Yama?

[Dustypuppy]

Come across him a bit in my reading, just need clairification- does he fulfill a similar role to the Greek Hades? Does he fulfill any other roles apart from the aforementioned-also is he acknowledged in Shakta tradition?x

[Toby Stimpson]

All Gods are acknowledged in Shakta sects.... they just are merely not focussed on.

Yama is an older God of Death associated more with the Vedic religion than the modern Hindu ones. He is seen to take, as you said, a King of the Underworld role in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

He is quite redundant now with the prominant theory and theology of Reincarnation however he now takes on a role more like the punisher. Theres a certain idea in Buddhism that evil doers or those with hefty karma go to Yama's kingdom to pay justice, soemwhat like a purgatory before they are allowed to reincarnate.

Theres an old story that yama was one of the first Men, and he and his consort Yami ventured into the lands of the West, the lands of death, and such he became known as RajaYama, King Yama of the western lands.

The pic below shows Yama in subservance to Shiva who has come to stop Yama from taking the soul of the worshipper who is latched onto the Lingam :). As Yama was about take the soul of the thief, the thief began to wroship the Lingam and as anyone who worshipsLingam will automaticly get the protection of Shiva... Yama was powerless. Thats why Shiva is now known as Lord of the Thieves.

Hope that kind of answers your question :)

Namaste

Tobias

[Paracelsus]

Do not forget that one can learn a good deal about the character of Yama Vagresevasa in the Katha Upanishad, where he is the guru who teaches the young Brahmana Nachiketas the secrets of Brahman and Atman. In this upanishad it is made quite clear that the gods themselves are subject to Dharma - Yama only agrees to teach Nachiketas as he has incurred a Karmic burden through having a Brahaman in his house for three days without offering hospitality - so he has to give him three wishes! It is a good read - with quite a sense of humour - Nachiketas is in the house of death because he has been taking the piss out of his father's useless sacrifice of crap old cows.

It is not unreasonable to compare Yama to Hades, as the original Vedic belief was not in samsara and reincarnation, but in a rather boring afterlife - the house of the fathers.

[Toby Stimpson]

Mhm... in thinking about that, there's a small section where he teaches Garuda about fate as well... here in the Garuda Purana:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/gpu/index.htm

Tobias