois fonctions dans les épopées des peuples indo-européens. Gallimard, 1968.
Émile Benveniste, Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes. Éditions de Minuit, 1969.

Name and epithets

The Sanskrit theonym Yama derives from the Indo-European root yem, meaning twin, the one who walks in parity or who imposes moral restraint.

In the ancient sources

Rigveda., 12th century BCE.. Primordial funeral hymn that celebrates Yama as the pioneer who opened the path to the beyond. Rigveda., 12th century BCE..

The myths

The Opening of the Path of the Dead and the Realm of the Fathers.. In the immemorial times of the emergence of humanity, Yama was the first mortal being to know physical death on earth.

Worship and archaeology

In everyday Hindu religious practice, devotees avoid keeping exclusive temples or permanent images of Yama in their homes, since the god embodies the irreversible transition of physical death.

How the god was depicted

The classical iconography of Yama in the monumental sculpture of Hindu temples and in traditional illuminations conveys regal severity and unshakable impartiality.

What scholars debate

The Theological Transformation from Celestial Pioneer to Infernal Judge.. Specialists examine how the figure of Yama changed substantially between the hymns of the Rigveda and Purana literature.

After antiquity

The figure of Yama spread with extraordinary force through the diffusion of Buddhism across Central and East Asia.

Did you know?

In the Rigveda, Yama is assisted by two four-eyed celestial dogs with speckled muzzles named Sharvara and Shyama.

Codex relic

Noose of Souls. A noose with which he draws the soul from the body at the moment of death and leads it to judgment.

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