page_title: Yama (Hinduism)
section_title: Third and Fourth Canto
hierarchical_section_title: Yama (Hinduism) / Literature / Puranas / Bhagavata Puruna / Srimad Bhagavatam / Third and Fourth Canto
caption_attribution_description: English: Author: Ramanarayanadatta astri Publisher: [Gorakhpur Geeta Press] Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT Language: Hindi Call number: AAO-3248 Digitizing sponsor: University of Toronto Book contributor: Robarts - University of Toronto Collection: robarts; toronto Full catalog record: MARCXML [Open Library icon]This book has an editable web page on Open Library.
context_page_description: In Hinduism, Yama - also referred to as Yamaraja - is a Rigvedic deity. He is the lord of death and justice, being responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Yamaloka. He is accompanied by Chitragupta.
context_section_description: In the third and fourth cantos of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Yama was incarnated as a shudra called Vidura due to being cursed by a sage for being too harsh in his punishments. From the A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada / Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) translation:
  As long as Vidura played the part of a śūdra, being cursed by Maṇḍūka Muni [also known as Māṇḍavya Muni], Aryamā officiated at the post of Yamarāja to punish those who committed sinful acts.
  — Canto 1, Chapter 13, Verse 15
  Vidura, a devotee of Krishna, is the main protagonist in the third canto. In this canto, after being thrown out of his home by King Dhritarashtra (his older half-brother) for admonishing the Kaurava's ignoble behaviour towards the Pandavas, Vidura went on a pilgrimage where he met other devotees of Krishna such as Uddhava and the sage Maitreya, the latter of whom revealed Vidura's true origin to him:
  I know that you are now Vidura due to the cursing of Māṇḍavya Muni and that formerly you were King Yamarāja, the great controller of living entities after their death. You were begotten by the son of Satyavatī, Vyāsadeva, in the kept wife of his brother.
  — Canto 3, Chapter 5, Verse 20
  Krishna also states Yama punishes sinners, as relayed to Vidura (again, an incarnation of Yama) by Maitreya during their conversation about the origin and creation of the multiverse:
  The brahmanas, the cows and the defenceless creatures are My [Krishna's] own body. Those whose faculty of judgement has been impaired by their own sin look upon those as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamaraja, the superintendent of sinful persons.
  — Canto 3, Chapter 16, Verse 10
  A detailed account of the punishment of a sinner upon their death is also provided, beginning with their seizure and journey to Yamaloka (i.e. Hell): 
  As a criminal is arrested for punishment by the constables of the state, a personal engaged in criminal sense gratification is similarly arrested by the Yamadutas, who bind him by the neck with a strong rope and cover his subtle body so that he may undergo severe punishment. While carried by the constables of Yamaraja, he is overwhelmed and trembles in their hands. While passing on the road [to Yamaloka] he is bitten by dogs, and he can remember the sinful activities of his life. He is thus terribly distressed.
  — Canto 3, Chapter 30, Verses 20-21
caption: Vidura attempts to convince King Dhritarashtra to reconcile with the Pandavas.
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