The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s2.18

v2.c41.s2.18

Güntert⁴ contends that in the case of Yama a distinction must be made between the ideas of ‘dead’, ‘human’, and ‘immortal’; Yama was a god who permitted himself to be sacrificed, and therefore died, but he is not a man (*mānuṣa*, *mānava*). Thus the Atharvaveda⁵ describes him as the first of mortals (*mártya*) to die, but not as a man, while the Rigveda⁶ refers to his innate immortality (*Yamásya jātám amṛ́tam*). But despite his relation to Vivasvant it is impossible to deny his mortality by these distinctions; what-ever his origin, to the Vedic poet he was the first of men to die.