Yama

[god] frequently listed as one of the Lokapalas

Yama, the Binder, Lord of Death Yama was the first man to be born on earth and so was the first to die since no man can escape that fate. Yama was the son of the Sun who has to die every evening. Yama had to travel south to the Land of the Dead, where he became king over the multitudes of souls. Sinister and fearful, he judges the dead that his messengers drag in front of his throne. He is amenable to pity and a fair judge. He rules over the kingdom of the dead where the ancestors dwell. He is king of ghosts. bhuta

Yama means binder, restrainer. He binds, and he controls what actions of the living beings bear fruit and do not bear fruit. He is judge, restrainer and punisher of the dead. Some of his names are Death, End, Time, Finisher, Settler. Yama is of fearful and grim in appearance. His body is ugly and ill shaped. He is of dark green complexion with glowing red eyes. He dresses in blood red garments and holds a noose and a staff, also carries an axe, a sword and a dagger. He rides a black buffalo, the buffalo Fearful (Ugra), and sometimes appears himself in the form of a buffalo. When identified with time he appears as an old man with a sword and a shield. His hands are like claws. Yama resides in the South, at the End of the earth under the earth, in darkness. His city Yamapura has four gates and seven arches. Two rivers flow in the city. The messengers of death are his attendants. He is surrounded by demons that are the different diseases. Yama owns two four-eyed dogs with wide nostrils.

(description by Lila Durga)