History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.634.3

v5.c71.s1.634.3

Śaṅkha-Likhita as quoted by the Madanapārijāta pp 694-695 mentions in detail the torments that evil-doers undergo in the hells called Kumbhīpāka, Raurava, Mahāraurava &c. Manu IV. 88-90, Yāj. III. 222-224, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 43. 2-22, Agnipuraṇa 371. 20-22, Nārada (*prakīrṇaka* 44) enumerate 21 *narakas*. The names are almost the same in all these works, the variations being due mostly to the scribes having read certain letters differently. The 21 names are generally significant and may be set out from Manu as follows: Tāmisra (darkness), Andhatāmisra (blinding darkness), Mahāraurava, Raurava (abounding in paths with heated surfaces, according to Pr. V. p. 15), Kālasūtra (like the thread on the wheel with which the potter cuts off a raw earthen pot in two), Mahānaraka, Sañjīvana (where one is made to revive and is again killed), Mahāvīci (where one is submerged in surging waves), Tapana (as burning hot as fire), Sampratāpana (same as Kumbhīpāka, according to Pr. V. p. 15), Saṅghāta (making many stay in a small place like the legendary Blackhole of Calcutta), Kākola (where one is preyed on by crows), Kudmala (where one is bound with ropes into a bundle, which looks like a closed bud), Pūtimṛttika (where the clay has a putrid smell), Lohaśaṅku (piercing one with iron nails), Ṛjīṣa (where boiled flour is thrown about), Panthāḥ (where one is made to walk constantly to and fro), Śālmali (where one is struck with thorns like those of the silk-cotton tree), Nadī (i. e.