Yamraj : God of Death

   

YAMARAJ : GOD OF DEATH

  Yamraj is considered as the God of Death. He is also known as Dharamraj. It is believed that he is the punisher of our deeds after our death. It is also believed that soul of human after death firstly reaches the yamloka where Yamraj decides on behalf of our actions whether the soul will go to heaven to attain heavenly happiness or he will have to suffer the punishment of his actions.  

  Yamraj uses his loop ( paash ) to extract life from the human body or he sends his Yamdut to receive the lives of people when he reaches the age of their death.

  Yamaraj is also believed to be guardian or lokapal of south direction. God of death is described as a well built dark complexed male deity who rides a buffalo and having a mace in his one hand and paash or noose in other hand which he uses to get life out from body of living being.

   In smiritis, it is believed that there are 14 yamas which are named as follows : Yama, Dharamraja, Mrityu , Antaka, Vaivasvata, Kaal, Sarvabhuta, Kshaya, Udumbar, Daghna, Neel, Parameshthi, Vrikodara, Chitra and Chitragupta.

Parents :

     Sun god or Surya Dev is father and Devi Sanghya ( daughter of Vishwakarma ) is mother  of Yamaraj.

Abode :

       Abode of Yamaraj is Yamaloka or hell or Naraka.

Consort  :

       Their are various names of wife of Yamaraj in different texts but famous name of  Consort of God of death is Dhumorna while other names are Vijaya, Urmila and many more. It is also believed in some texts as Dharmaraja he has married 13 daughters of Daksha.

Children :

       Children of Yamaraj are Sunita, Yamakumara and Yudhishtra of Mahabharata is considered as spritual son of Yamaraja or Dhramaraja.

Mount or Vehicle :

        Mount of Yamaraj is buffalo.

Weapon :

      Weapons of God of Death are mace, paash and Danda.

Stories :

  There are various stories related to God of death. Some of them are as follows:

Birth of Yama or Yamaraj:

  According to Markandaya Purana, when Surya Dev - sun god went to see his wife . But Devi Sanghya feared to see sun god, on this Surya Dev got angry and cursed her that the son you will have, he will be the savior or taker of life of people.

   Listining this Devi sanghya looked at Surya Dev with a playful look, surya dev got happy to see her and gave her a boon that the daughter you will have, she will flow like this playfully in the form of river. Thus the son of Devi Sanghya and Surya Dev become Yama and daughter became Yamuna or Yami.

When Yamaraj died at the hands of Lord Shiva's son :

    It seems to be laughing matter that even God of death can die but their is a story by which we get to know that Yamraj had died.So the story goes like this. 

   Once there was a sage ( rishi )  Rishi Shweta who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. He used to engage in the worship of Lord Shiva day and night. But when the time of his death came, Yamraj sent his death loop to take his life.

  Rishi Sweta did not want to give up his life that time, so he started chanting the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra. Hearing his prayer, Lord Shiva sent Bhairava Baba outside his door to protect him.

    When the death loop goes to sage Sweta to lose his life, then Bhairava Baba, standing at the door, makes him faint.

   Seeing this, Yamraj got angry and he himself came to take the life of the sage.In anger, he caught Bhairon Baba by his loop and put the second loop on Sweta Muni. 

  Then Sweta Muni called to Lord Shiva to save his life.Lord Shiva sent his son Kartikeya to save the life of Sweta Muni.There was a fierce battle between Kartikeya and Yamraj and Yamraj could not bear the attack of Kartikeya for a long time and he died.

      When Lord Surya got the news of Yamraj's death, he was distraught. On meditating, he  found that against the wish of Mahadev, Yamaraj wanted to kill Sweta Muni, due to which Yamraj had to face the wrath of Lord Shiva .

   The troubled Sun God went to Lord Vishnu and told him everything. Lord Vishnu suggested the Sun God to do penance for Lord Shiva.Surya Dev did the same and did severe penance of Lord Shiva, due to which Lord Shiva asked him to ask for a boon.

   Surya Dev asked Lord Shiva to bring back his son so that the balance of the world would be maintained.Lord Shiva was pleased and revived Yamraj.

Yamaraj & Savitri :

  Once there was a King Ashvapati of  kingdom Madra who had a beautiful daughter named as Savitri. When Savitri grew up and was of marriageable age, her father, King Ashwapati, said that," Daughter, you are a scholar, find yourself a suitable husband for yourself".

     Obeying the father's orders, Savitri along with one of her wise ministers set out in search of her husband.After a lot of searching, Savitri found a man named Satyavan who was worthy of her.

   When Savitri returned and told her father about Satyavan, at that time Devarshi Narada, who was present there and he started saying that Savitri did not choosed a right husband for her because the Satyavan whom she had chosen as her husband has only one year left in his life.

   But Savitri had already considered Satyavan as her husband, so she married Satyavan.She started living in the forest with her husband as the kingdom of Satyavan's father was snatched by the neighboring kingdom.

  Slowly as time passed, Savitri's concern also started increasing.As the day of Satyavan's death approached, Saviti's rate started increasing and she started living like a shadow with him.

   One day, as soon as Satyavan climbed a tree to cut wood, he fell on the ground after becoming unwell.Savitri kept his head in her lap and Satyavan slowly started walking towards death.

  Savitri started crying on seeing her husband when Yamraj appeared and started taking Satyavan's life with him.Savitri also started following them.

   Seeing Savitri coming after him, Yamraj said that you do not follow me, your husband's life is over, I cannot return his life.On this Savitri said that I can go to any world after you to fulfill my virtuous religion ( Pativrata  dharam) towards my husband.

   Yamraj was pleased with Savitri and asked her to ask for a boon. Savitri asked for the light of her father-in-law's eyes and Yamraj gave it to her. After this, Savitri told Yamraj that after seeing a deity like you, I became wealthy.  Yamraj was pleased again and asked him to ask for a boon.

  This cycle continued, Savitri kept praising Yamraj and Yamraj was pleased with her words and gave her a boon. First Savitri took back her kingdom which the neighboring country had snatched and then asked Yamraj for the boon of 100 sons for the increase of her family.

   Yamraj granted her all the boons she asked for and started going forward but Savitri still started going behind him. Yamraj told Savitri that," now you go back , I have given you all the boons i but I cannot return the life of your husband.

    On this Savitri said, You have given me the boon of having 100 sons but If my husband is cremated, how will I give birth to 100 sons?.Yamraj was pleased with Savitri's cleverness and returned Satyavan's life to her.

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