Yama untranslated

Yama. The god of death (see, e.g., Dhp­a.iii.337; Yamassa santikaṁ = Maraṇasantikaṁ). When beings die they are led before him to be judged according to their deeds. Birth, old age, illness, punishment for crime and death, are regarded as his messengers, sent among men as a warning to abstain from ill and do good. Yama questions beings brought before him as to whether they have seen these messengers and profited by them. If the answer is in the negative, the nirayapālas take them away to the different hells (MN.iii.179ff).

In the Mahā Samayasutta (DN.ii.259) mention is made of two Yamas (duve Yamā), which the Commentary explains (DN­a.ii.690) by “dve Yamakadevatā” (the twins, whom Rhys Davids calls the Castor and Pollux of Indian Mythology, in Dial.ii.290, n.1). Elsewhere (AN­a.i.374; MN­a.ii.953) Buddhaghosa speaks of four Yamas (na cesa eko va hoti, catusu pana dvāresu cattāro janā honti) at the four gates (of the Nirayas?). He says that Yama is a Vemānikapetarājā, who sometimes enjoys all the pleasures of heaven, in a celestial mansion, surrounded by kapparukkhas, and at other times experiences the fruits of his kamma. He is a good king.

In the Jātakas the Nirayas are particularly mentioned as Yama’s abode (Yamakkhaya, Yamanivesana, Yamasādana, etc.), e.g., Ja.ii.318; iv.273; v.268, 274, 304. The Vetaraṇī is mentioned as forming the boundary of Yama’s kingdom (Ja.i.21; Ja.ii.317; iii.472; but see ii.318). At Ja.iv.405, Yama’s abode is called Ussadaniraya. Dhp­a.i.334 explains Yamaloka by Catubbidhaṁ apāyalokaṁ. Cp. Pv-a.33 (Yamaloko ti petaloko); Pv-a.107 (Yamavisayaṁ = Petalokaṁ). But, more generally, all Saṁsāra is considered as subject to Yama’s rule, and escape from Saṁsāra means escape from Yama’s influence, Yama being the god of Death. It is evidently in this sense that Yama is called Vesāyi (q.v., Ja.ii.317, 318).

Yama is sometimes mentioned with Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Pajāpatī, etc., as a god to whom sacrifices are offered (e.g., Ja.vi.201; DN.i.244; at Mil.37 the list includes Kuvera, Suyāma and Santusita; cp. Mahā Vastu Mvu.i.265; Mvu.iii.68, 77; 77, 307). There is a tradition (AN.i.142) that once Yama longed to be born as a human being and to sit at the feet of a Tathāgata. Yama’s Nayanāyudha is mentioned (Snp­a.i.225) among the most destructive of weapons.

Yāmā 01. A class of Devas, mentioned in lists of Devas between those of Tāvatiṁsa and those of Tusita (e.g., Vin.i.12, AN.i.228; iii.287; MN.ii.194; iii.100, etc.). Two hundred years of human life are but one day to the Yāma Devā, and two thousand years, composed of such days, form their life period (AN.i.213; iv.253). Sirimā, sister of Jīvaka, was born after death in the Yāma world and became the wife of Suyāma, king of Yāmabhavana. From there she visited the Buddha with five hundred others. Snp­a i.244f.; see also Vv-a.246 for an upāsaka born in the Yāma-world. In the Hatthipālajātaka (Ja.iv.475) mention is made of four Yāma-Devas who were reborn as men.

The meaning of Yāmā is explained in the Commentaries (e.g., Vibh­a.519; Paṭis-a.441) as “those that have attained divine bliss” (dibbaṁ sukhaṁ yātā payātā sampattā ti Yāmā). Other explanations are “misery freed” or “governing gods”. Comp.138, n.2.

Yāmā 02. In some contexts, Yāmā seems to have been derived from Yama, king of the underworld – e.g in such expressions as “Yāmato yāva Akaniṭṭhaṁ” (from the underworld to the highest heaven). Khp­a.166.