The Essence of Light...

The journey to enlightenment is never simple or easily undertaken. Adversity, obscurity and distraction are challenges along the path. Yama for example, a holy man in an age long gone by, sought to reach the enlightenment through fity years of solemn meditation in a secluded cave. As destiny would have it, he was disturbed in the last month of the forty ninth year, by two robbers who decided to seek refuge in his cave. As they cut the head of a stolen bull they had brought with them they suddenly realized they were not alone. For fear of their crime being exposed, they quickly decapitated the defenseless man, his pleas for mercy gone unheeded. In a flash of fury the now headless victim transformed into a ferocious and vengeful being of death. It took the head of the bull from the ground in place of its own and slaughtered the hapless murderers and drank their blood from cups made by their skulls. Yama then laid siege on the land and spread destruction and death in his wake.



Seeing the plight of the people, Jampelyang, the Lord of Wisdom, travelled to the Iron Cities of Hell in search of Yama. To tame the beast he decided to use Yama's own ferocity against him and changed his appearance into that of a raging beast with a buffalo head and eight pairs of arms and legs. Taking the name Yamantaka, the conqueror of death, he then challenged Yama, who upon seeing his own wrath infinitely magnified succumbed to fear and was subdued to becoming a servant and protector of the light. Yama now roams seven stories under the Earth, so far from his intended goal.