Yajur Veda
The Yajur Veda is the VEDA of the sacrificial formula,
the YA J U S. The priest of the Yajur Veda, the ADHVARYU,
is responsible for the major sacrificial duties at the
Vedic ritual, including pouring oblations and kill-
ing the sacrificial animals in the prescribed way.
The formulas from the Yajur Veda must be uttered
in proper fashion at the proper times.
The Yajur Veda consists to a large extent of
passages from the RIG VEDA rearranged for sacrifi-
cial purposes. The Yajur Veda has two recensions:
the White and the Black. The White Yajur Veda
consists of hymns alone, numbering around 800.
The Black Yajur Veda includes the exact same
hymns, but it intersperses the explanatory. BRAH-
MANA sections among the hymns. It is apparently
this “muddied” or mixed aspect of the Veda that
caused it to be named the Black Yajur Veda.
Further reading: J. Gonda, Vedic Literature (Samhitas
and Brahmanas): A History of Indian Literature, Vo l.
1, no. 1 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1975); R. T.
Griffith, trans., The Hymns of the Yajurveda (Benares:
Chowkhamba, 1957); Arthur Berriedale Keith, The Reli-
gion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads (Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1971); ———, trans., The
Veda of the Black Yajus School, Entitled Taittiriya Sanhita
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914).
yaksha (fem. yakshi)
In the VEDA a yaksha was a deity or divinity. Later
the term designated certain semidivine beings.
These yakshas could change form at will; they
lived in caves, mountains, forests, trees, bodies of
water, and even magic cities in the sky. They are
roughly analogous to gnomes, fairies, or sprites
in the European tradition. Yakshas or yakshis
were often associated with sacred trees in villages.
Indian temple iconography often depicts trees
with beautiful yakshis sensuously entwined.
Such yakshas and yakshis turn up in the MAHAB-
HARATA and the RAMAYANA, and in greater numbers
in the PURANAS and in the works of such great SAN-
SKRIT poets as KALIDASA and BHAVABHUTI. The earliest
Indian sculptures, which tend to be Buddhist (c.
200 B.C.E.), are replete with yaksas and yakshis; they
are well known in Buddhist literature as well.
Yakshas also appear in Jain sculpture and
literature (see JAINISM). Some Jain temples show
yakshis particularly in subsidiary shrines. Finally,
in the Hindu puranas, yakshas are also frequently
encountered. In physical form they tend to be
very handsome or beautiful, and they are very
prosperous as well. KUBERA, the god of wealth, is
always depicted as attended by yaksas.Further reading: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Yakshas
(New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2001); Ram Nath
Misra, Yaksha Cult and Iconography (New Delhi: Mun-
shiram Manoharlal, 1981).Yama
Yama is the Indian god of death and the under-
world. He is the son of Visvasvat, the Sun. In the
VEDAS he is seen as the first mortal to die and
thereby becomes king of the world of the dead.
According to the Atharva Veda, he is accompa-
nied by two four-eyed dogs in his realm. There he
dwells with the ancestors, who receive offerings of
food from men.
In the Vedic context, the realm of the dead is
quite unlike the Christian hell; it is an afterworld
of satisfaction and pleasures. One verse of the RIG
VEDA mentions Yama’s twin sister, Yami, who asks
him to mate with her to create the human race.
Yama refuses.
The ancient Iranian Avesta knows Yama by the
name Yima. In later puranic descriptions Yama’s
realm is depicted less pleasantly; karmic retribu-
tions are even meted out (see KARMA). Yama in his
role as guardian of the realm of the dead appears
in many contexts in Indian tradition. In the KAT H A
UPANISHAD he offers the wisdom of BRAHMAN,
AT M A N, and liberation to the young NACHIKETAS. In
the MAHABHARATA he plays an important role in the
story of SAVITRI and Satyavan.K 508 Yajur Veda