Devi Bhagavatam

Chapter XXI

On the narrative of hells

1-9. Nârâyana said :– O Devarsi! Sanâtana, the son of Brahmâ, recites thus in the assembly of the Devas, the glories of the Bhagavân Ananta Deva, and worships Him, thus :– How can one of ordinary sight and understanding grasp the real nature of Brahmâ, Whose mere Glance enables the Prakriti work Her Gunas in the Creation, Preservation and Destruction of this Universe! Him Whose nature has no beginning nor end; Who though One, has created all this Prapañcha (the universe of five elements) as a covering to the Âtman (the True Self).  

He has made the Sat and Asat, out of his infinite compassion, this universe, full of cause and effect, visible in His One and only one S’uddha Sattva nature where even the very powerful lion is imitating his Leelâ (Pastime), void of all defects, to bring under His control the minds of His own kinsmen. (Note :– This Ananta Deva is the Ruling Principle in the Fourth Dimensional Space.) To Whom else, then, the persons, desirous of Moksa, will take refuge, the mere hearing or reciting Whose Name, in a fallen or a distressed condition, or merely in jest, takes away instantly all the sins! He is upholding the earth with the mountains, oceans, rivers and all the beings as if an atom on his thousand heads. He is infinite. His power knows no decrease in any time. No one can describe his actions even if one had thousand tongues to speak. He is of an infinite strength, of the endless high qualities and of unlimited understanding. Thus staying at the bottom of the earth, the Bhagavân Ananta Deva is upholding with ease this earth for her protection, unaided and independent. O Muni! The people get the fruits of their actions and desires as they want and as they have followed the paths laid down in the S’âstras and become accordingly kings, men, deer or birds or other creatures in other states. O Nârada! This I have described, as you questioned me before, the various and dissimilar fruits of various actions, done according to the dictates of the Dharma and the S’âstras.

10. Nârada said :– “O Bhagavân! Kindly describe to me now why has the Bhagavân created so many diversities, when the Karmas, done by the Jîvas, are the same.”

11-28. Nârayana said :– O Nârada! So many different states arise because the S’raddhâs of the doers are so very different. The fruits differ because the S’raddhâs vary, some being Sâttvik, some Râjasik and some Tâmasik. If the S’raddhâ be Sâttvik, happiness comes always; if it be Râjasik, incessant pain and misery is the result; if it be Tâmasik, misery comes and the loss of the knowledge of good or bad is the result. Thus the fruits differ as the S’raddhâ varies. O Best of Dvîjas! Thousands and thousands of states occur to a man as the result of their Karmas, done under the influence of the beginningless Avidyâ (Nescience). O Dvîjottama! I will now deal in detail with their varieties; hear. Behind this Triloki, below this earth and over the Atala, the Pitris named Agnisvâttas and other forefathers live. Those Pitris stay there, and, practising deep Samâdhis, they offer always, to their best blessings to their own Gotra (families) respectively. There Yama, the God of the Pitris gives punishment to the dead brought there by His messengers according to their Karmas and faults. By the command of the Bhagavân, the Yama, surrounded by his own Ganas (persons), judges and does full justice according to the Karmas that they had done and the sins they had committed. He sends always those of his messengers who obey his order and know the Tattva of Dharma, and who are posted to their respective duties to carry out what He commands. The writers of the S’âstras describe twenty-one Narakas or hells; others say there are twenty-eight hells. Now hear their names :– Tâmisra, Andha Tâmisra, Raurava, Mahâraurava, Kumbhîpâka, Kâlasûtra, Asipatrakânana, S’ûkaramukha, Andhakûpa, Krimibhojana, Taptamûrti, Samdams’a, Vajrakantaka, S’âlmalî, Vaitaranî, Pûyoda, Prânarodha, Vis’asana, Lâlâbhaksa, Sârameyâdana, Avîchi, Apahpâna, Ksârakardama, Raksogana, Sambhoja, S’ûlaprota, Dandas’ûka, Avatârodha, Paryâvartanaka, and Sûchimukha. These are the twenty-eight Narakas or hells. (N.B. These are 29). 

These hells are very tormenting. O Son of Brahmâ! The embodied beings (jîvas) suffer these according to their own Karmas respectively.

Here ends the Twenty-first Chapter of the Eighth Book on the narrative of hells in the Mahâ Purânam, S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam, of 18,000 verses, by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.
Chapter XXII

On the narrative of the sins leading to hells

1. Nârada said :– “O Everlasting One! O Muni! Now describe the various actions that lead to these tormenting hells. I like to hear about them in detail.”

2-52. Nârâyana said :– O Devarsi! He who steals other’s sons, wives, and riches, the wicked fellow is taken to Yama by His messengers. Tied down hard and fast by the terrible messengers of Yama, by the Kâla rope (rope of time), he is taken to the Tâmisra hell, the place of many torments. There the Yama’s attendants punish him, beat him and threaten him; and he becomes stupefied, and feels himself very weak, distressed and ultimately faints. He who deceives another’s husband and enjoys his wives; the Yama’s servants drag him down to Andha Tâmisra hell. There he suffers any amount of pain and suffering. He loses instantly his eyesight and his brain gets upset. His state resembles that of a tree when its trunk is broken. For this reason the ancient sages called this Andha Tâmisra. He who being subject to “My” and “Mine” quarrels with others and being very much attached, maintains his family, leaves his families here and goes with his bad tendencies to the Raurava hell, very horrible to all. The animals whom he injured and killed before in this world, assume the form of Ruru animal and torment him in the next. For this reason, the intelligent knowers of Purâna, call this Raurava. The ancients say, that Ruru is more cruel and ferocious than snakes. These animals live in that hell; hence it is termed Mahâraurava. He who torments others, goes to this hell and these Rurus, the flesh-eaters, spring on his body and bite and eat his flesh. He who cooks other animals and birds, that cruel and ferocious, thus deluded, is cooked in return on the hot oil in the Kumbhîpâka hell by the Yama Dûtas for thousand years. He who quarrels with his Pitris and the Brâhmanas, is taken by the Yama Dûtas to the Kâlasûtra hell and there be burnt by the fire and Sun. There that hellish person, being troubled very much, inside and outside by hunger and thirst, sometimes sits, sometimes sleeps, sometimes walks, and sometimes runs hither and thither. O Devarsi! He who transgresses the path of the Vedas in times other than those of calamity and danger and follows other paths even to a trifling distance, that sinner is taken by Yamadûtas to Asipatra Kânana and there whipped severely. Not being able to bear that, he runs wildly to and fro and is pierced by the sharpedged Asi leaves on both his sides. His whole body being cut asunder, he cries “Oh! I am killed!”and faints away. Then feeling himself pained very much, he tumbles down at every step. Thus the sinner suffers for violating the path of the Vedas. The King or that royal personage who gives orders of punishment, not approved by Dharma, and hurts or punishes the body of a Brâhmana, the Yama’s servants throw him down into the S’ûkaramukha Hell and grind down his body with great force as a sugarcane is ground down. He then cries aloud bitterly, he gets fainted and becomes stupefied. He is crushed by them and suffers all sorts of pains and miseries. Again he who knows the feelings of others when they are tormented, pains those insects who live on other’s blood as bugs, etc., and who does not realise other’s pains, goes, as a punishment for that fault to the Andhakûpa Hell. There he is pained by the beasts, birds, deers, reptiles, mosquitoes, bugs, louses, flies and Dandas’ûkas and various other cruel animals. There he lives in his ugly body and roams like a beast. The man who, getting even a trifling wealth and food-stuff, does not perform the five Mahâ Yajñâs and gives not a share of that to the Devas and feeds his own belly with that like a crow, is taken by the ferocious Yamadûtas to the worst Krimibhojana Naraka for his sinful deeds. This hell is one lakh Yoyanas wide and is the reservoir of worms. It causes terror to the inhabitants of the hell. That sinner assumes the form of an insect and is eaten up on return by the insects and thus passes his time there. When a man does not give any share to the Atithis or the guests and does not offer oblations to the Fire and eats his food, he, too, goes to the above hell. When a man in times other than that of great danger and distress, follows the livelihood of a thief and robs gold and jewels forcibly of a Brâhmin or any other person, he is taken to this hell and the Yama’s servants pierce and cut off his skin by a fiery hot iron cutter. When a man goes for an illicit cohabitation to one who is not fit to be approached and when a woman goes similarly to an unapproachable man, both of them are taken, being whipped, to this hell by the servants of Yama! Where the man is obliged to embrace a fiery hot iron figure of woman and vice versa. When a man goes to all sorts of wombs for unnatural crimes, he is taken to Vajra Kantaka Naraka and placed on the top of an iron S’almalî wood. When a King or any royal personage, subject to the Pâsanda Dharma (i.e., the unrighteous path) breaks the boundary of a law, he for that sin goes to Vaitaranî, the ditch round that hell. There the aquatic animals eat his body all around. O Nârada! Yet neither his life nor his body parts with him. He is thrown, for his Karma, into the rivers filled with faeces, urine, puss, blood, hairs, bones, nails, flesh, marrow, fat, etc., and he becomes very much troubled. Those who are the husbands of Vrisalîs (girls under twelve years of age, who have attained menstruation; or the barren women), void of any S’aucha (cleanliness) or shame and without any Âchâra Vyavahâra (the following of one’s natural customs and rites) and those who follow Pas’vâchâra (like beasts), they meet with a very hard fate and are thrown into this hell filled with faeces, urine, cough, blood and other impurities and when they feel hungry, are forced to eat the above things. When those persons that are twice born, maintain dogs and asses, etc., and when they are addicted to hunting, and kill daily, for nothing, beasts, birds and deer, those evildoers are specially watched by the servants of Yama and when they retire, they tear them asunder by shooting bows at them. He who kills animals, engaged vainly in a sacrifice and addicted to haughty tempers and habits, is thrown into this hell by the Yama’s servants and whipped very severely. The twice-born that copulates blindly with a savarnâ wife, is taken by the Yama’s messengers into the hell filled with semen and he is made to drink that. Those who are addicted to robbery, who put fire to other’s houses, who make others drink poison, those that are treacherous, and who destroy the interest of the villagers and other persons, those kings or the royal personages are taken after their death by the Yamadûtas to the Sârameyâdana hell. There seven hundred and twenty dogs, very wonderful to behold, come furiously and with great force and energy, over them and feed on them. O Nârada! This hell is denominated as Sârameyâdana Naraka and it is very horrible. Now I will describe to you the other hells Avîchi and others.

Here ends the Twenty-second Chapter of the Eighth Book on the narrative of the sins leading to hells in the Mahâ Purânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam, of 18,000 verses, by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.