Yeomra Daewang (염라대왕)

DeityKorea · East AsiaMythFear 10/10

Description

Supreme judge of the dead in Korean Buddhist underworld. Presides over ten courts of hell, weighing sins of the deceased. Inescapable and incorruptible, feared by all spirits

The Legend

Yama or Yeomra Daewang is a deity of the Buddhist underworld and a guardian deity, said to judge the dead and oversee hell and the cycle of reincarnation. He is depicted as a large man with a fearsome red face, bulging eyes, and a long beard, wearing traditional attire along with a judge's cap or a crown inscribed with the character for 'king'. Yeomra Daewang is generally regarded as a just and fair judge of hell, rendering judgments based on the good and evil deeds of the deceased.

In Popular Culture

Yeomra Daewang is interpreted in various ways within East Asian folk beliefs. Some recognize him as a Buddhist deity, while others see him as a Taoist counterpart to Ksitigarbha or as a shamanistic god. He also appears in the classic Chinese novel 'Journey to the West' (서유기, Seoyugi), where he demonstrates his role as a judge of hell in anecdotes involving Sun Wukong.

This article is based on the Wikipedia article "염라대왕" (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikipedia