Yama was one of the Lords of Creation, who watched over the lands of Malatra.[2] Within his pantheon, he was the god of death.[1][3][5]
Description[]
Yama most typically appeared with green skin and copper eyes. He dressed in red robes.[1][3]
Abilities[]
Yama was supremely intelligent[5] and had mastery of all spells that caused damage to his enemies,[1] particularly those of the school of necromancy.[3] He had the ability to see the deeds of any soul's entire life in simply a passing look.[3][5]
Possessions[]
Yama's red robes had many powers, including resistance to all magic[1] and immunity to damage from heat,[1][3] light,[1][3] cold,[1] and electricity.[3] They granted him the power to fly through both air and water. They also flashed in warning before any surprise attack.[1]
Yama wore armor of etherealness[1] and carried three weapons, a dagger that brought instant death,[3] a red mace,[1] and a magical noose that strangled those whom he caught with it.[1]
Divine Realm[]
While Yama usually wandered the planes,[7] his divine realm was a palace called Yamasadena[3][5] in the city of Yamapura[3] and was located in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus.[1][5] It was on a gear not far from Rudra's Focus[5] and surrounded by a river of blood named Vaitarani.[3][5] It was a smaller realm than either Rudra's or Varuna's. The center of his realm shined with a great fire of purity.[7][8]
Activities[]
It was Yama's role to decide where those who worshiped his pantheon went in the afterlife,[1][5] based on a record of their deeds in life.[1] When souls died, they had to pass through the Vaitarani to reach his realm,[3][5] and they were always covered in an amount of blood symbolic of their karmic debt.[5] Yama decided what form a soul should take upon reincarnation.[3] Typically, souls remained in his realm for a relatively short time before being sent back to the Material Plane to be reincarnated,[3][5] although others were sent instead to be judged by Varuna.[5] Still others first had to travel through 21 different periods of torment before returning to life.[3] Yama paid no heed to the prayers of mortals in making his judgments, though he might be persuaded by another deity's opinion.[3] Those who had freed themselves of the binds of karma were not Yama's to judge, having become one with Brahman.[3][5]
Yama also invented weapons for other powers, but only for the Lords of Creation. He had little contact with gods and goddesses from other pantheons.[5]
His role as judge of the dead left him little time to concern himself with the matters of the living.[3] When a mortal was close to death, Yama might send a vision of an owl, a pigeon, or a four-eyed dog.[3]
Relationships[]
Yama was one of the many children of Aditi and had many brothers and sisters: Mitra, Puchan, Rudra, Savitri, Surya, Tvashtri, Varuna, and Vishnu.[5] He was also said to be the brother of the goddess Indra.[2] He was often accompanied by his water buffalo.[1][3][9]
Worshipers[]
The holy symbol of Yama.
Yama and the rest of the Lords of Creation were worshiped in the Malatra region, especially in the Kuong Kingdom. The hill tribes of the area, who usually worshiped nature spirits instead of the Lords of Creation, sometimes did worship both Yama and his water buffalo.[9] His priests were responsible for preparing dead bodies for cremation, and if they tarried too long before cremating someone they might even lose their divine spell powers.[3]
Yama was represented by the holy symbol of a red mace.[1][3]
History[]
Yama was said to have been the first mortal to die,[3][5] promoted to godhood by the powers because of his ability to cause destruction.[1]
After the footsteps of Indra's elephant shaped the valleys and hills of the land of Malatra, Yama claimed the land as his own. Indra was furious, but she could not take the land back from him. Yama then created the animals and ancient humans of near demigod-power who populated his land.[2]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 James Ward and Robert Kuntz (November 1984). Legends & Lore. (TSR, Inc), p. 75. ISBN 978-0880380508.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mike Pondsmith, Jay Batista, Rick Swan, John Nephew, Deborah Christian (1988). Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (Volume I). (TSR, Inc), p. 106. ISBN 0-88038-608-8.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 James M. Ward and Troy Denning (August 1990). Legends & Lore (2nd edition). (TSR, Inc), p. 130. ISBN 978-0880388443.
- ↑ Colin McComb (February 1995). “Mechanus”. In Karen S. Boomgarden ed. Planes of Law (TSR, Inc), p. 10. ISBN 0-7869-0093-8.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 Colin McComb (October 1996). On Hallowed Ground. Edited by Ray Vallese. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 154, 157. ISBN 0-7869-0430-5.
- ↑ Skip Williams (March 1994). “Sage Advice”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #203 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 79–80.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jeff Grubb (July 1987). Manual of the Planes 1st edition. (TSR), p. 86. ISBN 0880383992.
- ↑ David "Zeb" Cook (1994). Planescape Campaign Setting, A DM Guide to the Planes. Edited by David Wise. (TSR, Inc), p. 61. ISBN 978-1560768340.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mike Pondsmith, Jay Batista, Rick Swan, John Nephew, Deborah Christian (1988). Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (Volume I). (TSR, Inc), p. 105. ISBN 0-88038-608-8.