ORIENTAL SERIES.

YAJURYAMA. 373
The Smnti, or code of law which bears the name of Yajna.
tfalkya, is posterior to that of Mann, and is more precise and
stringent in its provisions.
Its authority is inferior only to that
of Manu, and as explained and developed by the celebrated
commentary Mitakshara, it is in force all over India except in
Bengal proper, but even there the original text-book is received.
The second century A,D. has been named as the earliest date of
this work Like Manu, it has two recensions, the Bnhad and
Vnddha, perhaps more. The text has been printed in Calcutta,
and has been translated into German by Stenzler and into English
by Roer and Montriou.
YAJUE or YAJUSH. The second Veda. See Veda.
YAKSHAS. A class of supernatural beings attendant on
Kuvera, the god of wealth. Authorities differ as to their origin.
They have no very special attributes, but they are generally
considered as inoffensive, and so are called Puwya-janas, *
good
people/ but they occasionally appear as imps of evil It is a
Yaksha in whose mouth Kali-dasa placed his poem Megha-diLta
(cloud messenger).
YAKSHA-LOKA. Xee Loka*
YAKSHl, YAKSHItft i, A female Yaksha. 2. Wife of
ELuvera. 3. A female demon or imp attendant on Durga.
' YAMA. Restrainer, '
Pluto, Minos. In the Vedas Yama
is god of the dead, with whom the spirits of the departed dwell.
He was the son of Vivaswat (the Sun), and had a twin-sister
named YamI or YanmnlL These are by some looked upon as
the first human pair, the originators of the race \ and there is a
remarkable hymn, in the form of a dialogue, in which the female
urges their cohabitation for the purpose of perpetuating the
species. Another hymn says that Yama " was the first of men
that died, and the first that departed to the
(celestial) world." He
it was who found out the way to the home which cannot be taken
away :
"
Those who are now "born
(follow) by their own paths
to the place whither our ancient fathers have departed." "But,"
eays Dr. Muir, " Yama is nowhere represented in the JSig-veda
as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked."
So far as is yet known, "the hyrhns of that Veda contain no
prominent mention of any such penal retribution, -. . Yama is
still to some extent an object of terror. He is represented as
having two insatiable dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils,