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Yadava

In Hindu mythology, the tribe from which
the god Krishnais said to have come and
over which he ruled after he gained his
kingdom in the city of Dwaraka. In Indian
history, the Yadava dynasty controlled the
Deccanregion in modern Maharashtra
between the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. In northern Indian society, this
is the name of a particular jati, an endog-
amous social subgroup that was orga-
nized (and whose social status was
determined) by the group’s hereditary
occupation. In past generations the
Yadavas had fairly low status, but they
have recently gained much greater politi-
cal power—Mulayam Singh Yadav has
twice been elected chief minister of Uttar
Pradeshand has also served as India’s
minister of Defense; Laloo Prasad Yadav
has been the chief minister of Bihar
(either directly or by proxy through his
wife) throughout the 1990s.

Yadunandana

(“joy of the Yadus”) Epithet of the god
Krishna. The Yadus were reckoned as
Krishna’s clan, and thus he was their joy.
See Krishna.

Yajamana

(“patron of the sacrifice”) In the cult of
sacrifice found in the Vedas, the oldest
Hindu religious texts, the yajamana was
the person who commissioned the sac-
rifice and paid for its performance, and
who thus stood to gain its anticipated
benefits. This term draws a crucial dis-
tinction between priest and patron and
points to the relationship between
them—the former were learned men

and ritual technicians, who knew how to

perform complex sacrificial rites, but

they were dependent for their livelihood

on the patronage of their sponsors.

Yajna

(“sacrifice”) A firesacrifice, which was the

primary religious act in the earliest stra-

tum of Indian religion. This cult of sacri-

fice is elaborated in the greatest detail in

the Brahmanaliterature, in which sacri-

fice is portrayed as the means by which

the universe came into being. The perfor-

mance of sacrifice needed highly trained

priestly technicians (rtvij), who were dif-

ferently responsible for chanting parts of

the Rg, Sama, and Yajur Vedas, as well as

building and maintaining the sacred fire

that was the heart of the sacrificial action.

This cult of sacrifice was essentially based

on burning things in this sacred fire, con-

ceived as the god Agni, so that Agni could

convey the offeringsto the other deities.

These rites were so elaborate and expen-

sive that they eventually fell into disuse; by

the turn of the common era, there was

also considerable ambivalence about the

animal sacrificesthat were originally an

important part of many of these sacrifices.

These ancient rites are rarely performed

today, but in the present context the word

yajnacan be used for any rite involving

the sacred fire, particularly one carried out

by a brahminfor a patron.

Yajnavalkya

In the Upanishads, the speculative texts

that form the latest textual stratum in

the Veda, Yajnavalkya is named as a sage

associated with the court of King

Janaka, who was able to show that he

had greater wisdom than the others. He

is also ascribed as the author of the

Yajnavalkya Smrti, one of the texts that

comprise the dharma literature, based

on the pattern of mythic ascription

found in these texts.

Yajnavalkya Smrti

One of the smrtisor “remembered” texts, a

class of literature deemed important but

Yajnavalkya Smrti