Mysterious India, as well as the Middle East and Asian countries, has been attracting the attention of curious people for centuries. Of particular interest are the deities of these cultures, which are strikingly different from everything Europeans are used to.
Attractive are not only unusual images, colors and plots, the architecture of temples, but also stories associated with various deities, along with their biographies. Discovering this amazing world of a completely different ancient culture, curious people often come across the fact that in different, at first glance, religions and in places located at a considerable distance, the same deities are present. At the same time, the biographies and functions of the gods are similar, although, of course, they have some differences. The god Yama belongs to such superbeings.
Image Description
The pit is depicted in different ways, it all depends on what culture and religion it is considered within. Far from everyIn a country and even a region (within the borders of one state) that profess Hinduism or Buddhism, the god Yama is present. India depicts him with four arms and is rather gloomy. Tibet is filled with images of the two-armed Yama. With a pair of hands, he was also depicted by the inhabitants of Ugarit, Phoenicia and Canaan in antiquity. However, these images have one thing in common - the color of Yama's skin is blue, although the shades are different.
Followers of Hinduism often depict a deity accompanied by dogs. But the views of Buddhists are more vivid, fantastic and diverse. God Yama is often endowed with a bull's head, three eyes and a halo of flames. However, in the Tibetan images, Yama's head is quite human, but the bull still appears in the images one way or another.
Ancient frescoes from Phoenicia and other places on the Syrian coast look completely different. They pay a lot of attention to the maritime theme. This is not surprising, because the essence of the deity in these places in ancient times was significantly different from the ideas about him in other regions.
The Chinese, like the Japanese, did not dye Yama's skin bright blue, with very few exceptions. Probably, this nuance is connected with the peculiarities of artistic calligraphy. Nevertheless, dark shades were given to the skin quite often.
The stylistic decision of how the god Yama was depicted depended not only on the variety of religion, region, but also on what hypostasis the ancient artists represented in their works. Like many other deities, Yama has several. Andhypostasis does not have much effect on the functions of god and, accordingly, on the perception of him by people.
In what beliefs is Yama present?
God Yama is present in Hinduism, the beliefs of the ancient Syrians and Phoenicians, and, of course, he is represented in Buddhism and Taoism.
In which of the ancient religions and belief-related cultures the deity appeared first, it is impossible to find out. But in every culture, Yama was present from ancient times, that is, he was one of the first gods. Of course, his image evolved and changed over time.
In Canaan and Ugarit
On the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in Ugarit, Phoenicia and Canaan, Yama was the deity of the seas, lakes, rivers and everything that people associated with them. Yama, the god of the sea, combined two opposites. Presumably, the duality of his nature was determined by the seasons at sea. Summer waters were usually calm and well suited for trading or any other travel. During the winter months, storms raged.
The nature of the deity was quite complex, contradictory and somewhat absurd, like the sea element itself. One of the ancient myths tells how Yama wished to become the first of the gods. To achieve this status, he decided to build himself a special palace. Other deities did not dare to enter into an argument with him, with the exception of Baal. The gods arranged a duel in which Yama lost. Thus, Baal prevented the reign of general chaos and saved the existing order of things. Presumably the content of thismyth is also associated with the weather at sea in different seasons. The very word "yam" in the Canaanite language meant "sea".
In Hinduism
In Sanskrit there is also a hint of the duality of the essence of the deity. "Yama" or "yama" is a "twin". This word denoted the second nature, twins, opposites. Some researchers believe that the essence of the term is close to what the Asians called "yin-yang". What arose earlier - the word or the consonant name of the deity - is unknown.
Yama is the god of death and justice. He was the first of the super-beings to perform an act of self-sacrifice, rejecting his own immortality. It was this action that made possible the emergence of all things, that is, the world in which people live.
In the primary, most ancient representations, it is also a deity personifying the Sun and being the twin of the Moon. The moon was called Yami. The sun, respectively, is Yama. There is a curious section in the Vedas that conveys the dialogue of brother and sister, the Moon and the Sun. In it, the Moon inclines the Sun to a close relationship, but is refused due to blood relationship. This dialogue of the deities became the basis for the later rules, traditions and laws governing the institution of marriage and the family among the Hindus.
Yama as the personification of the Sun is also mentioned in the texts of the Rigveda - a collection of religious chants, odes and hymns. The same texts tell about the origin of the deity. According to them, he is the son of the coming day, dawn, called Vivasvata, and the outgoing night - Saranya, who is the daughter of Tvashtar, the creator of all things, the blacksmith of the gods and injack-of-all-trades principle.
Thus, the god Yama in the form of the daytime, visible Sun symbolized life, and after sunset - death. Of course, over time, the primary ideas about the deity and its functions changed and developed.
Yama as the personification of death in Hinduism
With the development of people's primary ideas about the structure of the world, the idea of their deities also changed. Of course, Yama was no exception. Over time, the deity began to appear wandering among the living and looking after his victims.
The Pit does not wander alone. Next to him are two dogs, who not only accompany the god, but also play the role of his ambassadors. Dogs carry the victims intended by the deity to the afterlife. However, everything is not as gloomy as it might seem. According to Hindu beliefs, after death, people continue to lead their normal lives, just in a different place, outside the world of the living.
Yama, gradually transforming from the personification of the Sun into the first deceased, who opened the doors to the afterlife for all people, is one of the divine peacekeepers in Hinduism. The story of the transformation of God and the discovery of the possibility of an afterlife for people is described in one of the texts of the Rigveda - in the hymn "14" of the X mandala.
In Buddhism
God Yama in Buddhism in many of its features is similar to the Egyptian Osiris. Yama is the supreme judge in the kingdom of death, he is also the ruler of the analogues of hell, paradise and purgatory. The images of the deity often contain such details: a necklace of skulls, specific wands,personifying the possession of underground bowels and treasures, a lasso intended for catching souls. Of course, often in the hands of Yama there is also a sword. The god's three eyes convey his mastery of time - past, future and present.
The deity has several incarnations. Yama, called Shinge, is in the center of the afterlife, holding a sword and a mirror that displays karma. A mirror is a kind of analogue of scales. The deity also has assistants, there are four of them. The many-armed god has no helpers.
According to one of the legends, the incarnation of Shinje was pacified by Manjushri, the closest associate of Buddha Gautama, the guardian of the heavenly lands in the East and the teacher, guide of bodhisattvas. He is considered the embodiment of wisdom itself, the essence of being.
The pacification of the incarnation of Shinge made possible the appearance of Yama Dharmaraj - the protector. This is a rather complex hypostasis, having separate incarnations or manifestations. The term "defender" itself is rather conditional, it should not be taken literally. There is no word in Russian that would maximally convey the meaning of Dharmaraj's functions.
In traditional representations, Yama Dharmaraja, as an esoteric guardian or protector, manifests itself in the following ways:
- external - appears in the images with a bull's head, protects from adversity, troubles and misfortunes that await in the external environment;
- internal - resists the weaknesses and vices of the person himself;
- secret is intuition, instincts, it is in them that the essence of a deity is manifested as an adviser, hinter.
There is one morethe main variation of the incarnation of Dharmaraja, which is not customary to talk about publicly. This is the so-called final version - Yamaraja, with whom the essence of a person meets at the moment of death.
In Japanese and Chinese representations
The sound of Yama's name, characteristic of Sanskrit, was somewhat changed by the Chinese, however, like the Japanese, adapting it to their own language. In Chinese, the name of the god sounds like Yanluo, and in Japanese - Emma. Various prefixes were added to the names expressing respect.
In China, Yama is the ruler of all the dead and, of course, their judge. The god was depicted with a brush in one hand and a book of fate in the other. Judgment on the dead, according to Chinese mythology, consisted not only in determining the righteousness or sins of people.
The meaning of the trials after the end of life was to determine what kind of rebirth a person will get. Yanluo in Chinese paintings often appears in the clothes of an official, with a traditional judge's cap on his head.
The Japanese believed that God rules jigoku - this is a place that is in many ways similar to European ideas about hell, but somewhat wider. Rather, it is the underworld, with a predominance of hellish themes. Jigoku consists of sixteen "hellish circles" - eight fiery and the same number of ice. Emma rules over all of them, at whose disposal an uncountable army of the dead, controlled by eighteen commanders. In addition, there are guards, demons, and others in the retinue of the underground king.
According toAccording to Japanese myths, no one takes the soul of a person after death. The deceased independently reaches the underworld. His path runs through a desert plain, mountains, or something else, but invariably the road leads to a river, which is nothing more than a gate to the world of the dead. It is possible to cross the water in three ways - by crossing the bridge, by swimming, or by finding a ford. The deceased has no choice - only the righteous go across the bridge, and the real villains get by swimming. Those who have committed minor sins are fording.
The dead who have reached the underworld are met by an old woman. She undresses people and escorts them to Emma for trial. Curiously enough, the men go to Emma, but the women go to his sister.
Ancient ideas, legends and myths are reflected in contemporary Japanese art. For example, the images of Yami anime are known to the whole world. The homeless god in cartoons and comics appears as a kind of "horror story" for naughty children and teenagers, although he has a kind heart.
Who is portrayed in the anime?
Modern Japanese cartoons are not the transmission of myths, legends or traditional Buddhist ideas. Rather, the authors of the plots draw inspiration from ancient culture and the images present in it.
Such works inspired by legends are the series and comics of the same name "The Homeless God". Yama in this work appears as a wandering deity Yato, trying to get people to worship and build a sanctuary.
