by Bibek Debroy
Chapter 11
‘The son said, “When the woman is in her season and the man’s seed is sprinkled there, at that instant, a person is released from heaven or hell and reaches samsara. O father! The person is overcome by these two sources and attains stability. First, there is a billow, which becomes a bubble, which next becomes an egg. The seed that is inside the egg germinates. In due course, the five limbs are generated. The minor limbs follow—fingers, eyes, nose, face and ears. From these minor limbs, nails and other things sprout. Body hair develops and the hair on the head comes after that. As the foetus grows, the womb expands in proportion. Just as a coconut grows along with its casing, this too develops with its casing. The womb is such that the head of the foetus faces downwards. As the foetus grows, the palms are next to the thighs and the hands are placed on the thighs. The thumbs are placed on the thighs and the fingers are in front. The eyes are behind the thighs and the nose is placed between the thighs. The buttocks are placed on the two heels, with the arms and the legs outside. Situated inside the woman’s womb, the creature gradually grows in this way. In the case of other creatures, the form of the foetus is like that of the creature. The foetus is hardened by the digestive fire and subsists on what the mother eats and drinks. With the store of good and bad deeds, the creature is thus based inside the womb. It is tied at the navel by the umbilical cord known as apyayani. At the other end, this cord is fixed to the woman’s womb. That is how the creature is nourished, sustained inside the womb as food and drink make their way into the woman’s stomach. This is how the body is nourished and the creature grows. At that stage, there are still many kinds of memories about samsara. As it is pushed here and there, distaste develops. ‘As soon as I am released from this womb, I will not do that again.’ ‘I will strive so that I never have to enter a womb again.’ Remembering the miseries experienced in the course of hundreds of births driven by destiny, the creature thinks in this way. In the course of time, with the head still downwards, the creature turns itself and is born in the ninth or the tenth month. As it emerges, it suffers from the wind known as Prajapatya. With the heart suffering from grief, it laments as it emerges. As soon as it emerges from the womb, it loses its senses. As a result of the touch of the wind, consciousness is regained. At this time, it is enveloped and confounded by Vaishnavi maya. Confused by this, jnana is destroyed. With jnana destroyed, the being passes through the stages of being an infant, a child, a youth and an old person. A man repeatedly goes through death and birth. Like a mechanical clock, the cycle of samsara whirls him around. Sometimes, a man reaches heaven. Sometimes, he reaches hell. Sometimes, a person who dies can go to both heaven and hell. Sometimes, he is born again and reaps the fruits of his own deeds. Sometimes, the fruits of deeds are enjoyed within a short period of time and he dies. O supreme among brahmanas! Sometimes, the fruits of good and bad deeds are enjoyed within a short period of time in heaven or hell and he is born again. O father! There is great misery in hell. On beholding the residents of heaven enjoying themselves, those who fall down into hell suffer even more. However, from the moment one ascends upwards to heaven, there is great misery there too. On beholding the great miseries in hell, the fear of falling down is in their minds. Night and day, they ponder, ‘This is my destination too.’ 230 There is great misery in dwelling in the womb and in being born through the vulva. For a person who is born, there is misery in childhood and in old age. During youth, it is very difficult to withstand the association with desire, envy and rage. Miseries increase with old age and death is the greatest of miseries. One is dragged away by Yama’s messengers and flung into hell. A person is born again, dies again and goes to hell again. In this way, like a mechanical clock, a creature is whirled around in this cycle of samsara. O father! The slightest bit of happiness does not exist in this world. There are one hundred miseries. Since I will strive for emancipation, why will I serve the three?”’ 231
Chapter 12
‘The father said, “O son! This is wonderful. While imparting jnana to me, you have given me the great fruit of telling me about samsara, known as a desolate forest. O immensely intelligent one! You have described Rourava and the other hells. Now tell me about them in detail.”
‘The son replied, “I have spoken about the first hell, known as Rourava. O father! Now hear about the hell known as Maha-Rourava. 232 Those who have intercourse with female partners one should not have intercourse with, those who are addicted to eating what should not be eaten, those who injure friends, those who violate the trust of their master, those who ignore their own wives and hanker after the wives of others and those who destroy roads, lakes and groves—these and other such evil-doers are burnt there by the servants. In each direction, it extends for twelve thousand yojanas. The ground is coppery in hue and there is fire below. Everything is heated by the fire and the directions blaze like lightning. It is extremely dreadful to the sight and to the touch. Yama’s followers tie a person down by the hands and by the feet and release him there. He rolls around and is dragged into it. Along the path, crows, cranes, wolves, owls, scorpions, gnats and vultures tug at him and devour him. As he is scorched, he is anxious and shrieks, ‘O father! O mother! O brother! O son!’ Though he shrieks anxiously in this way, he does not find any peace. Men who are evil in their intelligence, sinners, suffer there for tens of thousands of years and are freed thereafter. 233 There is another hell named Tamas 234 and it is extremely cold in nature. It is as large as Maha-Rourava and is enveloped in thick darkness. Those who kill cattle, those who kill their brothers, those who destroy water or food and those who kill children are conveyed to this calamity of coldness. In that terrible darkness, men are afflicted by cold and run around. They seek refuge by clinging to each other. As they suffer in that cold, their teeth are shattered. Hunger and thirst are strong there and there are other kinds of hardships. The terrible wind carries fragments of ice and shatters their bones. Afflicted by hunger, they eat the fat and blood that oozes out. They wander around and lick each other. O best among brahmanas! Thus, men suffer from great hardships in that darkness, until the store of their bad deeds has been exhausted. There is another great hell known as Nikrintana. 235 O father! It constantly whirls around, like a potter’s wheel. Those who see what should not be seen, those who hear what should not be heard, those who do not think that the preceptor speaks about the brahman, those who do not pay heed to the words of the preceptor or the words of the sacred texts—such sinners and evildoers are flung there by Yama’s servants and sliced. From the soles of their feet to their heads, these men are tied to a cord of destiny that dangles from Yama’s fingers. O supreme among brahmanas! However, their lives do not end. Though they are sliced into hundreds of fragments, those fragments unite to become one again. These evildoers are sliced for thousands of years, until all that is left of their sins has been extinguished. Now listen attentively to what I say about the hell Apratishtha. 236 Hardships that are impossible to tolerate are experienced in that hell. Those who cause injury to brahmanas who are engaged in their own dharma are bound in terrible nooses and conveyed there, where there are many kinds of wheels. Some are wheels, others are mechanical contrivances shaped like jars. These have been designed to cause hardships to men who are evildoers. Some men are fixed on those wheels and whirled around for a thousand years, so that they do not find even an instant of stability. Others are fixed like jars, to those mechanical contrivances shaped like jars. As they are repeatedly whirled around, those men vomit blood. Their entrails emerge through their mouths and their eyes pop out of their sockets. They suffer many other intolerable hardships from various creatures. Now hear about another hell, known as Asipatravana. Blazing in fire, this covers the earth for one thousand yojanas. Those who cause impediments in the performance of austerities by brahmacharis go to Asipatravana, the source of perpetual anxiety. They are scorched by extremely fierce and terrible rays of the sun there. The inhabitants of this hell are always scorched. In the middle, there is a radiant and beaut
iful forest with gentle leaves. O supreme brahmana! However, those are actually the blades of swords. The place is also populated by a million powerful dogs. Their mouths are huge and their teeth are gigantic. They are as dreadful as tigers. Seeing the forest in front, covered with cool shadows, creatures dash towards it and suffer from heat and thirst. Extremely miserable, they scream, ‘Alas, mother! Alas, father!’ The fire on the ground burns their feet. Once they reach, the wind that blows flings down the blades of swords on them. As it blows, it flings them down on the blades of swords. They fall down on the ground, which is a mass of blazing flames. The entire ground is covered with flames that lick at them. The dogs quickly tear out their limbs and they cry out at this dreadful pain. O father! I have described Asipatravana to you. Now hear about Taptakumbha, 237 which is even more terrible. There are heated pots in every direction and these are covered with flames. The pots are filled with blazing fires, boiling oil and pulverized iron. Yama’s servants hurl evildoers into these, with the heads facing downwards. Those who criticize the sacred texts of dharma, those who pollute tirthas and those who are so foolish in their minds as to cast aside beloved and auspicious women after having enjoyed them, without considering whether they have committed a crime or not—are brought and swiftly cooked in these iron pots. As they are cooked, their bodies burst and the flaming marrow oozes out and pollutes the liquid. It is so terrible that their skulls crack, their eyes pop out and their bones are shattered. As they emerge from there, vultures forcibly pick them up and fling them back in. Their heads, limbs, nerves, flesh, skin and bones are liquefied and become one with that boiling oil. Using ladles, Yama’s messengers stir and mix those evildoers in that huge eddy of oil. O father! I have described Taptakumbha to you, in detail.”’
Chapter 13
‘The son continued, “In the seventh birth before this, I was born in a vaishya family. On that earlier occasion, I obstructed the path of cattle towards a waterbody. 238 Because of this transgression, I found myself in an extremely terrible hell. It was filled with fiery flames and iron-beaked birds. The limbs were crushed with mechanical contrivances and as a result of the blood that flowed, an extraordinary mire was created. After I was thrown in there, more than one hundred years passed. I suffered because of that scorching and excessive heat. I also suffered because of the heat and lamented. Then, suddenly, a delightful, cool and pleasant breeze started to blow and this emerged from a pitcher filled with mud 239 and sand. O father! Suddenly, the radiant Nararatna 240 arrived. As a result of the touch of that breeze, all the men who were sinners, including me, obtained great satisfaction, like that felt in heaven by the residents of heaven. Delighted, I exclaimed, ‘What is this?’ My dilated eyes darted around and I saw that jewel among men near us. One of Yama’s terrible servants held a staff that shone like lightning in his hand. Brandishing this, he showed the path ahead and said, ‘Come here.’ 241 At this, all the creatures there decided that their happiness was because they had caught sight of him. 242 Joining their hands in salutation, they said, ‘O king! Remain here for a short while. The wind touches your limbs and brings pleasure to us.’ At this, that man took compassion on those who had been flung into hell. He saw that they were suffering from hundreds of miseries. He saw the hell and, filled with compassion, spoke to Yama’s servant. The man said, ‘O Yama’s servant! What wicked deed have I committed? Why have I come to hell, with these great miseries? I was born in the lineage of the Janakas and was known as Vipaschit. 243 I was born in the kingdom of Videha and protected people properly. I protected the four varnas in observance of their own dharma. Like the Manus in ancient times, I followed dharma and observed the norms of dharma. I performed many sacrifices. Following dharma, I protected the earth. I did not engender battles, but nor was I reluctant to fight in battles. I have served ancestors, gods, rishis and servants. I have always provided protection to all living beings, those who were extremely miserable and tormented and those who suffered from hunger and thirst. I have never hankered after another person’s wife or property. On auspicious occasions and at right times, I have worshipped the ancestors and the gods. When men come to a home, like cattle heading towards a waterbody, and go away discontented and without anything, that householder’s dharma and the instructed civic works are both destroyed. When the ancestors sigh in dissatisfaction, the wealth accumulated in seven births is destroyed. When the gods sigh in dissatisfaction, there is no doubt that the wealth accumulated in three births is destroyed. Therefore, I have always considered the welfare of the gods and the ancestors. Therefore, how have I arrived in this extremely terrible hell?’”’
Chapter 14
‘The son said, “While we heard, Yama’s servant was questioned by the great-souled one. Though he was terrible, he replied in these comforting words. Yama’s servant said, ‘O great king! There is no doubt that you have described yourself exactly as you were. However, there was a small sin that you did commit and I will remind you. You had a wife from the land of Vidarbha and her name was Pivari. In those earlier times, though she was in season, you rendered her menses barren. That is because you were extremely attached to Sushobhana, from the land of Kekaya. Since you rendered a lady who was in her season barren, you have come to this terrible hell. The lord of fire expects oblations when it is time. In that way, Prajapati expects seed when it is the season. If a person with dharma in his soul transgresses this because he is addicted to desire, 244 he falls into hell because he has committed the sin of not discharging the debt to the ancestors. 245 This was your sin. There is nothing else. O king! Therefore, let us go now. Enjoy the fruits of your good deeds.’ Hearing this, the royal sage Janaka 246 was filled with compassion. The king asked, ‘O follower of the god! I will go wherever you take me. However, there is something I will ask you. You should give me a correct answer. These crows have beaks like the vajra and they are plucking out the eyes of these men. Nevertheless, the eyes are repeatedly growing back again. What did they do? Why have they been condemned? In that way, their tongues are being torn out, but new ones are being generated again. Why are these extremely miserable ones being cut with saws? Why are these being boiled in oil mixed with mud and sand? Tell me. Why are these being struck by iron-beaked birds? Struck, the joints in their bodies are being loosened and they are uttering loud shrieks. All their limbs are being injured and mangled. As they are struck, these men are screaming day and night. Other evildoers can be seen, undergoing many kinds of pain. Because of their sinful deeds, they have faced this catastrophe. Tell me. What did they do?’ Yama’s servant replied, ‘O protector of the earth! You have asked me about the fruits that result from sinful deeds. Briefly, I will tell you the truth about this. In due course, a man reaps the consequences of his good and evil deeds. It is through enjoying the consequences that good and bad deeds are exhausted. Without such enjoyment, a human cannot exhaust the fruits of good and bad deeds. It is only after enjoyment that good and bad deeds can be discarded. Listen to me. Evildoers face famine after famine, hardship after hardship, fear after fear, death after death and penury after penury. As a result of being bound to deeds, creatures have many kinds of ends. Those who are auspicious in their deeds, controlled and faithful, giving away riches—they face festivities after festivities, heaven after heaven, happiness after happiness. However, after death, because of their sins, sinners face difficult regions filled with fear from tigers, elephants, snakes and thieves. How else can it be? But those who perform auspicious deeds go to auspicious regions. They wear fragrant garlands and excellent garments. They have virtuous vehicles and food. They are always praised. Humans store up good and bad deeds across many hundreds and thousands of lives. O protector of the earth! This is how happiness and unhappiness result. Just as a seed waits for the rain, in that way, good and bad deeds wait, according to the appropriate time, place, action and agent. Depending on the time and the place, if a person commits a trifling sin, the hardship he faces is like the foot being pierced by a thorn. If the sin is greater, it is as if
the thorn becomes thicker and is like a stake or a dart. The sinner advances towards a hardship where there are ailments of the head, impossible to tolerate. The food is what should not be eaten. There is cold, heat, exhaustion, scorching and other things. In this way, other sins wait for the fruits to come to fruition. Great sins lead to ailments that last for a long period of time. The difficult fruits are in the form of suffering from fire, weapons and bondage. Even a little bit of a good deed yields fruit in the form of a pleasant fragrance, touch, sound, taste and form. If the good deed is greater, the great fruits last for longer, vanquishing time. In this way, joy and misery are the consequences of good and bad deeds. Having enjoyed many of these, one is born and established in samsara again. The fruits bind a person to the lineage, 247 the time, jnana and lack of jnana. These become attached to the linga form of the atman. There are no fruits unless a man has performed a good or a bad deed through deeds, thought or words. Whenever a person experiences happiness or unhappiness, a little or a lot, that agitates his consciousness. A good or a bad deed only lasts for as long as it has not been exhausted through being enjoyed. After that, it is like food that has been digested. In this way, a man who commits a great sin is flung into a terrible hell and is whirled around night and day. O king! Just like that, good deeds are enjoyed in heaven, along with the immortals, gandharvas, Siddhas and apsaras, accompanied by singing and the playing of musical instruments. Thereafter, depending on the good or the wicked deed, a being is born as a god, a human, or as inferior species. These result from good and bad deeds and are characterized by joy and misery. O king! You asked me about these evildoers who are undergoing hardships. What sins have they committed? I will tell you about this in detail. They are worst among men. Those wicked ones, with evil thoughts, glance at the wives of others and desire the possessions of others. The iron-beaked birds pluck out their eyes and their eyes grow again. This will happen for as many thousands of years as they blinked while committing those sins. There are those who have given instructions on the basis of wicked sacred texts; men who have used these to counsel and destroy correct insight, even if it is for enemies; there are those who have given explanations contrary to the sacred texts; and those who have criticized the Vedas, gods, brahmanas and preceptors—those extremely terrible iron-beaked birds will repeatedly tear out their tongues for as many years 248 and the tongues will grow again. O king! Behold. There are worst among men who created dissension between friends, between a father and a son, between relatives, between the performer of a sacrifice and the officiating priest, between a mother and a son, between companions and between a husband and a wife. They are being severed with saws. There are wicked evildoers who caused torment to others and prevented them from enjoying themselves; those who stole their palm leaves, 249 access to places where there was air, sandalwood and ushira; 250 and those who caused great grief to innocent people. As a consequence of their sins, they are placed in those pitchers of mud and sand. If a man eats at a shraddha ceremony performed by someone else or at a ceremony meant for the gods or the ancestors without being invited, the birds tug him in opposite directions. Those who strike at the inner organs of the virtuous with their words suffer unobstructed piercing by those birds. If a person indulges in backbiting or has indiscriminately injured others with his words, those sharp-edged razors sever his tongue into two. Those who disrespect mothers, fathers and preceptors are immersed, head downwards, into pits filled with pus, urine and excrement. There are wicked ones who eat when gods, ancestors and guests have still not eaten and oblations have not been offered to the ancestors, the fire and birds. They become suchimukha birds 251 and feed on pus and excrement. Men who make brahmanas and varnas eat when seated in the same pankti, 252 or make them eat what they should not eat, are born with bodies as large as mountains and subsist on excrement. If a man eats without ensuring that another person who has selflessly travelled with him has eaten, he is made to subsist on phlegm. O lord of men! Having touched ucchishta, 253 if a person touches a cow, a brahmana or the fire, that hand is flung into a blazing pit of fire. Without becoming clean after touching ucchishta, if a person wilfully looks at the sun, the moon or the stars, Yama’s messengers ensure that his eyes are used as kindling for the fire. When men touch cattle, the fire, the mother, brahmanas, the elder brother, the father, the sister, the daughter-in-law, the preceptor or an aged person with the feet, their feet are bound in iron shackles and scorched in the fire. Up to the knees, they are immersed in heaps of burning coal and scorched. Behold the miseries of these sinners who have been flung down on the ground. They have eaten payasam, krisara, goat meat and other food offered to gods without it having been cleansed first. 254 Yama’s servants are extracting their teeth from their mouths and their eyes are rolling around. These sinners found delight in criticism of preceptors, gods, brahmanas and the Vedas. Yama’s servants are repeatedly driving iron stakes that shower flames into their ears and they are lamenting. Because of anger and avarice, there are those who have broken and destroyed watering places for travellers, the abodes of gods and brahmanas and auspicious assembly halls in the temples of the gods. As they lament, Yama’s extremely terribly servants are repeatedly using sharp weapons to separate their skins from their bodies. There are men who have passed urine and excrement in paths used by cattle, brahmanas and the sun. 255 Crows are extracting their entrails through their anuses. Having promised his daughter to someone, if a man bestows her on someone else, his body is cut into many fragments and made to flow in a river of alkali. If a man abandons those who depend on him for subsistence, a son, a servant, a wife, or a relative, however insignificant, even if it is at a time of famine or battle, and does not give them what they need, Yama’s servants force him to eat his own flesh through his mouth. That is how he satisfies his hunger. Because of greed, if a person abandons those who seek refuge with him or those who depend on him for a salary, Yama’s servant use machines of torture to make him suffer. There are men who give away 256 the store of good deeds accumulated since birth. Those evildoers are ground with rocks. There are men who steal what has been left with them in trust. All their limbs are bound and, day and night, worms, scorpions, crows and owls feed on them. They suffer from pain, hunger and thirst and their palates dry up. There are sinners who indulge in sexual intercourse during the day or enjoy themselves with other people’s wives. Behold them, impaled to shalmali trees, 257 with sharp iron thorns. Their limbs are mangled as they suffer, streams of blood flow. O tiger among men! Behold these men. Yama’s followers have confined them to holes meant for rats. They enjoyed themselves with other people’s wives. These are foolish ones. While studying artisanship or other things, they made the instructor sit below them. They suffer a great deal, because they are oppressed by being made to carry boulders along public paths. Because of that burden, their heads pain and, night and day, they endure hunger and thirst. There are those who release phlegm, urine and excrement in waterbodies. They go to this foul-smelling hell, filled with phlegm, urine and excrement. These are ones who did not treat each other with hospitality earlier. Suffering from hunger, they devour each other’s flesh. These are ones who showed dishonour to the Vedas, the fire and the fire kindled for oblations. 258 They are being repeatedly flung down from the summits of mountains. When they are reborn, even if they are masters, such men remain emaciated for as long as they live. 259 Those who always receive from those who are most inferior and who officiate as priests at their sacrifices become worms and are devoured by ants. In the form of a worm, such a man always finds subsistence while residing amidst stones. Those who eat sweetmeats alone, while their servants, friends and guests look on, are made to swallow lumps of burning coal. O king! Those who devour flesh from the backs of people, 260 become blind, deaf and dumb. As they wander around, suffering from hunger, terrible wolves always eat up the flesh from their backs. This man was an ungrateful wretch. He was so evil-minded and ungrateful that he harmed his friends. He has been flung to Taptakumbha and as he is dried up, h
e laments. After this, he will be flung into vessels filled with mud and sand and tortured with machines. That is the reason he will find himself in Asipatravana, where he will be struck by leaves that are like swords. He will be severed and undergo many kinds of hardships in Kalasutra. 261 I do not know how he will escape from there. When they came to a shraddha ceremony, these wicked brahmanas fought against each other. Therefore, they will now drink the froth that issues from all their limbs. Those who steal gold, kill brahmanas, are drunkards and have intercourse with their preceptor’s wife—they are burnt in blazing flames, from above, from below and from every direction. They remain there for many thousands of years. When they are born again, such men are marked by signs of leprosy, consumption and other ailments. When they die, they go to hell again. O lord of men! When they are reborn, they suffer from ailments again, right till the end of the kalpa. A person who kills a cow goes to hell for three births. In this way, hells have also been determined for all the minor sins. Once they have been released from hell, according to the sin, the species into which they are born has been decided. I will tell you. Listen.’”’
