The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c8.113

c8.113

Yet this same Yama, such is the terror of death, becomes in due time the Hindu Pluto, god of hell and judge of the wicked. Which shows how important is the special and national treatment of myths, and how constant is the disregard of what may be called the radical beginnings of myths. From Yama of the golden age of man to dread Yama, the destroyer of the bodies of men—as such he figures in the later Pantheon of the Mahābhārata—Comparative Mythology traces every step.