| Abstract: |
Yama, the Hindu god of death and the underworld, occupies a particularly prominent position in Khmer culture whose roots extend back to 7th-century inscriptions. Yama, called Vraḥ Yamarāja or ‘King Yama’, remains a popular figure in Cambodia today, and contemporary Khmers invoke Yamarāraj in annual Pchum Ben (Fortnight of the Dead) and mortuary rituals. Yama astride his buffalo looms large in Angkorian lintels across the centuries as the god of death and justice and as the subject in imprecations aimed at transgressors and temple vandals. This chapter traces the history of Yama in its Khmer cultural milieu from its earliest appearance to the present day and explores how Yama’s role has developed from its earliest incarnations as a minister of justice to also one of salvation.
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