The Sanskrit word means literally “world of the dead”; one the five (or six) rebirth destinies belonging to the unfortunate (or lower) realms of rebirth. According to Indian Buddhist sources, Yama as the Lord of Death presides over the realm of the (hungry) ghosts (Skt. preta).

The realm of the dead or the ghosts, where Yama, the Lord of Death, is the ruler and judges the dead. Yama is also said to rule over the hells. This term is also the name of the Vedic afterlife inhabited by the ancestors (Skt. pitṛ). The Pāli commentarial tradition, and possibly other early Buddhist schools, identified Yama’s domain (Pāli yamavisaya) with the realm of the pretas (Pāli petaloka).