Skandapurana 7.5

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Chapters 41–50

Suśarman said:

Hereafter I shall describe further the Sword-Leaved Forest, / a hell that causes sorrow to sin-doers and strikes fear into all beings. // 1
Trees renowned as 'Sword-Leaved' are there, inaccessible, / numerous, with immense branches, dense, and exceedingly lofty. // 2

Their leaves are dreadful, sharp and like sword-blades, / superior to iron ones, yet they are not indeed made of iron. (3)

[Apparatus readings: 9 sahasraṃ ca - gha., ..śca caturaḥ - kha. . 10.. pātrakārī - ka. . 11 kumbhapācaka eva tau (ca) - ka. gha. . 12 agnidātā - kha. . 13 duranta (?) . 14 tāpaṃ - ka. .]

[Apparatus readings: 15 kumbhisasākhyaduḥkhapākaṃ - ka. . 1 tataḥ - kha. . 2 pāpināṃ duḥkhaṃ - kha. . 3 asipatrā - gha. . 4 manoduḥkhakarāśca - gha. . 5 tānyāyatāni ca - kha. .]

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They are superior in sharpness and in cutting, O highly intelligent one. / Those [trees] are covered with such leaves and are thorny. (4) / Creatures bound there by sinful deeds by rākṣasas, / being beaten with sword-blades, clubs, and other great weapons, (5)

and scorched by fire, flee to those trees. / Seeing them arrived, the leaves fall down upon them; (6)

very heavy and sharp, they cut them to pieces. / With their heads and necks severed, they flee from that place. (7)

Having gone, they are tormented again and again by rākṣasas and unreachable trees / for fifty million years, intensely sorrowful. (8) / Then, released from them, they indeed enter the heights. / Having rested there, all of them [fall] from the heights into hell again. (9)

Helpless and bewildered, they are cast down until their sin is exhausted. / But as for those sinful men who go to that terrible hell, (10)

I shall declare them to you; listen attentively, O twice-born: / the evil-minded one who destroys a tree that was raised like a son, (11)

or the evil-minded one who sells a tree grown / in an orchard or a village, in a hermitage, or on a path, (12) / or at a reservoir, in a garden, or in temples, / in a house, at a water-kiosk, on a riverbank, or at a crossroads, (13)

the evil-minded one who destroys trees grown anywhere whatsoever, / or bushes, creepers, shrubs, and even grasses, (14) / the fool who destroys them for the sake of shade, flowers, or fruit, / or to accomplish his own work, he falls into that [hell]. (15)

[Apparatus readings: 6 vai kaṭakena - ka. . 7 karmapākanibandhanāḥ - kha . 8 pādyaṃte ca mahāyasi - gha . 9 saṃśrayanti - kha. 10 sma patantyuta - ka. . 11 vinivṛttāni - kha. . 12 gattvā - gha. . 13 pāttyante - ca. . 14 sattvā - gha. sarvāducchrayā... - ka. . 15 tān - gha. . 16 phalairyuktaṃ - ka. . 17 ca - gha. .]

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And he who takes roots, flowers, and fruits / for himself to fulfill desire, and not for the sake of gods or ancestors, (16)

and the lowest of men who dams a river, fills up wells, / or cuts down a tree for its leaves or bark, / or destroys that tree—he falls into that [hell]. (17) / And he who severely harasses creatures that have settled in the shade, (18a-b)

or frightens and drives away those that have reached his own abode, (18c-d) / all of them go to that great hell of heights. / And having emerged from there, those unwholesome ones enter saṃsāra again. (19) / Whoever, with vigilant mind, listens to this hell that is the source of suffering for evildoers, (20a-b)

he of meritorious deeds, knowing the self, does not go to that hell named Asipatra. (20c-d) / Thus ends the forty-first chapter, named Asipatravana, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Suśarmā said:

Hereafter, listen attentively, O son, to the river Vaitaraṇī, / which destroys sins and brings terror to those of sinful deeds. (1) / The river Vaitaraṇī, O son, whose banks are cut as if by chisels, [though called] auspicious, / is filled with hair, bones, and blood, and is full of burning alkali. (2)

It is crowded with ullumpakas, gardabhakas, sea-monsters, tortoises, / porpoises, crocodiles, water-spiders, and rākṣasas, (3) / large-fanged, large-bodied, flesh-eating; / and it is surrounded by those Asipatra trees growing on its banks. (4)

[Apparatus readings: 18 yaścāpi harate - kha yasyāpa - gha. . 19 mūḍhaḥ - ka. kha. . 20 kāmasampanno - gha., ..sanmatto - ka. . 21]

[Apparatus readings: dvijakāraṇāt - gha. . 22 ...rthena - kha. . 23]

[Apparatus readings: chāyāṃ - ka. . 24 taṃ pratipadyante - kha. . 25 śubha - gha. . 26 .?? mugrakarmā - gha. .]

[Apparatus readings: 1 sarvapāpapraṇāśanīm - gha. . 2 śṛṇumeva hitaḥ - ka. . 3 bhayāvahaṃ - kha. . 4 ...stathā - ka. kha. . 5 ulmpakai - ka., uccapakṣai - gha. . 6 samākulaṃ - kha . 7 stathā vṛkṣai - gha. . 8 tīrajaiśca - kha. .]

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It is covered with long moss, as if with a canopy. / On its bank is a terrible forest crowded with śarabhas and bears, (5) / teeming with tigers and panthers, filled with lions, elephants, and donkeys. / There, those of wicked deeds, afflicted by those tigers and the rest, (6)

sorrowful, are cast down from there into that exceedingly dreadful river. / Having fallen there, my child, by the water-spiders and the moss, (7)

and entangled in the canopy, they are devoured by those [creatures and] others; / burned by the caustic water, screaming aloud, they are afflicted with pain. (8)

They are tormented for sixty million years until their sin is completely exhausted. / Then, freed, they are cast down into the heights again and again. (9)

Having rested there, all of them who [fall] from the heights into hell again, / helpless and bewildered, are cast down until the sin is exhausted. (10) / Having crossed over these heights, one returns to saṃsāra. / Having crossed over the last hells, one by one, (11a-c)

the time increases by ten million years successively. (11d) / For each and every one of the heights, O son, / it increases in brief by a thousand years. (12)

As for those evil-minded ones who go to that dreadful hell, / listen properly to them as they are described by me, O sinless one. (13)

He who curses a river, or who despises it, / and he who enters [it] naked, and he who approaches a woman there,
or who spits, or passes urine or feces [in it], / and who steals water meant for fields, gardens, and people,

9... nābhisaṃvṛtā - ka gha, na ca (?) . 10... narasaṃkulam - ka. kha. gha . 11

yātyante - gha. . 12... stathā - kha. . 13

ulvakaiḥ - gha- . 14 saṃbaddhā - ka . 15 dahyante - kha. . 16 rāvayantassu duḥkhitāḥ - kha- . 17 varṣakoṭiṃ bhṛśaṃ tadvai - ka. . 18 pācyante - ka., pātyante (?) . 19 yātyante - kha. . 20 sarvā - ka-, gatvā - kha. . 21

ucchraye - ka. . 22 narakaṃ - ka kha . 23 pāpaḥ - kha. . 24 gataḥ - kha. . 25 tīvrottameṣu - gha. . 26 śṛṇuṣve (ṣvai) - ka. kha. . 27... nugacchati - ka. gha. . 28 āpaśca - ka. kha. .

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and the destroyer of an embankment of waters, and the breaker of a reservoir, / and likewise the man who contaminates lotus-ponds,

or who defiles a woman, whether wicked or not wicked, / and the evil-minded one who steals or destroys a lotus-lake,

or whichever creature causes terror to a caravan or to any creature— / all those lowest of men fall into the terrible hell.

Whoever, restrained, constantly listens to this [account] which destroys misfortune and removes impurities, / does not go to the fearful river Vaitaraṇī, unyielding [to sinners].

Thus ends the forty-second chapter, named Vaitaraṇī, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Beyond this, I shall describe the hell that destroys sins, / known as Ayoghana, causing terror to all living beings,

where those terrible men, Yamakiṅkaras resembling Yama, / of great strength and great power, are all like masters of yoga.

Just as blacksmiths, taking a lump of iron heated in fire / with tongs and placing it upon a heavy iron [anvil], // / strike it with other heavy hammers, so too there creatures / are struck by terrible Rākṣasas threatening [them] most dreadfully.

Driven by their own actions for seventy million years, / they thus experience terrible torment in the heights.

Those men who go to this great, lofty hell— / I shall describe those lowest of men, unfit to be named:
29 yastu - kha. . 30 nāśayedvātha - kha. . 31 pathi sthāṃ vā gṛhe vāpi sarthānāṃ vā bhayaṃkaraḥ - kha. . 32... madharmavādhanīm - kha.,... vāhinīm - gha. . 33 bhāvinīṃ - gha. . 34 vimardinīṃ - gha. .

1 cātidāruṇaṃ - gha. . 2 ayojanamitikhyātaṃ - ka. ga.,... sana - gha. . 3 ... pāpibhayaṅkaram - gha. . 4... pi saṃgṛhya - ka. . 5 tarjayanti - kha. gha. . 6

koṭisamā - gha. . 7 pātitāḥ - ka., jāyante - gha. . 8 jāteṣu ca - gha. . 9 ete - ka., evaṃ - gha., etaṃ - kha. .

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He who strikes his father, mother, or an elder with his foot, / or any other woman with his hand or with whips and the like; // / and likewise he who steps over a renunciant or fire, / and he who brings death upon a child for the sake of wealth;

or the lowest of men who deceives a woman, a man, / a eunuch, or others, or brothers, for the sake of any wealth whatsoever;

or the evil-minded one [who deceives] his father, mother, or even his sister; / and a husband who deceives his own wife and sons, / or a wife [who deceives] her husband or sons—such is declared to be their destination.

And the evil-minded one who desecrates images of deities, holy places, / sacred lores, and heavenly scriptures—such is declared to be their destination. // / Whoever, restrained, constantly listens to this cause of the conjunction of many sins, which tears away all misery, / does not go to that terrible, impassable hell Ayoghana.

Thus ends the forty-third chapter, named Ayoghana, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Suśarman said:

"Beyond this, I shall describe the Padma [hell], exceedingly difficult to cross, / unattainable to those who perform good deeds and terrifying to doers of evil.

There is a fire there named Tāpana, blazing as if being fanned by bellows; / creatures are heated there and become the color of fire.

All resembling lotus petals, being blown upon this way and that, / in the midst of it stands a great iron pillar.

10 pānena - gha. . 11 anyaṃ - ka. gha. . 12 kañcit - ka., kiṃcit - gha. . 13 priyaṃ - gha. . 14 kaśādinā - ga. . 15 pravrajitāṃ - kha. . 16 bhrātṛvyaṃ vā - kha., bhrātṛbhyaścā - ga. . 17... ścāpi ndhatte - ka. ga.,... tisaṃdhatte - kha,... pisavṛte - gha . 18... tisaṃdhayet - ka. . 19 svaputrān - gha., svaputraṃ - kha. gha. . 20 kā - gha. . 21 devān kīlayate yaśca - kha. . 22 praṇataḥ sa - ka. ga. gha. .

1 dhūpamāna - gha. . 2 pātyante - gha. . 3 varma - kha . 4 mahān stambho - gha. . 5 lohaḥ - ka. kha. gha. .

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Going there, they embrace it, and it too is an exceedingly dreadful fire; / thus they are tormented day and night in that terrible place, even upon the heights.

Hear from me which men go helpless to that place: / he who approaches the wife of a guru, or who steals the property of a guru;

and he who eats the property of a deity, or repeatedly destroys it; / and he who steals the property of a brahmin, or withholds it by force; // / and he who steals the property of a child, or steals the wealth of a woman; / and he who abandons eunuchs, and he who slays one who has sought refuge;

and he who covets his wealth; and he who steals the property of a deity; / he who eats everything indiscriminately, and he who sells water.

And whoever is a seller of Soma, and whoever extinguishes sacred fires, / and whoever strikes with fire, and whoever strikes with poison; / and that man who slays in battle an unarmed person with a weapon, / or one who is begging for mercy, or even one who is seated;

or one whose back is turned, or one engaged in dispute with another— / all these mindless men go there. / A self-controlled person who constantly hears of this abode of the Lord of Death, this abode of many sufferings, / does not go to that hell, a lotus of fierce grief, as if [approaching] death, the abode of Time.

Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, named Padma, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

6 pragṛhṇanti — ka. ga.; te gatvā pratigṛhṇanti — kha; tu gṛhṇanti — gha. 7 pātitā — ka. 8 niḥśaṅkā — gha. 9 patanti — ga.; ye pāpas tān — gha. 10 guruḥ śvaśrū — gha.; guror vittaṃ — kha. 11 ...cca — ka. kha. ga. 12 ...ccā — kha.; ...nnā — gha. 13 strīdhanasya tathaiva ca — ka. kha. gha. 14

krīḍāṃśca — gha. 15

hanyāc charaṇam āgatāṃ — kha.; ...m āgatān — gha. 16 dharmiṣṭhāṃ cāvamanyeta — kha.; dhanaṃ vāpya... — gha. 17 paradravyaharaś ca — gha.; ...harāś ca — gha. 18 ye — ka. 19 agnyutsādī ca — kha. 20 agniṃ praharate — kha; praharāṇaś caiva — gha. 21 viprāṃś ca te ca — kha. 22 vā — punaḥ — gha. 23 yācamānas tathā — gha. 24 ca — ka. ṭi. 25 nyaiś ca — kha. 26 imaṃ — ka. kha. ga. 27 ?...sadmaṃ — ka. kha. 28 padma — ga. 29 ...rivāti — ka. kha. ga.; ...rivādi — ga.

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Suśarmā said:

Next to that is another hell, Mahāpadma, hair-raising, / where those terrible servants of Yama, resembling Yama himself, / mercilessly slicing off again and again the flesh of sinful living beings / with blunt weapons, indeed feed it back to them.

Having eaten their own flesh, those evildoers, / becoming [red] like lotus petals, are blow-torched in fire day and night.

Moreover, opening their mouths, Yama's cruel servants / pour iron liquefied by fearful fire. / Likewise, women and men made of iron, radiant as fire, / unite and embrace them as they flee this way and that.

And there are many trees there, bearing fine flowers, fruits, and leaves; / afflicted with agony, they seek shelter under them, but those [trees] also rain down fire. / And there are many other rocks there; whenever they embrace them, / those rocks, shining like fire, burn those men severely.

In this way has this hell, Mahāpadma, been described. / A man who steals gold, and who approaches his mother [sexually],

and the son who approaches his mother; one who violates celibacy and defiles the Veda; / one who is envious, vicious, and a worshipper of śramaṇas;

a śūdra who recites or even listens to the Śruti, / or the foolish-minded one who accepts [its meaning], or one who despises brahmins;

8.45.10

or one who, without being qualified, listens to or recites / the secrets meant for brahmins and those belonging to different stages of life;

1 tatra — kha. 2 raudrā — kha. 3 vegitāḥ — gha. 4 ...rdaṇḍai — gha. 5 dhmāyante (?). 6 ayomayī (yya?) — kha. 7

tatra bahavaḥ — ka. 8 putra — gha. 9 supuṣpaphalapatriṇaḥ — ka. 10 agninā muhyate punaḥ — gha. 11 ...ścā — gha. 12 sadṛśaṃ — gha. 13 mātṛgāmī — gha. 14 doṣāṃ vakarṇikaḥ... — ka.; ...kīrttikaḥ — ka.; ...kīrttaka- — kha.; doṣānukīrtanaḥ — gha. 15 śravaṇānāñ ca — ka. kha.; gurūṇāṃ cāpy apūjakaḥ — gha. 16 vṛṣalāya — gha. 17 ...nāvamanyate — gha.; vāpamanyate — kha.

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wicked śramaṇas, Nirgranthas, and also Ājīvikas— / a twice-born man who is devoted to them falls into hell.

The wicked man who slanders yoga, or the ancestors and grandfathers, / or the masters of yoga, or the practice of yoga;

or the rogue who delights in reviling the Vedas, social classes, life stages, and sacrifices, / the atheist, and the rationalist sceptic—every such person reaches that [hell]. / All this has been spoken truly by me; of this there is no doubt.

Thus tormented there, bound by the fruits of their own deeds, / they are subsequently born, bound by the remainder [of their karma], in the wombs of worms.

The wise, sensible person who, having reflected, constantly listens to this [account], free from greed, delusion, and sorrow, / with his mind impelled by divine law, goes to heaven alone and never enters that [hell].

Thus ends the forty-fifth chapter, named Mahāpadma, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Hereafter I shall describe once again the Raurava hell, / wherein living beings, helpless, are bound by their own karma.

Those bound for the great hell are tormented, afflicted by pain and grief. / Because the sound 'ru' is heard there / again and again, terrible indeed, it is therefore called Raurava. / Filled with dried cow dung, it burns, exceedingly dreadful.

In its center is an iron pillar, resembling molten gold; / deeply immersed there upon entering, the helpless creature is severely burned.

Uttering cries of distress, fainting, and falling again, / he then extricates himself by his own effort with great suffering.

18 śravaṇanirgranyā — ka. kha. gha. 19 dvijān hitvā — kha. 20 gurūn — gha. 21 nindante — kha. 22

yogadharmās tathāpi ca — dha. 23

devadharmāśramā — gha. 24 ...śramajñāś ca — ka. gha. 25 hetuko nāsti vādī ca — ka. gha. 26 tathāpy uktaṃ — gha. 27 ?.?nāt — kha. 28

[Apparatus readings: kīṭakādiṣu - ka., kīcakādiṣu - gha. 29 vijitya - gha. 30 doṣān - kha. 31 pravedimātgā - ka. kha., preritātmā - gha. 32... dapīti - kha. 1 pātyante - gha. 2 bhūyo - ?, bhūyopi - kha. 3 kīrtyate - ka. 4 sarva... - ka. 5 jvalatpāśotidāruṇa. - gha, jvalatyasau - kha. 6 praviṣṭo - gha. 7 rudate bhṛśaṃ - kha. 8 ārtanādaṃ - kha. 9 śokena - kha.]

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Reaching another place again, he enters in just the same way. / If, springing up from that, he takes refuge upon a post, // he is burned further by that as well; releasing [it], he enters back again. / Thus he is tormented there for many years in intense suffering.

Then, released once more, he falls into high precipices. / Those men who are drinkers of liquor and teachers of [false] doctrine go to it:

A father-killer, a mother-killer, a brother-killer, and likewise a guru-killer; / those who delight in disputations against them and revilers of those very people; / a killer of cattle, and a brutally harsh subduer of creatures;

A cutthroat, one who is deceitful in measurement, and one who acts fraudulently by his deeds. // 8.46.10

A younger brother married before his elder, an elder brother unmarried after his younger, one who delights in cremation grounds, / one who cohabits with a twice-married woman's daughter, and one in whose house is a wife's paramour: / all these men go to the hell Raurava.

Whoever hears of this Raurava hell of wrongdoers, the dreadful Raurava, / restrained and self-controlled, shall never go, even in mind, to that exceedingly terrifying Raurava. // 1

Thus ends the forty-sixth chapter, named Raurava, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Suśarmā said:

Listen to me, O son, about another one, Mahāraurava, having terrible tortures, / where there are torrents, water, and ponds; // dried-dung pits resembling gold, and channels filled with fire; / many iron posts, and trees with abundant thorns;

[Apparatus readings: 10 drutotpatya - kha. 11 yadā - gha. 12 visṛjyopaviśetpunaḥ - kha. 13

chalakarttā - gha., chalagartaḥ - kha. 14 karmaṇāñca ka.,... tikaroti - gha. 15.. patireva - gha. 16... rathasaṃyogī - gha. 17 sarvepi gacchanti - gha. 18.. .darauravaṃ - ka. 19 paṭhate ca rauravaṃ kha. 20.. tirauravam - ka.]

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Rākṣasas of various shapes, bearing sharp weapons and missiles. / There a creature, bound fast by abundant sin,

Falls down, deformed in appearance, crying out again and again. / Having fallen there, his skull is quickly smashed by the rākṣasas.

He is cooked very dreadfully in a pit of dried dung burning like fire. / Then, pained by that burning and in extreme distress, // he plunges into a pond to quench the burning; / there, afflicted twofold with agony by heated caustic brine,

Rising up with speed, he climbs a tree or a post; / there, scraped and torn by those sharp iron thorns,

He falls indeed into a ditch of fire, crying out piteously in various ways. / Tormented thus, distressed by thirst and wailing profusely, // he approaches a torrent to drink; but then, even that / carries iron-hot water resembling fire; overwhelmed by fainting, he dies.

And when his torture is complete, released from that great terror,

The creature is then tormented very dreadfully upon the heights.

8.47.10

There goes a king-killer, a despiser of the king's wife, / one who promises hope but gives nothing, and one who desecrates sacred fords;

A thief, an informer, an evil-doer supported by a woman, / and one who prevents a gift to the fire, a cow, or a brahmin;

The vile man who sells his own wife or offspring, / and one who steals the fire vessels or any possession of ascetics;

Or one who harbors thieves, and his men, / an official placed over brahmins, and an official placed over religious law;

[Apparatus readings: 1 atra - ka. 2.. ti nimajjati - ka., bhirnimañjati - kha., te- - ka. kha. 3 kaṣṭena - ka., koṣṭena - gha. 4 vedanānvitaḥ - gha. 5... cchrāyavṛkṣaṃ - ka. 6 thāśrirohati - kha? - va - gha. 7 rāhāra iva bheditaḥ - gha. 8 tulyāyāṃ - gha. 9 jātu - gha, jantuḥ - ? 10 tatrāyasaṃ - kha. 11 tathā - gha. 12.. dbhayāvahāt - ka, ? dbhayāvahaḥ - gha. 13 gacchanti - kha. 14 rājaghnā - (?) 15 manyakaḥ - ka., manyakāḥ - kha. 16 gavāṃ viprāṃstathāgnīnāṃ dīyamānaṃ tu - kha. 17 yajñānāṃ - gha. 18 yo haret - gha. 19 saṃkīrṇaṃpa(.)ranāryaṃ vā tāsvapatyānyajījanat - kha.]

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A brahmin without sacred fires who owns a brown cow; / one who performs the Agnihotra falsely; one who eats during daily rites; / a man who plots the murder of a prince, or intends famine, / or intends the ruin of the realm, the ruin of a wife, or the ruin of wealth;

And whoever causes devastation of the countryside or riots: / all of them go to the hell named Mahāraurava.

Whoever repeatedly hears this, remaining constant and intent upon righteousness, / does not go to that terrifying, fierce hell Raurava. // 18

Thus ends the forty-seventh chapter, named Mahāraurava, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Suśarmā said:

There is another dreadful, exceedingly terrifying hell named Tamas. / There, as he falls, he is struck down by rākṣasas

With swords, mallets, sharp spike-points, maces, pestles, and double-edged swords; / with fear-striking iron clubs, chisels, thunderbolts, spears, and axes;

And struck with other diverse forms [of weapons] by the enraged, utterly pitiless [demons], / fainting and enveloped in darkness, he enters that hell. // 3

With his body destroyed and his form swooning in darkness, / bound by continuous suffering, he endures severe torment. / Because that creature, seized by darkness and without comfort, / endures extremely terrible torment, it is called Tamas (Darkness).

Whatever torments of manifold kinds have been proclaimed, / the wicked-minded one obtains them all there through his own sin.

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And when the torment is finished, having crossed beyond [it] through his own karma, / the creature, still bound by karma, is tormented again on high cliffs.

He who is a killer of a brahmin, a killer of an embryo, or a liquor-drinking brahmin; / and that vilest of men who, blinded by delusion, creates an obstacle / at a drinking trough for thirsty cattle; he who insults [a guest] after summoning him; / he who constantly hates brahmins, and he who repudiates a petitioner;

and the man who steals the scriptures, and who is known as a killer of cows; / and a follower of Kapila, holding false views, a defiler of the meaning and duty of the Vedas;

8.48.10 / a reviler of brahmins, and a defiler of the meaning and duty of the Vedas; / and atheists, evil-minded men—these indeed go to that [hell]. / Whoever listens constantly with vigilant senses to this [description] consisting of darkness,

does not ever go to that hell consisting of darkness, which brings sorrow to dreadful creatures. 12

Thus ends the forty-eighth chapter, named Tamas, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

Suśarman said:

Hear further of the hell Tamas, and the even more dreadful Tamisra, / where there is no light at all, nor does sight function. / Just as he is falling there, a man is rendered unconscious / by rākṣasas of deformed shapes; therefore it is called Tamas.

Fallen there, that foolish one is severely burned by fire; / rising up swiftly even from there, bereft of sight and unconscious,

he is cut and torn asunder by cruel-acting rākṣasas; / and afflicted in this very manner, he departs from there to another region. / [Critical apparatus]

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Seized by them there as well, he is slaughtered like a beast; / then, unconscious, he is cast again into inaccessible pits.

And plunged into a fire of dried cow-dung, he is born groaning. / Having thus experienced many torments, deeply sorrowful,

and having reached the end of the hell, he is cast down from precipices. / One who causes abortion, and one who covets the kingdom,

and here a servant who, not being worthy, is intent on killing the king, / and he who, not being a teacher, undertakes the function of teachers;

and whoever is a destroyer of scriptures, lore, and medicines together with antidotes; / he who praises the Dānavas; / and the teacher who, out of hatred, does not impart instruction— / he goes to that terrible, impassable hell consisting of darkness. 8.49.10

Taking hold of the ungrateful one, all those hellish beings, / bowing to Yama, spoke together with Yama's servants: / "Lord, we are not able to destroy this sinner! / See another means here; grant us favor, O Lord!"

Having been spoken to thus, the blessed Lord Yama, ruler of the departed, / then questioned the best of ṛṣis, who are skilled in all dharma and aims [of life]:

"Venerable ones, how can there be expiation for this evil-souled ungrateful person / from this most dreadful sinful deed?" / Then all those ṛṣis, having seen with farsighted vision, / indeed spoke these words to Yama, the foremost of upholders of dharma:

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"For a slayer of a brahmin, a liquor-drinker, a thief, and likewise one whose vows are broken, / expiation has been prescribed by the good; for an ungrateful person, there is no expiation."

Then that blessed god, the excellent son of the Sun, / gives an order to the hellish beings: "All of you, [cast] this man..."

"Go, you shall purge him! Indeed, not just one fate is ordained for him."
Then, at his word, the exceedingly cruel hell-beings
torment the evil-doer in all [the hells] in due succession.
One who robs his master's food and one who robs his ancestors' funerary offerings,

and the man who receives knowledge from someone and does not give the sacrificial fee,
and who, having been nourished [by someone], does not serve him, and the man who slays him,

who finds fault with what was done [for him] and does not fulfill [his] desire,
who does not remember what was done [for him], and who defiles the āśramas,
who does not nourish draft animals, dependents, and benefactors,
servants dedicated to work, and well-wishers,

and who speaks teasing jokes to the wives of workmen,

and who says, "Nothing was given, nothing was offered in sacrifice in the other world"—
all these Manu, along with the seers, declared to be ungrateful.

The ungrateful, the deceitful, and the atheist whose doubts are unresolved—
all these go to those [hells] that have been proclaimed by me.
The progenitor, the initiator, the one who imparts knowledge,
the protector from danger, and the giver of food: these five are remembered as fathers.

One who speaks ill of them, is envious [of them],
and is intent on malice [toward them]—one should abandon those lowest of men.