Skandapurana 1.2.5

English (machine translation) 1.2.5

Language: English

1.2.5.2

“A man endowed with the quality of pure sattva is rare in this world;

1.2.5.3

men endowed with the qualities of rajas and tamas are easily found. // 1

1.2.5.4

A person endowed with sattva, through a virtuous disposition, would attain the highest beatitude.

1.2.5.5

Because of the variety of these actions, for their experience, by the Creator

1.2.5.6

various hells indeed have been created here and there.

1.2.5.7

Experiencing [the hell] Mahāraurava, a donkey, a dog, or a pig,

1.2.5.8

or an outcaste after death, a man would become through killing a brahmin.

1.2.5.9

Imprisoned in Raurava for a long time, the state of a worm, insect, or moth

1.2.5.10

a twice-born man would attain, and [servile] manual labor, through drinking liquor.

1.2.5.11

From stealing the property of a brahmin, he would obtain the state of a brahmarākṣasa.

1.2.5.12

Whatever he steals, he would be bereft of that in another birth.

1.2.5.13

Having suffered torment in the Asipatravana hell for a very long time, again,

1.2.5.14

a man who violates his guru's bed would become a eunuch.

1.2.5.15

Tormented by the servants of Yama with heated iron rods,

1.2.5.16

the seducer of another's wife would dwell in the hell called Kālasūtra.

1.2.5.17

An arsonist would reside in Ghora; in Sughora, a poisoner.

1.2.5.18

In Mahāghora, a slanderer; and in Avīci, a reviler of dharma.

1.2.5.19

A betrayer of friends would dwell in Karāla; in Bhīma, one solely devoted to violence.

1.2.5.20

In Saṃhāra, a covert sinner; in Bhayānaka, a liar.

1.2.5.21

In Asighora would reside one who robs stepwells, wells, fields, men, and the like.

1.2.5.22

In Vajra, one intent on malice toward others; in Tarala, a meat-eating twice-born, [O sage].

1.2.5.23

In Tīkṣṇa, one who betrays mother and father; in Tāpana, one who corrupts mantra-recitation.

1.2.5.24

Even a killer of a horse would dwell in Nirucchvāsa; and a cow-killer in Dāruṇa.

1.2.5.25

An abortionist would dwell in Caṇḍa; a slayer of women in Kukūla.

1.2.5.26

A stealer of god's property [dwells] in Dahana; in Ghoraghora, a stealer of others' property.

1.2.5.27

The messengers of Yama in hell indeed [punish] all the sinners:

1.2.5.28

They bind them with ropes, strike them with clubs, pierce them with spikes.

1.2.5.29

Herons with sharp iron beaks, great serpents with cruel fangs,

1.2.5.30

dogs, tigers, and other beasts of prey bite them.

1.2.5.31

They hack them to pieces with weapons and burn their bodies.

1.2.5.32

They bury them in deep pits and beat them with whips.

1.2.5.33

They are cooked in caldrons of oil; they are pricked with fine needles.

1.2.5.34

Sinners are indeed forced to carry unendurable loads by Yama's messengers.

1.2.5.35

A killer of a brahmin becomes consumptive; a drinker of liquor has blackish teeth.

1.2.5.36

A gold thief has diseased nails; one who violates his guru's bed has skin disease.

1.2.5.37

A betrayer of a guru is epileptic; a reviler of the Vedas is an outcaste.

1.2.5.38

A false witness has eye disease; and one who eats before [others/offerings] has weak digestion.

1.2.5.39

One who steals knowledge becomes mute; a thief of books is blind.

1.2.5.40

One given to another's wife becomes lame; a slanderer of others is deaf.

1.2.5.41

One devoid of proper conduct becomes a cesspool swine, and a thief gets a tongue disease.

1.2.5.42

One who abandons an arrived guest gets boils on his cheeks.

1.2.5.43

One who has intercourse with women on festive days suffers from urinary disease; an eater of forbidden food has a foul mouth.

1.2.5.44

A violator of boundaries becomes a servant; an appropriator of tanks and pleasure gardens, a donkey.

1.2.5.45

One who fails to give what was promised becomes short-lived; a boaster becomes a dog.

1.2.5.46

One who harbors malice toward Viṣṇu becomes a chameleon; one who harbors malice toward Śiva becomes a mouse.

1.2.5.47

Thus, having understood the fruition of sin, one should perform expiation.

1.2.5.48

And that must be performed properly in this sacred field of Aruṇa by the faithful.

1.2.5.49

Having thus heard the manifold torment of evil-doing men in the hells,

1.2.5.50

he fell at [his] feet and then repeatedly begged for the rite that appeases it.

Thus ends the fifth chapter, titled "Description of the Ripening of Actions," in the second half of the Aruṇācalamāhātmya, in the first Māheśvarakhaṇḍa in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit