English
A Brahman of great sanctity, who, at the earnest solicitation of King Drupada, and for the offer of ten millions of kine, performed the sacrifice through which his " altar-born " children, Dh?7'sh^a-dyumna and Draujjadi, came forth from the sacrificial fire. YAJXA. 'Sacrifice.' Sacrifice personified in the Purawas as son of Ruchi and husband of Dakshiwa. He had the head of a deer, and was killed by Vira-bhadra at Daksha's sacrifice. According to the Hari-vansa he was raised to the j^lanetary sphere by Brahma, and made into the constellation Mr/ga-siras (deer-head). YAJ:N'A-DATTA-BADHA. ' The death of Yajna-datta.' An episode of the Ramaya?m. It has been translated into Prench by Chezy. YAJNA-PARIBHASHA. A SCitra work by Apastambha. YAJXA-SENA. A name of Drupada. 372 YAyiVA IVA LK \ A . YAJNAWALKYA. A celebrated sage, to wliom is attri- buted tbe 'Wniite Yajur-veda, the ^S'atapatba Brahmawa, tbe Erihad Ara7zyaka, and the code of law called Yajnawalkya- sm?7'ti. He lived before the grammarian Ivatyayana, and was probably later than Mann ; at any rate, the code bearing his name is posterior to that of Mann. He was a disciple of Bash- kali, and more particularly of Yai^ampayana. The Maha-bharata makes him present at the Raja-siiya sacrifice performed by Yudlii-sh/hira ; and according to the >S'atapatha Brahma7ia he flourished at the court of Janaka, king of Yideha and father of Sita. Janaka had long contentions with the Brrdimans, in which he was supported, and probably prompted, by Yajnawalkya. This sage was a dissenter from the religious teaching and prac- tices of his time, and is represented as contending with and silencing Brahmans at the court of his patron. A Brahman named Yidagdha ^Sakalya was his especial adversary, but he vanquished him and cursed him, so that " his head dropped off, and his bones were stolen by robbers." Yajnawalkya also is represented as inculcating the duty and necessity of religious retirement and meditation, so he is considered as having been the originator of the Yoga doctrine, and to have helped in pre- paring the world for the preaching of Buddha. He had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani, and he instructed the former in his philosophical doctrine. Max IMiiller quotes a dialogue be- tween them from the iSatapatha Brahma?ia {Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 22), in which the sage sets forth his views. The White Yajur-veda originated in a schism, of Mdiich Yajnawalkya was a leader, if not the author. He was the ori- ginator and compiler of this Yeda, and according to some it was called Yajasaneyl Sanhita, from his surname Yajasaneya. See Yeda. What share Yajnawalkya had in the production of the Sata,- patlia Brahma?/a and Brihad Arawyaka is very doubtful. Some part of them may, j^erhaps, have sprung directly from him, and they were probably compiled under his superintendence ; but it may be, as some think, that they are so called because they treat of him and embody his teaching. One portion of the B/v'had Ara/iyaka, called the Yajnawalkiya Iviinch, cannot have been his composition, for it is devoted to his" glorification and honour, and was probably written after his death. YAJUR—YAMA. yjZ The Sm?'iti, or code of law which bears the name of Yajna- walkya, is j^osterior to that of Mann, and is more precise and stringent in its provisions. Its authority is inferior only to that of Mann, and as explained and developed by the celebrated commentary Mitakshara, it is in force all over India except in Eengal proper, but even there the original text-book is received. The second century a.d. has been named as the earliest date of this work. Like Manu, it has two recensions, the Brihad and V?'iddha, perhaps more. The text has been printed in Calcutta, and has been translated into German by Stenzler and into Eng- lish by Roer and Montriou. YAJUR or YAJUSH. The second Veda. See Veda. YAKSHAS. A class of supernatural beings attendant on Kuvera, the god of wealth. Authorities differ as to their origin. They have no very special attributes, but they are generally considered as inoffensive, and so are caUed Pu?iya-janas, ' good people,' but they occasionally appear as imps of evil. It is a Yakslia in whose mouth Kali-dasa placed his poem Megha-diita (cloud messenger). YAKSHA-LOKA. See Loka. YAKSHI, YAKSHIVI. i. A female Yaksha. 2. Wife of Kuvera. 3. A female demon or imp attendant on Durga. YAM A. * Restrainer.' Pluto, Minos. In the Vedas Yama is god of the dead, with whom the spirits of the departed dwell. He was the son of Vivaswat (the Sun), and had a twin-sister named Yami or Yamuna. These are by some looked upon as the first human pair, the originators of the race ; and there is a remarkable hymn, in the form of a dialogue, in which the female urges their cohabitation for the purpose of perpetuating the species. Another hymn says that Yama " was the first of men that died, and the first that departed to the (celestial) world." He it was who found out the way to the home which cannot be taken away : " Those who are now born (follow) by their own paths to the place whither our ancient fathers have departed." "But," says Dr. JMuir, " Yama is nowhere represented in the i^/g-veda as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked." So far as is yet known, " the hymns of that Veda contain no prominent mention of any such penal retribution. . . . Yama is still to some extent an object of terror. He is represented as having two insatiable dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils, s 374 VAMA. wliicli guard the road to his abode, and which the departed are advised to hurry past with all possible speed. These dogs are said to wander about among men as his messengers, no doubt for the purpose of summoning them to their master, who is in another place identified with death, and is described as sending a bird as the herald of doom." In the epic poems Yama is the son of the Sun by Sanjna (conscience), and brother of Yaivaswata (Manu). Mythologically he was the father of Yudhi-sh^hira. He is the god of departed spirits and judge of the dead. A soul when it quits its mortal form repairs to his abode in the lower regions ; there the re- corder, Chitra-gupta, reads out his account from the great register called Agra-sandhani, and a just sentence follows, when the soul either ascends to the abodes of the Pitris (Manes), or is sent to one of the twenty-one hells according to its guilt, or it is born again on earth in another form. Yama is regent of the south quarter, and as such is called Dakshinasa-pati. He is represented as of a green colour and clothed with red. He rides upon a bufi'alo, and is armed with a ponderous mace and a noose to secure his victims. In the Pura7?as a legend is told of Yama having lifted his foot to kick Chhaya, the handmaid of his father. She cursed liim to have his leg affected with sores and worms, but his father gave him a cock which picked off the worms and cured the discharge. Through this incident he is called iS'lr/za-pada, 'shrivelled foot.' Yama had several wives, as Hemamala, Su-sTlii, and Yijaya. He dwells in the lower world, in his city Yama-pura. There, in his palace called Kalichi, he sits upon his throne of judgment, Vichara-bliu. He is assisted by his recorder and councillor, Chitra-gupta, and waited upon by his two chief attendants and custodians, Chanda or Maha-chanda, and Krda-pursusha. His messengers, Yama-diitas, bring in the souls of the dead, and the door of his judgment-hall is kept by his porter, Vaidliyata. Yama has many names descriptive of his office. He is M?7*tyu, Kala, and Antaka, ' death ; ' Kntanta, ' the finisher ; ' ^Samana, ' the settler ; ' Dandi or Darz^a-dhara, ' the rod-bearer ; ' Bliima- siisana, ' of terrible decrees ; ' Pu.si, ' the noose-carrier ; ' Pitri- pati, ' lord of the manes ; ' Preta-raja, ' king of the ghosts ; * /Sraddha-deva, ' god of the exequial offerings ; ' and especially YAMA-VAIVASIVA TA— YA VA-KRL 375 Dharma-raja, 'king of justice.' He is AiidumLara, from Udum- liara, ' the fig-tree,' and from liis parentage he is Vaivaswata. There is a Dharma-sastra which bears the name of Yama. YAIMA-VAIYASWATA. Yama as son of Yivaswat. YAMl. The goddess of the Yamuna river. Sister of Yama (q.v.). YAMU!N"A. The river Jumna, which rises in a mountain called Kalinda (Sun). The river Yamuna is personified as the daughter of the Sun by his wife Sanjna. So she was sister of Yama.