574 MR J. MUIR ON THE PRINCIPAL DEITIES OF TPIE RIGVEDA. 



Yama. 



Yama, the son of Vivasvat and Saranyu, is the ruler of the world to come. In 

 the later mythology he becomes distinctly the Indian Pluto, the judge of the dead, 

 who in a future state recompenses the good and bad according to their deserts ; 

 but he is there depicted principally as an object of terror. The awful side of his 

 character is not altogether unrecognised even in the Rigveda, where he is said to 

 have two insatiable dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils, which guard the road 

 to his abode, and wander about among men. They are evidently regarded with 

 dread, and the spirits of the departed are advised to hurry past them. The bonds 

 or nooses of Yama are also mentioned in one place along with those of Varuna, and 

 he is, in another passage, identified with death, and described as sending a bird 

 as a forewarner of doom. In a text of the Atharva-veda, death is said to be his 

 messenger. But in the Vedic hymns he is most commonly represented as the 

 sovereign and guardian of the blessed. In a text already quoted, the wor- 

 shipper prays to be admitted to the abode of Yama, in the innermost sphere of 

 heaven. In another place the souls of the departed are desired to proceed by 

 the path which their fathers had trodden before, and Avhich would introduce 

 them to the vision of Yama and Varuna dA\elling together in blessedness. Pro- 

 fessor Roth has pointed out that Yama was sometimes regarded by the Indians 

 as the first man, the first who departed to the other world and became its ruler.* 

 Thus, in one text of the Rigveda, he appears to be spoken of as the sole existing 

 mortal ; and in another place he is described as having been the first to discover 

 the wa}^ to heaven. This is still more distinctly expressed in a verse of the 

 Atharvaveda, which runs thus : " Worship with an oblation that King Yama, the 

 son of Vivasvat, the gatherer together of men, who was the first of mortals that 

 died, the first who departed to this [heavenly] world." In another verse of the 

 Rigveda he is described as carousing with the gods under a leafy tree. 



It is quite clear from all this that towards the end, at least, of the Vedic age, 

 the Indians had a distinct belief in a future state of rewards. The following are 

 some of their other ideas regarding the future destinies of men. When the 

 remains of the deceased have been placed upon the funeral pile, and the process 

 of cremation has commenced, Agni, the god of fire, is besought not to scorch 

 or consume the departed, not to rend asunder his skin or his limbs, but after the 

 flames have done their proper work, to convey to the fathers the mortal who has 

 been presented to him as an offering. The eye of the dead is bidden to go to the 

 sun, his breath to the wind, and his other members to the sky, the earth, the 

 waters, or the plants, according to their several affinities. As for his "unborn 

 part," Agni is supplicated to kindle it with his heat, and putting on his most 



* Manu, Yama's twin brother, is, however, far more frequently mentioned in the Rigveda as the 

 first man or the progenitor of the Indians. See my paper on Manu, in tlie 20th vol. of the Journal 

 of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 406, ff. 



