Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c33.s3.1

v4.c33.s3.1

Yama is also a deity of some celebrity of the Vēdic period. In the *Ṛigvēda* he is mentioned as the son of Vivasvat and of Saraṇyū, the daughter of Tvaṣṭṛi, with a twin sister named Yami. This sister of his importuned him to become her husband, but he successfully resisted the incestuous offer. He was the first man who died, reached the other world and showed others the path to that world. He guides other men thither, and assembles them in a house which is secured to them for ever. He is, however, nowhere in the Vēdic period, represented as a punisher of sins; nevertheless he is still an object of terror. He has two dogs each with four eyes and wide nostrils which guard the road to this last abode of the mortals. In one place he is actually identified with death.