Vedic Mythology c9.s4.9

c9.s4.9

The word *yamá* has also the appellative meaning of ‘twin’¹⁴, in which sense it occurs several times in the RV. (generally in the dual masculine or feminine), while *yáma*, which is found a few times in the RV., means ‘rein’ or guide’. Yamá actually is a twin with Yamī in the RV. (10, 10)¹⁵. The sense of ‘twin’ also seems to belong to Yima in the Avesta (Yasna 30, 3). A sister of Yima is mentioned, not in the Avesta, but in the later literature¹⁶ only, as Yimeh, who with her brother produces the first human couple. At a later period of Indian literature, when Yama had become the god of death who punishes the wicked, the name was understood to be derived from *yam*, ‘to restrain’¹⁷, but this derivation is not in keeping with the ideas of the Vedic age.