Glossary Index - Angkor Database

Angkor Database

W
Y

W: wiang
th เวียง weiyng 'fortified city' | lo ວຽງ viang 'rampart'
Wiang: fortified temple. In Lao language, a city, like in Wiang Chan (ວຽງຈັນ), Vientiane, the capital city of modern Laos.
Y: Yaksa, Yaksha
sk यक्ष yakṣa 'semi-god' | th ยักษ์ yok 'ogre, ogress' | kh យក្ស yoksa, yeak 'giant'
Yakṣa or Yaksha:
1) semi-godly inhabitants of Brahmanic Heaven, a type of Upadevas, the third class after Devas and Gaṇadevas. Among Upadevas, there are Vidyādharas, Apsaras, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Piśācas, Guhyakas, Siddhas and Bhūtas.
2) a class of demons, followers of Rudra (Śiva), their overlord, led by Kubera, a group of 'supernatural beings that cause illness' in Saivism; sometimes similar to Asuras.
3) in Buddhism, originally malevolent spirits or ghosts who came to protect the righteous, the attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, the guardian of the northern quarter.
4) In Cambodia and Thailand, as male or female supranatural beings with bulging eyes, they are often represented as guardians of pagodas. In Cambodian village festivities, the yeak are scarecrow-like figures or disguised people designed to ward off evil spirits. As they are meant to be 'big and ugly', they were often represented with European traits in the past.

Yama
sk यम yama 'The Binder', 'self-restraint', 'patience' | kh យមរាជ yomreach 'Lord Yom', 'Lord of Death'
Yama (यम)
refers to a deity that was once worshipped in ancient Kashmir (Kaśmīra) according to the Nīlamatapurāṇa. Yama is the son of the god Sun, he is the lord of the dead. His seven names are: Yama, Dharmarāja, Mṛtyu, Antaka, Vaivasvata, Kāla and Sarvaprāṇahara. Dhūmrorṇā who is the wife of Yama according to the Mahābhārata and the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa is mentioned in the Nīlamata, but her relation to Yama is not pointed out. Also known as Vaivasvata (वैवस्वत);
refers to one of the eight guardians of the quarters, guardian of the South, according to the Sivapurana. Accordingly as Śiva said to Sitā:—“[...] the different parts of the mountain Meru seem to be echoing the pleasing sweet sounds of bees etc. which cause the incitement of love of the guardians of the quarters viz. Indra, Kubera, Yama, Varuṇa, Agni, Nirṛti, Marut (Wind) and the Supreme Lord (Īśa). Heaven, the abode of the Devas is stationed on the summits of the Meru wherein the cities of the guardians of the quarters are also situated. They are brilliant. Beautiful celestial damsels, Rambhā, Śacī, Menakā and others heighten their glory”;
in Buddhism, the God of Death, the overlord of Pitṛis (पितृ), litt. 'fathers', departed ancestors, to whom the Dharmashastra recommends to offer balls (of rice); punishes men after death according to their actions, sinful or otherwise;
refers to “self-restraint”, "forebearance". It is the first of the eight means of attaining mental concentration by yoga practice. The other means are “niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna” and “samādhi”.
In Cambodia, Yama (kh យមរាជ) is the king of the Dead, son of Surya reigning over the subterranean world. According to ethnologist Ang Choulean, Vraḥ Yamarāj or ‘King Yama’ is "the God closest to the Khmers", the one to these days invoked 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." Prof. Ang Choulean remarked that in Cambodia, Yama's representations and altars, originally facing south like in Indian traditions, started to be oriented in the northeast direction from the 13th-14th centuries, emphasizing the promise of reincarnation over physical death.

Yantra
sk यन्त्र yantra "sign", "diagram", "design", "device". | pa yant | kh យ័ន្ដ yan't "protective bareer"; សាក់យ័ន្ដ sakyant, "tattooed symbol".
In Shaivism, Yantra is a type of ritualistic worship performed along with Tantra and Mantra. While yantra is a mystical diagram charged with occult powers, tantra is mostly the worship of the female energy of Shiva, his Shakti, through mystical sexual intercourse, and mantra is a magical formula.
Mystical diagrams, usually small-sized and portable, with geometric patterns that can be two- or three-dimensional, while mandalas are mostly two-dimensional. It can be the form of a deity as a symbol.
In Buddhism, yantras are graphic symbols used in the recitation of the mantras and the dhāraṇīs.
In Cambodian traditions, yantras are magical diagrams used for protection. Healing kru (traditional doctors) drawn these "bareers" on cloth, metal foil or paper, or as tattoo. They often combine the five representations of the Buddha, the five corresponding pali letters, and symbols of Brahmanic origin (The Triple Gem). The former ones are often drawn in yellow, the latter in red.
The etymology of Prasat Bayon ប្រាសាទបាយ័ន has often been explained as Pa-Yan(t), "The Great Yantra" or "Ancestor's Yantra", the building being a kind of "diagram in stone."