Canto 5 - Chapter 26: A description of the infernal regions ...

Discourse XXVI

A description of the infernal regions

The king (Parikṣit) asked : How is this heterogeneity in the universe (to be accounted for), O great sage? (1)

The sage (Śrī Śuka) replied : A doer being swayed by (one of) the three Guṇas (modes of Prakṛti), the destinies reached through the various actions (done by him) vary according to the (nature of) faith (by which those actions are prompted, and which is also of three kinds according as it is Sāttvika, Rājasika or Tāmasika in character), and all (those) destinies are attained, more or less, by everyone (at different times). (2)
Exactly in the same way, the fruit of action accruing to a perpetrator of sin—which is (only) distinguished by the interdiction attaching thereto—varies according to the diverse types of faith. Accordingly, we shall now describe the more prominent of the thousands of (infernal) states, ordained by God, and resulting from sins committed by those who cherish desires (of various kinds) through (the darkness of) ignorance prevailing (in their heart) from time without beginning. (3)

The king inquired : Are the infernal regions referred to by you, O divine sage, particular sports on the face of the earth or are they located outside the egg-shaped universe or inside it (between some spheres)? (4)

The sage replied : They lie within this universe below the earth and above the water (filling the rest of the space up to the shell of the mundane egg) on the southern side. In that quarter reside the groups of the manes called the Agniṣwāttas and so on, contemplating on the Lord through supreme concentration of mind and invoking only real blessings on their scions (on the earth). (5)
There also, it is said, resides the glorious Yama (son of Vivaswān, the sun-god), the ruler of the manes, along with his attendants, and inflicts punishment in the same form as the crime itself on the departed Jīvas (embodied souls)—brought to his realm by his servants—strictly in proportion to the sin attaching to their (evil) deeds, taking care not to violate the commands (the penal code) of the almighty Lord (neither showing any favour to the evil-doers by remitting the rigour of his rod nor inflicting a penalty heavier than what they deserve, thus holding the scales even). (6)
Some (learned men) actually declare the number of hells (the departments of punishment) in that region as twenty-one. Now, we are going to describe them to you, O king, in order along with reference to their name, appearance (the forms of punishment inflicted in each) and character (the nature of sins that are sought to be expiated through them). They are named as Tāmisra, Andhatāmisra, Raurava, Mahāraurava, Kumbhīpāka, Kālasūtra, Asipatravana, Sūkaramukha, Andhakūpa, Kṛmibhojana, Samdamśa, Taptasūrmi, Vajrakanṭakaśālmali, Vaitaraṇī, Pūyoda, Prāṇarodha, Viśasana, Lālābhakṣa, Sārameyādana, Avīci and Ayaḥpāna. Including seven more, viz., Kṣārakardama, Rakṣogaṇabhojana, Śūlaprota, Dandaśūka, Avaṭanirodhana, Paryāvartana and Sūcimukha, there are (all told) twenty-eight hells, places where tortures of various kinds are gone through (by the sinful). (7)

Of these, he who takes away (by force or fraud) another's wealth, child or wife is indeed bound with the cords of Death and forcibly thrown by the most dreadful servants of Yama into the hell called Tāmisra. Being tormented in that utterly dark region by being deprived of food and water, belaboured with cudgels, and severely scolded and with other (such) tortures, the Jīva is filled with dismay and falls into a swoon that very moment. (8)
Even so he, indeed, who enjoys the wife etc., of another by deceiving the man is cast into (the hell called) Andhatāmisra. (As it is) being thrown into that hell and (while) undergoing the tortures (peculiar to it), the Jīva (embodied soul) is deprived, through agony, of its consciousness and vision, like a tree which is being cut at the root. Hence they call this (particular) hell (by the name of) Andhatāmisra (that which is full of blinding darkness). (9)

Again, he indeed who fondly nourishes from day to day his own family exclusively through hostility to (other) living beings in this world, regarding the body alone as his self and the objects of this world (viz., his wife, children, house and other belongings) as his own, leaves them (the body and everything else) here and himself alone (accompanied by none) falls into (the hell called) Raurava because of the sin resulting from such hostility. (10)
Further, the very creatures that were killed by him here are born as Rurus in the other world (in that hellish region) and kill the same fellow—when he goes through the tortures inflicted by Yama—in the same way as they were killed by him. Hence they speak of that region as Raurava (the abode full of Rurus), Ruru being the name of a creature more ferocious (even) than a snake. (11)
Quite similar is (the hell called) Mahāraurava (a class of) Rurus, called Kravyādas (flesh-eaters, so-called because of their being carnivorous by nature) kill for the sake of flesh the man who solely nourishes (here) his own body (hating others), and (consequently) falls into that region. (12)

Again, in (the hell called) Kumbhipāka in the region, the servants of Yama fry in boiling oil that merciless fellow, censured even by the Rākṣasas (those feeding on the human flesh), who is actually so cruel as to cook beasts and birds alive. (13)
Further, he who is hostile to his (own) father, a Brāhmaṇa, or the Vedas is thrown into the hell called Kālasūtra, (consisting of) a burning level sheet of copper, having a circumference of ten thousand Yojanas and being excessively heated (both) above and below by the sun and fire (respectively); and his mind and body being tormented with hunger and thirst, he continues (there) for as many thousand years as there are hair on the body of a beast (for, in fact, he is no better than a beast)—(now) sitting, (now) lying down and rolling about (restlessly), and (now) springing on his feet and running in every direction. (14)

Him, again, who actually deviates here from the path chalked out for him by the Vedas, otherwise than in an emergency (warranting such a course) and embraces a heretic creed, the servants of Yama throw into (the hell called) Asipatravana (a cluster of trees having sword-like leaves) and beat with a whip. Actually running there to and fro with all his limbs being torn by the sword-like leaves—sharp-edged on both sides—of the palmyra trees in that grove, and crying 'Ah ! I am finished!' he drops down unconscious at every step through excessive agony and, apostate as he is, reaps the fruit of the sin attaching to heretics. (15)

Again, a king or a king's officer who inflicts punishment on one undeserving of punishment or corporal punishment on a Brāhmaṇa—such an atrocious soul falls hereafter into the hell known as Sūkaramukha. With his limbs being crushed by most powerful hands, even as a piece of sugar-cane is crushed (in a cane-crushing machine) here, he is filled with (great) consternation (now) shrieking in a piteous tone and now fainting, even like men who were detained by him here, though not found guilty. (16)

Again, he indeed whose mode of life in this world (regulated by a number of injunctions and interdictions based on the division of society into so many Varṇas or grades and Āśramas or stages in life) has been determined by the Cosmic Person Himself (by assigning the different parts of His Body to the four Varṇas—the mouth to the Brāhmaṇas, the arms to the Kṣatriyas, the thighs to the Vaiśyas and the feet to the Śūdras) and by whom the agony of others is (easily) understood (inferred from his own experience) and who (nonetheless) inflicts pain on creatures whose means of living (such as sucking the human blood) have been (similarly) determined by God (appearing as the Creator) and by which the agony of others is not known (inasmuch as they are devoid or reason and as such incapable of drawing conclusions) descends after death into (the hell called) Andhakūpa because of his hatred towards those creatures. Being actually hated on all sides in that region by deer and other beasts, birds and reptiles, mosquitoes and lice, bugs and flies and other living beings—whatsoever were killed by him (here)—he has his sleep and peace of mind disturbed and, finding no rest (anywhere), roams about in darkness just as the Jīva (an embodied soul) remains restless in an unsound (diseased) body. (17)

Again, he who eats here whatever comes to him, without sharing* it (with others) and without performing the five (kinds of daily) sacrifices† (obligatory on a householder) has been likened to a crow and falls hereafter into the worst of (all) hells, called Kṛmibhojana. Born as a worm in a pool full of worms, a hundred thousand Yojanas in extent, the fellow who (thus) ate food a part of which had neither been given to others nor offered as oblation to fire lives there on worms, himself preyed upon (in his turn) by those very worms, and subjects himself to (suffers) tortures for as many years as there are Yojanas constituting the extent of that pool, unless the sin was already expiated by him (during his very lifetime). (18)
Again, the servants of Yama, O king (Parikṣit), tear hereafter (in the hell called Saṃdamśa) with red-hot balls of iron or pairs of nippers the skin of the man who actually takes away here by theft or force gold or jewels etc., belonging to a Brāhmaṇa or, otherwise than in an emergency warranting such a course, (even) to another. (19)
Again, thrashing with a whip hereafter (in the hell called Taptasūrmi) the man who actually copulates with a woman, unworthy of being so used, and the woman, who unites sexually with a man unworthy of being so approached, the servants of Yama force the man to embrace a red-hot iron image (of a woman) and the woman, a similar image of a male. (20)
And him who actually commits here sexual intercourse (indiscriminately) with all (including animals), when he reaches the infernal region (called Vajrakaṇṭakaśālmalī) hereafter, they place on a silk-cotton tree bristling with adamantine thorns and (then) drag him (down along the thorns so as to tear his body). (21)

• It is laid down in our scriptures that a householder should take his meal only after he has fed a stranger waiting at his door, the servants of his household, the young children and the aged of the family, married sisters and daughters and so on.
  † The five kinds of daily sacrifices enjoined on a householder are given in a nutshell in the following couplet of the Manusmṛti :—

(III.70-71)
They are :— (1)
Brahmayajña or propitiation of the Rṣis (to whom we owe all our knowledge, both temporal and spiritual), consisting in teaching and chanting the Vedas and thus sharing with others the benefits of the knowledge bequeathed to us by the Rṣis; (2)
Pitryajña or acknowledgment of our debt to the departed ancestors including the eternal Pīṭṭs in the form of Tarpaṇa or pouring water for their gratification; (3)
Daivayajña or propitiation of the gods through Homa or pouring oblations into the sacred fire in their name; (4)
Bhūtayajña or acknowledgment of our debt to the sub-human creation by offering a portion of the daily meal to all creatures; and (5)
Nṛyajña or worship of our fellow-beings, which consists in offering homage to a stranger who calls at our door by feeding and affording shelter to him.

Again, those Kṣatriyas (men belonging to the ruling class) or officers of a king who transgress here the bounds of piety (as prescribed by the Vedas), even though they have not embraced a heretic creed (and still profess the Vedic religion), fall on their death into (the river called) Vaitaraṇī for having violated restrictions (imposed by religion). Being gnawed in that river—which serves as a most round (the region of) hell and carries in its flood ordure, urine, pus, blood, hair, nails, bones, fat, flesh and marrow—by hosts of aquatic animals here and there, yet not disunited from their body or life and sustained by their own sin, they feel (greatly) distressed by the thought of the (bitter) fruits of their (evil) deeds. (22)
Again, they too, who having kept here a low-caste woman (though themselves born of a noble pedigree) and cast to the winds (all) purity, pious conduct and restrictions (about food etc.), lead the life of a beast, abandoning all shame, fall after death into an oceanlike pond (called Pūyoda), full to the brim with pus, faeces, urine, phlegm and dirt, and feed exclusively on that most detestable stuff. (23)
Again, the servants of Yama pierce (in the hell called Prāṇanirodha) with arrows, as a target, those Brāhmaṇas and others, on their death, who, rearing dogs and donkeys here and taking delight in chase, actually kill animals otherwise than as enjoined (by the scriptures). (24)

Again, those in charge of the infernal region (the officers of Yama) put to (great) torture and (then) hack to pieces in the other world those hypocrites who actually slaughter animals here in sacrifices performed for mere show (to deceive others), when they fall into the infernal region called Vaiśasa (Viśasana). (25)
Again, they throw into a river of semen (the hell known by the name of Lālābhakṣa), in the other world, that sinful Dwija (a member of the twice-born classes) who, blinded by passion, actually causes his wife, belonging to the same caste (as his own), to drink (his) semen here, and make her drink his fill of that semen. (26)
Again, seven hundred and twenty hounds with adamantine teeth, which are no other than the messengers of Yama (representing the three hundred and sixty days and the same number of nights constituting a year), indeed veraciously munch in the other world in (the hell called) Sārameyādana, those robbers, kings or soldiers of a king's army who, resorting to arson and poisoning actually loot here villages and companies of merchants travelling together. (27)
He, again, who actually tells a lie here while giving evidence (in a law-suit), in bartering (buying and selling) goods or while making a gift, on any account whatsoever, is hurled headlong after death from a (steep) mountain-top, a hundred Yojanas high, in the hell called Avicimat, where there is no support to stand upon (because of the steep nature of the mountain) and where land with a rocky surface appears like water; hence the name 'Avicimat' (having no water*). There the man does not die even though his body continues to be shattered to minute particles, and falls down the moment he is lifted up (to the mountain-top) again. (28)

Again, if a Brāhmaṇa (a member of the priestly class) or his wife or (for that matter) anyone observing a sacred vow actually drinks wine here due to perversity or if a Kṣatriya (one belonging to the ruling or warrior class) or Vaiśya (one belonging to the trading and agricultural classes) drinks the extract of the Soma plant, the servants of Yama pour iron melted with fire into their mouth when they are taken (after death) to the infernal region (called Ayahpāna), pressing their bosom with their foot. (29)
And further he, for one who, (though) himself belonging to the lowest strata of society, indeed refuses through self-esteem to respect here his superiors in pedigree, austerity, learning, pious conduct, Varṇa (grade in society) and Āśrama (stage in life) is as good as dead (through actually living) and indeed suffers in terminable tortures when thrown, head foremost, after death into the hell called Kṣārakardama. (30)

• A sheet of water with a ruffled surface is called 'Vicimat' (having waves or ripples). Therefore, 'Avicimat' means a place where there is no such sheet of water actually present but which only appears to have such a sheet of water.

As regards men who propitiate Goddess Bhadrakālī, the god Bhairava and other deities here by actually sacrificing human beings to them and women who eat (the meat of) such human victims, the men (thus) slaughtered like beasts are reborn as torturing agents in the form of troops of Rākṣasas in the abode of Yama (in the hell known as Rakṣoganabhojana) and, cutting up those men and women into slices with their sword like butchers, drink their hot blood and dance and sing in (great) merriment even as those (very) men and women who ate (the meat of) their human victims did here. (31)
Again, they who actually torture here (either) in the woods or in their village (itself) innocent creatures, anxious to survive—inspiring them with confidence by allurement (of various kind) when they have come near; and treating them as playthings when they have been transfixed with an iron pin or tied with a thread—recollect their sin when their bodies too are transfixed with stakes etc., in the course of tortures inflicted by Yama (in the hell called Śūlaprota) on their death, and they are further tormented with hunger and thirst and are assailed on every side at every step by buzzards, quails and other birds with pointed bills. (32)

Again, those men who, fierce by nature like serpents, actually molest (other) living beings here, themselves fall after their death into the hell called Dandaśūka, where, O king (Parikṣit), serpents with five and even seven heads approach and devour them as they would devour rats. (33)
As regards these who actually shut up living beings here in dark holes, granaries and caves etc., the servants of Yama likewise thrust them (in their turn) into holes etc., in the other world (in the hell called Avatānirodhana) and confine them there with poisonous fire and smoke. (34)
Again, vultures, buzzards, crows, quails and other birds with adamantine bills forcibly pluck out with great might in the infernal region (called Paryāvartana) the eyes of that sinful-eyed householder himself who, full of wrath, looks on strangers or (other) known visitors here with a malicious eye again and again as if he would actually burn them. (35)
Again, he who, proud of his opulence and full of egotism, looks askance at others and distrusts all (including his elders), and who, with his heart and face withering through anxiety about his wealth being exhausted or lost and himself knowing no peace of mind, guards his treasure like a devil, accumulates sin in the process of earning, augmenting and preserving wealth and (consequently) falls after his death into the hell called Sūcimukha, where, it is said, the servants of Yama (the deity presiding over righteousness), like tailors, stitch, all over, the body of the sinful man, clinging to wealth like a demon. (36)

There are hundreds and thousands of such infernal spots in the abode of Yama; and all those treading the path of unrighteousness—whosoever have been spoken of here as well as those that have been left unmentioned—enter all these spots one after another, O ruler of the earth. And even so those following the path of virtue enter other regions (heaven etc.); and with the residue of both virtue and sin (when the fruit of the bulk of their stock has been reaped) they both (the virtuous as well as the sinful) return to this land of Bhāratavarṣa (the land of rebirth). (37)

The path characterized by Nivṛtti or cessation of worldly activity (leading to final beatitude) has been told in detail at the very outset (in II. ii. 24 et seqq.). Of this extent only is the egg-shaped universe, which is depicted in the Purāṇas as divided into fourteen spheres and which is the (most) well-known (and) grossest form of the Supreme Person, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa Himself, consisting (as it does) of the (three) Guṇas (modes) of His own Māyā (deluding potency known by the name of Prakṛti or matter). He who, full of reverence, reads (all alone), hears (as recited by another) or recites (to another) the account of it (as) told (by me) comes to realize even the incomprehensible (most subtle) aspect of the Supreme Spirit, the theme of the Upaniṣads, his mind being purified through faith and devotion. (38)

Having heard of the gross as well as of the subtle (incomprehensible) aspect of the Lord, the striver should gradually fix his mind with the help of his subtle intellect on the subtle aspect, when it has been fully concentrated on the gross aspect. (39)
In this way has been described by me for you, O king (Parikṣit), the relative position of the earth with its (various) divisions (Dwipas) and subdivisions (Varṣas), rivers and mountains, of the aerial region, the (seven) oceans and the (seven) subterranean regions, the (four) quarters and the infernal regions, as well as of the luminaries and the spheres, constituting the wonderful gross (material) Body of the almighty Lord, (and) the abode of all species of living beings. (40)

Thus ends the twenty-sixth discourse entitled "A description of the infernal regions" in Book Five of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahāṃsa-Sarhhitā, consisting of eighteen thousand Ślokas, composed by the (divine) sage Vedavyāsa.
END OF BOOK FIVE