The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• Introduction
• Errata
• Vedic Hymns
• Agnİ
• Savitṛ́
• MarÚtas
• VİṢṆu
• Dyá̄vĀ-pṚthiví̄
• Índra
• RudrÁ
• Apá̄Ṃ NÁpĀt
• MitrÁ
• Bṛ́haspÁti
• UṢÁs
• AgnÍ
• ParjÁnya
• PŪṢÁn
• Á̄pas
• Mitrá̄-vÁruṆĀ
• Sú̄rya
• AŚvÍnĀ
• VÁruṆa
• MaṆḌŪkĀs
• VÍŚve Devá̄Ḥ
• SÓma
• Funeral Hymn
• PitÁras
• Hymn of the Gambler
• PÚruṢa
• Rá̄trĪ
• Hymn of Creation
• YamÁ
• Vá̄ta
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations

YAMÁ

Three hymns are addressed to Yama, the chief of the blessed dead. There is also another (x. 10), which consists of a dialogue between him and his sister Yamī. He is associated with Varuṇa, Bṛhaspati, and especially Agni, the conductor of the dead, who is called his friend and his priest. He is not expressly designated a god, but only a being who rules the dead. He is associated with the departed Fathers, especially the Aṅgirases, with whom he comes to the sacrifice to drink Soma.

Yama dwells in the remote recess of the sky. In his abode, which is the home of the gods, he is surrounded by songs and the sound of the flute. Soma is pressed for Yama, ghee is offered to him, and he comes to seat himself at the sacrifice. He is invoked to lead his worshippers to the gods, and to prolong life.

His father is Vivasvant and his mother Saraṇyū. In her dialogue with him Yamī speaks of Yama as the ‘only mortal’, and elsewhere he is said to have chosen death and abandoned his body. He departed to the other world, having found out the path for many, to where the ancient Fathers passed away. Death is the path of Yama. His foot-fetter (páḍbīśa) is spoken of as parallel to the bond of Varuṇa. The owl (úlūka) and the pigeon (kapóta) are mentioned as his messengers, but the two four-eyed, broad-nosed, brindled dogs, sons of Saramā (sārameyáu) are his regular emissaries. They guard the path along which the dead man hastens to join the Fathers who rejoice with Yama. They watch men and wander about among the peoples as Yama’s messengers. They are besought to grant continued enjoyment of the light of the sun.

As the first father of mankind and the first of those that died, Yama appears to have originally been regarded as a mortal who became the chief of the souls of the departed. He goes back to the Indo-Iranian period, for the primaeval twins, from whom the human race is descended, Yama and Yamī, are identical with the Yima and Yimeh of the Avesta. Yama himself may in that period have been regarded as a king of a golden age, for in the Avesta he is the ruler of an earthly, and in the RV. that of a heavenly paradise.

x. 135. Metre: Anuṣṭubh.

See Page Number 212, Hymn Number 1 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 1

  yásmin vṛkṣé supalāśé
• deváiḥ saṃpíbate Yamáḥ,
• átrā no viśpátiḥ pitá̄
• purāṇá̄ṁ̆ ánu venati.

Beside the fair-leaved tree under which Yama drinks together with the gods, there our father, master of the house, seeks the friendship of the men of old.

yásmin: the loc. is often used in the sense of beside, near(cp. 203, 2). saṃpíbate: drinks Soma with. átrā: with metrically long final vowel (cp. 433, 2 A). nas: our i. e. of me and the other members of the family. pitá̄: my deceased father. purāṇá̄n: ancient ancestors; Sandhi, 39. ánu venati: that is, associates with them.

See Page Number 213, Hymn Number 2 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 2

  purāṇá̄ṁ̆ anuvénantaṃ,
• cárantaṃ pāpáyāmuyá̄,
• asūyánn abhy àcākaśaṃ:
• tásmā aspṛhayaṃ púnaḥ.

Him seeking the friendship of the men of old, faring in this evil way, I looked upon displeased: for him I longed again.

In this and the preceding stanza a son speaks of his father who has gone to the world of Yama. amuyá̄: inst. s. f. of the prn. ayám used adverbially with shift of accent (p. 109); with this is combined the inst. s. f. of the adj. pāpá similarly used, the two together meaning in this evil way, that is, going to the abode of the dead. asūyán: being displeased, that is, with him, opposed to aspṛhayam, I longed for him, that is, to see him again. acākaśam: ipf. int. of kāś, with shortening of the radical vowel (174).

See Page Number 213, Hymn Number 3 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 3

  yáṃ, kumāra, návaṃ rátham
• acakráṃ mánasá̄kṛṇoḥ,
• ékeṣaṃ viśvátaḥ prá̄ñcam,
• ápaśyann ádhi tiṣṭhasi.

The new car, O boy, the wheelless, which thou didst make in mind, which has one pole, but faces in all directions, thou ascendest seeing it not.

In this stanza (and the next) the dead boy is addressed; he mounts the car which he imagines is to take him to the other world. acakrám: perhaps because the dead are wafted to Yama by Agni. éka and viśvátas are opposed: though it has but one pole, it has a front on every side. ápaśyan: because dead.

See Page Number 214, Hymn Number 4 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 4

  yáṃ, kumāra, prá̄vartayo
• ráthaṃ víprebhias pári,
• táṃ sá̄má̄nu prá̄vartata,
• sám itó nāví á̄hitam.

The car, O boy, that thou didst set rolling forth away from the priests, after that there rolled forth a chant placed from here upon a ship.

The departure of the dead is followed by a funeral chant. praávartayas: 2. s. ipf. cs. of vṛt turn; accent, p. 464, 17, 1; p. 469, β; analysed by the Padapāṭha, as prá ávartayas; cp. note on viii. 48, 2 a. ánu prá avartata: 3. s. ipf. Ā. of vṛt: accent, p. 464, 17, 1; p. 466, 19; p. 468, 20 a. víprebhyas: the priests officiating at the funeral; abl. governed by pári (176, 1 a); Sandhi, 43, 2 a. sám á̄-hitam: accent, p. 462, 13 b. nāví: the funeral chant is placed on a boat as a vehicle to convey it from here (itás) to the other world.

See Page Number 214, Hymn Number 5 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 5

  káḥ kumārám ajanayad?
• ráthaṃ kó nír avartayat?
• káḥ svit tád adyá no brūyād,
• anudéyī yáthá̄bhavat?

Who generated the boy? Who rolled out his car? Who pray could tell us this to-day, how his equipment(?) was?

These questions seem to be asked by Yama on the deceased boy’s arrival: Who was his father? Who performed his funeral? With what equipment was he provided for the journey? nír avartayat: cp. yáṃ prá̄vartayo rátham in 4 a b. anudéyī: this word occurs only in this and the following verse; it is a f. of anu-déya, which occurs in the sense of to be handed over; the exact sense is nevertheless uncertain. It not improbably means that with which the deceased was supplied for the journey to Yama’s abode.

See Page Number 215, Hymn Number 6 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 6

  yáthá̄bhavad anudéyī,
• tátŏ ágram ajāyata;
• purástād budhná á̄tataḥ;
• paścá̄n niráyaṇaṃ kṛtám.

As the equipment was, so the top arose; in front the bottom extended; behind the exit was made.

The sense of this stanza is obscure, chiefly because the object of which the details are here given is uncertain. The car on which the deceased is supposed to be conveyed may be meant. There is evidently correspondence between yáthā and tátas, ágram and budhnás, purástād and paścá̄d. There is no doubt about the grammatical forms or the meaning of the individual words (except anudéyī). If the reference is to the car, the general sense of the stanza is: in proportion to the equipment is the height of the top, the space on the floor in front, and the size of the exit at the back.

See Page Number 215, Hymn Number 7 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 7

  idáṃ Yamásya sá̄danaṃ
• devamānáṃ yád ucyáte.
• iyám asya dhamyate nāḷí̄r.
• ayáṃ gīrbhíḥ páriṣkṛtaḥ.

This is the seat of Yama that is called the abode of the gods. This is his flute that is blown. He it is that is adorned with songs.

The boy here arrives at the abode of Yama. sá̄danam: note that the vowel of this word is always short in the Pada text, the compilers of which seem to have regarded it as a metrical lengthening; sá̄danam occurs about a dozen times in the RV., beside the much commoner sádanam. nāḷí̄s: with s in the nom. (100, I a). There is one syllable too many in c (cp. p. 428, 2 a). ayám: Yama. páriṣkṛtas: note that the Pada text removes the unoriginal s (p. 145, f. n. 1; cp. note on x 127, 3 a). gīrbhís: dec. 82; accent, p. 458, c 1.