So the start of the route to Yamaraja corresponds in this Chinese tradition to the place in the heavens where the fate of the dead is decided. The Chinese tradition also has messengers of death similar to the Vedic Yamadutas. The German scholar Franz Boll has analyzed ancient Greek traditions regarding Hades, the River Styx, and the ferryman of the underworld. We tend to think of Hades as Iying beneath our feet, within the earth. Boll, however, cites texts placing this region in the heavens around the southern crossroads of the Milky Way and the ecliptic.
Boll points out a close relationship between Greek and Babylonian traditions.
According to his analysis, the Babylonian god Dikud, the judge of Hades, may correspond to the star Theta Ophiuchi. This star lies close to the location mentioned in the Vedic writings as the beginning of the path of the Pitrs. In North America the Pawnee and Cherokee say that the souls of the dead are received by a star at the northern end of the Milky Way. There the path divides. The anthropologist S. Hagar thinks the Spirit Star is Antares.