( देअथ् ) Death is a goddess whose name is मृत्यु . The पुराणस् state that there was no death in the world before the birth of this goddess. In महाभारत , द्रोण पर्व , Chapter 53 there is the following story about the circumstances in which ब्रह्मा created मृत्यु .

Living beings multiplied endlessly on earth. As they had no death, the goddess Earth found their weight too much for her to bear. She went weeping to ब्रह्मा and prayed for his help. At that time, रुद्र and नारद were present in ब्रह्मा 's assembly. ब्रह्मा said that he did not like destroying living beings. Because of the pressure of रुद्र and नारद , ब्रह्मा created out of विश्वप्रकास (Cosmic Light) a woman. She was born from the south and ब्रह्मा gave her the name " मृत्यु ". He gave her permission to destroy human beings.

When she heard that she was to kill living beings, she shed tears and ब्रह्मा gathered those tears. She went to धेनुकाश्रम and other places and performed तपस् . At last ब्रह्मा called her back and assured her that it was not against Dharma to kill living beings. He changed the tears he had gathered from her face into the various diseases and returned them to her. He gave those diseases and the god यम as her companions. Thus the goddess मृत्यु started her dance of destruction. (See also under the word PUNARJANMA) .