Yama

Yama (Skt., restraint). The god of death and lord of the underworld (naraka). Yama is a Hindu god who first appears in the Ṛg Veda (see Veda), and in later mythology rules the underworld as judge and punisher of the dead. In Buddhism, he loses these two functions since according to Buddhist teachings karma alone determines one's fate in the afterlife, and the intervention of a supernatural judge is therefore not required. To a certain degree, Yama is also eclipsed by Māra, and it is the latter who appears with greater frequency and clarity in Buddhist literature as the personification of moral evil. Nevertheless, the older conceptions are not entirely lost, and in the Pāli Canon Yama is depicted as a kind of superintendent of the karmic process of post-mortem retribution that takes place in purgatory. He rules over this realm together with his eight generals and a retinue of 80,000 servants. The souls of the dead are led before him and he reminds them that they themselves are the authors of their fate and are alone responsible for the expiatory punishment they are about to undergo. His messengers are old age, sickness, and death, and he dispatches them into the human world as an omen and warning about the brevity of life. In Pāli sources sometimes two or four Yamas are mentioned. In tantric Buddhism, Yama is depicted as a terrifying figure adorned with human skulls and surrounded by flames. In his left hand he holds the mirror of karma that reflects the good and evil deeds an individual has performed, and in his right hand the sword of insight (prajñā).