Later aspect of Yama

The world over which Yama rules is not repulsive dark, or in any way dread-inspiring, being situated, as we have seen, in the highest heaven, inthe sphere of the sun, in the midst of radiant worlds, and no idea of judgment or punishment attaches to it. In the Rig-Veda Yama is the king of the dead, not as yet their judge and chastiser. That came later, and in the Brahmanical literature of the classical period Yama appears stripped of all gracious features and tricked out in all the cheap horrors of the vulgar devil. How different from the mild, benignant deity, to whose gentle rule the earlier Aryan Hindus lovingly, trustfully committed their departed dear ones !

Yama originally the Moon.

His brother Manu, the progenitor of the human race.

The question naturally arises : what natural phenomenon originally was disguised under the myth of Yama Vaivasvata? The answer as naturally suggests itself : the setting sun, for that is one of the scenes in the grand drama of nature which always most forcibly suggested the belief and hop in a future life.'  And in the poetical language ofearly myth-makers, bristling with bold metasetting sun can very well be said to be the child  of the morning sun (Vivasvat). But then it is by no means sure, as will be seen,' that Vivasvat was always the sun, and quite recently a school of interpreters has arisen who would identify Yama, like Soma, with the Moon. s It cannot be denied that the arguments they bring in favor of this solution carry great weight. They point out, among other things, that the “ seat of Yama ” is avowedly in the “third heaven,” in “its most secret place,” and that the setting sun cannot be said to occupy that position ; that the moon easily could appear to the unscientific eye of theearly myth-makers as a smaller, younger sun—the child of the sun, who dies (disappears) after running his course ; that the two, with the inconsistency so characteristic of myths, which delight in presenting the same divine beings under different aspects, to place them in different mutual relations, might just as easily have appealed to  the imagination as twins —as in point of fact they have been considered by most ancient peoples, and that the very name “Yama” is a word signifying “twin.” Yama is often spoken of as having been the first man, the progenitor of the human race. But that honor belongs to another son of Vivasvat—Manu (i. e., Man), and was mistakenly transferred to Yama, on the strength of an imperfect argument, namely, that he who was the first to die must have been the first man who lived. But Yama is nowhere styled “ the first of men,” only “ the first of mortals.” Now the word “ mortal ” (martya ) is very frequently used to denote “ man ” ; but two other words—manushya and jana occur quite as frequently 1 ; yet neither is used when Yama is spoken of. The persistency with which he is called the first of martyas, “ mortals,” is scarcely accidental. Not man alone is mortal in the conception of ancient myth-making peoples : the gods themselves would die did they not continually renew their life and vigor by draughts of the divine Soma, the water of youth and immortality; the sun dies when it sets, or faints at the numbing touch of winter ; the moon dies when, after waning away before our eyes, it disappears. True, after death comes resurrection ; but that does not belong here. We must be content with establishing the fact that Yama is invariably styled the “ first of mortals who died,” not “ the first of mortal men.”  

Vayu or Vata, the Wind.

Another Vedic deity who can be traced with certainty to a pre-Eranian (or Proto-Aryan) past is VAYU or VAta, the Wind. Not the violent storm-wind, but the wholesome, cooling breeze, that clears tfie atmosphere, purifies the air, brings health and life to men and animals prostrated by heat.Vayu holds a modest place in the Rig-Veda. Few hymns are addressed to him alone, but he is frequently joined with other gods, and always men- tioned with respect and gratitude. He is a “ Son of Heaven ” (Dyaus), and not only is he invited to partake of the Soma libations, but when he comes with other gods, the first drink is his by right. The following short hymn shows the high esteem in which this unobtrusive deity was held and how sensitively alive the fancy of those ancient poets was to the picturesque and the mysterious—also how a thing may strike in the same way spirits separated by ages and continents.

“ I celebrate Vata’s great chariot : it comes rending the air, with noise of thunder. It touches the sky as it goes and makes it ruddy, whirling up the dust on the earth.—The flying gusts rush after it,. — as maidens to a festival . . . .—As he flies along on airy paths, Vata never rests on any day .... For what place was he born ? and from whence came he,—the vital breath of gods, the world’s great offspring? The god, where’er he will, moves at his pleasure; his rushing sound we hear,—his form was never seen . . .”

With this god we close the cycle of Vedic gods —Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra, Agni, Soma, Yaraa, Vayu —whom we can trace with absolute certainty to a Indo-Eranian past and identify with corresponding divine beings in the Avesta. Further researches no doubt will bring to light more affinities, more likenesses, as indeed not a few have already been hinted at. But suggestions, conjectures, can find no place in works the object of which is to place before the larger public—the uninitiated laymen of science—the results actually achieved, the conquests that may be considered final. The divine personages into whose exalted circle we shall now step are of Indian growth, bear the unmistakable impress of the land and conditions of life which the migrating Aryas found on the hither side of the Himalaya and the Indus.

Reference : THE STORY OF THE NATIONS