India, June 11 -- Decoding Mythology

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist

Yama is the Hindu god of death, accountability and the afterlife. Often ignored, his history is long and complex, reaching back to Vedic, Indo-Iranian and Indo-European mythological traditions.

The Sanskrit word yama means 'twin,' which alludes to his earliest mythic origins. Indo-European creation myths tell a story of twin brothers. One brother is Man, called Manu in Indian tradition and the other is his twin, called Yama. Manu sacrifices his twin and from Yama's body, the world and living beings are created. Because of this myth, Yama is connected with death from the very beginning. He is related to similar figures in other culture...