Yama

Yama
God of Death, Underworld and Spirits
Yama's Court and Hell. The Blue figure is Yama with his twin sister Yami and Chitragupta. A 17th-century painting from the Government Museum in Chennai
Affiliation	Deva
Abode	Naraka
Mantra	Om yamaya namah
Weapons	Lasso, Mace
Mount	Water Buffalo
Greek equivalent	Hades

Yama or Yamarāja, also called Imra, is a god of death, the south direction and the underworld, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. In Sanskrit, his name can be interpreted to mean "twin". In the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, he is called "Yima". According to the Vishnu Purana, his parents are the sun-god Surya and Sandhya, the daughter of Vishvakarma. Yama is the brother of Sraddhadeva Manu and of his older sister Yami, which Horace Hayman Wilson indicates to mean the Yamuna. According to Harivamsa Purana her name is Daya. There is a temple in Srivanchiyam, Tamil Nadu dedicated to Yama.

In the Vedas, Yama is said to have been the first mortal who died. By virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the departed, and is called "Lord of the Pitrs".

Mentioned in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, Yama subsequently entered Buddhist mythology in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism as a dharmapala under various transliterations. He is otherwise also called as "Dharmaraja".

In Hinduism, Yama is the lokapala ("Guardian of the Directions") of the south and the son of Brahma. Three hymns (10, 14, and 35) in the 10th book of the Rig Veda are addressed to him. He has two dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils guarding the road to his abode (cf. hellhound). They are said to wander about among people as his messengers. He wields a leash with which he seizes the lives of people who are about to die. He is also depicted as riding a buffalo.