in hindu texts, the lord of death is called yama. yama rides a black buffalo and carries a rope to take the dead to his prison. there are many form of reapers, they are his agents. they are called "yamaduts". there, all the man good and bad are stored in an kind of archive. then yama take the records out and decides where the soul will be set in the next life, according to the reincarnation of hinduism. yama is also mentioned in the mahabharata as a philosopher and a devotee of brahman.