Skandapurana 7.5

English (machine translation) 7.5

Language: English

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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

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

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[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. .]

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[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)

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

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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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[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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261

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.

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Suśarmā said:

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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)

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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)

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

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

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

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[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)

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

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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,

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

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

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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

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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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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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. .

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

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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;

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

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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.

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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.

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

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Suśarman said:

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"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.

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

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

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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. .

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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.

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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;

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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;

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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.

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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;

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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.

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

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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

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krīḍāṃśca — gha. 15

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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:

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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;

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

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8.45.10

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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].

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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yogadharmās tathāpi ca — dha. 23

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

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[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.

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

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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;

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

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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.

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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

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

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Suśarmā said:

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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;

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

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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,

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

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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,

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

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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.

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

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The creature is then tormented very dreadfully upon the heights.

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8.47.10

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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;

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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;

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

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

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[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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270

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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;

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

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

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

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Suśarmā said:

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

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

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

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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).

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

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[Critical apparatus]

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[Critical apparatus] / 271

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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.

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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;

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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;

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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,

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

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

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Suśarman said:

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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.

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

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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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[Critical apparatus]

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[Critical apparatus]

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[Critical apparatus]

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272

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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.

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

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

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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;

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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

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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!"

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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]:

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"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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[Critical apparatus]

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[Critical apparatus]

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273

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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."

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

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"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,

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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,

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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,

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and who speaks teasing jokes to the wives of workmen,

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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.

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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.

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

7.5.36

25 narakebhyo - ka. kha. ; 26 nadaṃ - ka ; 27 naivā.. - kha. ; 28 sadā - kha ; 29 pāpakarmiṇāṃ - ka. gha. ; 30 pūrveṇa - ka. kha. gha. ; 31 dāruṇaṃ - ka. ; 32 na prayacchati - kha. ; 33 svakarma - kha. ; 34 ..ścopakāriṇaṃ - ka. ; 35 karmakāriṇāṃ - ka. kha. ; 36

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avithiṃ nāsti - gha ; 37 utpādako - ka. kha. gha., janakaścopanetā 1) - ; 38 tānnindati narādhamaḥ - gha.

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274

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One who betrays a friend, is wicked-minded, and proclaims his vulnerabilities,
and who does not show kindness to one who previously did a favor [for him]—

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all these wicked men, all devoted to inauspicious deeds,
bound by their sinful action, enter the hells.
All these, proclaimed by me, are goers to the great hells;
whatever other people commit sins, they certainly go to punishments.

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Whoever hears or recites this frightful [description of] darkness,
and turns away from unrighteousness, goes to the abode of Brahmā.

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Thus ends the forty-ninth chapter, named the Description of Darkness, in the description of hells in the Skandapurāṇa.

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Henceforth I will describe the cycle of worldly existence—
how those who have crossed over hell wander in saṃsāra, in brief.

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Those evil-doers who have been described by me in the first hell,
due to the residue of their action, are born in the wombs of worms.

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Having revolved in the womb of worms for a hundred thousand years,
then they are born again as monkeys and then as hyenas.

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Having rotated there for so long, when they are born among cattle,
then there, after precisely a hundred births, from the residue thereafter,
they are born among humans for just as long, without a doubt.
If there they commit no further sin,

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then they attain a pure birth once again,
and they do not again reach terrible worldly existence.
39 ..druhya - ka, ...droha - kha. ; 40 pratipadyante - kha ; 41 ...nnaiva - gha. ; 42 adharmācca - kha.

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1 ye vai narakasaṃprāptāḥ - gha. ; 2 samantataḥ - gha. ; 3 te tu jāyante satataṃ - kha. ; 4 sahasrāṇi - kha. gha. ; 5 yadā - kha. ; 6 teṣu - kha ; 7 tadā - kha. ; 8 tathā - kha. ; 9 kutsitānāṃ ca yoniṣu - kha. ; 10 punareva labhantyuta - ka. kha. ; 11 mahad - gha.

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Those who have been described by me in the second [hell], freed [from it], by the residue of action
are born among worms and insects for six hundred thousand [years].

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Likewise, having passed a hundred thousand and a hundred [years],
they are born in the womb of a fish for just as long, without a doubt.

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Then [they become] tigers and bears, then the state of cattle is reached;
[then] they are born among humans as despised [beings] by their own action.
Now those evil-doers who were described by me in the third [hell],
freed from that action, enveloped by the residue,

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit