Chapter 105 - Review of the path of the world of Yama

The sages said:

1. O sage, we are not satiated by hearing about holy meritorious rites. Greatly sung by you they are like nectar. Our enthusiasm is further increased.

2. O sage, you know everything, origin and dissolution of living beings and the goal reached through actions. Hence, we ask you, O great sage.

3. It is heard that the path of the world of Yama is extremely impassable. It causes pain and misery. It is always a terror to living beings.

4. How do men go to the abode of Yama through that path? O foremost among eloquent persons, tell us the magnitude and extent of the path.

5. O omniscient sage, we earnestly ask you to tell us entirely. O sage, how do men avert the miseries of hell?

6. By what means do they prevent the hellish tortures? By charitable gifts, holy rites and observances?

What is the distance between the human world and the world of Yama?

7. How do people attain the heavenly goal? By what deeds do they go to hell? How many are the abodes in heaven? How many are the hellish abodes?

8. How do men of good deeds go? How do men of evil deeds go? What is the form and what is the magnitude? What is the caste of the two? Even as an individual soul is being led to Yama’s abode what is its form, shape and extent?

Vyāsa said:

9. O leading sages, listen, even as I recount. O sages of good holy rites, the cycle of worldly existence is unageing. It has no permanent existence.

10. I shall decisively mention the path of Yama entirely. I shall recount everything in detail beginning from the time of departure. I shall recount it in a manner that no one else will be able to recount.

11. O excellent ones, I shall mention the form and nature of the path about which you have asked me and also the distance between the world of Yama and the mortal world.

12. That distance is 86000 Yojanas. That pathway is very hot like the red hot copper plate.

13. That pathway should of necessity be traversed by all living beings called individual souls. Meritorious men go to the meritorious sections and the sinful go to the sinful.

14-17. There are twenty-two hells in the realm of Yama. Men of evil deeds are cooked there in separate places. The chief among those hells are Raurava, Raudra, Śūkara, Tāla, Kumbhīpāka, Saṃdaṃśa, Śunabhojana, Śālmala, Vimohana, Kīṭāda, Kṛmibhakṣa, Lālābhakṣa, Bhrama, Agnijvāla, Asipatravana. There are rivers of putrescent and purulent matter. There are rivers of blood. There is the terrible Vaitaraṇī river of foetid matter.

18-20. On that great path there is no place where the person of great fatigue can rest. There is neither the shade of trees nor lakes nor tanks. There is neither a watering shed nor a well. There is no assembly or raised platform. There is no abode or hermitage. There are neither rivers nor mountains. That great path has of necessity to be traversed by all.

21-24. When the time arrives everyone has to leave off his friends, kinsmen, riches etc. and go along that great path. All living beings whether they are oviparous or viviparous, sweat-born or of vegetable kingdom that breaks open the ground and grows, whether they are mobile or immobile, will go along that path. Devas, Asuras and human beings are under the control of Yama and they follow him. All beings termed Jīvas whether a man or a woman or an eunuch have to traverse that path. All the people whether old, middle-aged or young have to traverse that path and the death may take place in the forenoon or afternoon, at midday or in the middle of the night, in the morning or at dusk.

25-28. Death may take place during childhood or in the womb. One may die at home as a householder or when one is on a journey away from home. A person may die in the forest or in water or on dry land; they may die in their abode or in a holy centre. That great journey has to be undertaken by the people who sit on the ground or on a chair or on a couch, whether asleep or awake. The creature enjoys the stipulated span of life here and at its close his vital airs cease to function even if he does not like it.

The embodied soul comes across some cause such as water, fire, poison, weapon, starvation, or sickness and thereby it is deprived of its vital airs.

29-33. The soul casts off the gross physical body made of the five elements and takes up another body from its own actions befitting the tortures undergone in hell.

For the sake of experiencing happiness and misery he derives a firm solid body. He who commits sins, reaps the adverse fruits. He who performs good deeds enjoys happiness and delight even in the abode of Yama.

The heat in the body becomes disturbed and displaced. When urged by the severe gust of wind it blazes even without fuel. It pierces the vulnerable vital spots. The organic wind Udāna begins to function, blowing upwards. It prevents the water and foodstuffs taken in from having a downward motion.

34. Those who make charitable gifts of water and cooked rice do not undergo any torture there along with their wives, sons and kins.

35. He who makes a charitable gift of cooked rice with the mind sanctified by faith derives satisfaction there even without (the presence of) cooked rice then.

36. The theist who has faith in God or holy scriptures, utters no falsehood and by whom severance of affection has not been effected, attains a happy death.

37. These men face a happy death:—those who are devoted to the worship of Devas and brahmins, those who are not jealous, those who have spotless character, those who are liberal in gifts and those who possess the attribute of modesty.

38. He who does not eschew virtue either due to lust or due to fury or out of hatred; he who carries out what is mentioned by elders and he who is gentle meets with a comfortable death.

39. Those who offer water to the thirsty, give food to the hungry, meet with timely death with ease and happiness.

40-45. Those who make gifts of riches conquer chillness; those who make gifts of sandal paste conquer scorching heat; those who dispel agonies and distresses of others conquer pain; those who impart perfect knowledge conquer delusion; those who make a gift of lights conquer darkness.

All these have death under delusion—the perjuror, he who tells lies, he who kills others and he who censures the Vedas.

The attendants of Yama are terrible. They have putrid odour. They have massive iron clubs in their hands. These persons are wicked in their designs. When they appear in front of him the dead man begins to tremble. He cries incessantly calling out his mother, father and brothers, O brahmins. That word Yama is indistinct. It appears as a single syllable. Due to fright, his eye rolls. There are convulsive movements in the body; he coughs and heaves a sigh. Thereafter he casts off that body afflicted by pain.

46. He attains another body having the same shape as the previous one. It is for experiencing the tortures caused by his bad Karman. This body does not originate from the parents.

47. Pain is derived by them in accordance with their magnitude, age, condition and manner of sitting.

Then the emissiry of Yama binds him with terrible nooses.

48-50. When the creature’s death is imminent he is distressed due to the pain. The elements have abandoned his body. The vital air comes upto his neck. The soul is ejected out of the body. He laments excessively. Having come out of the body consisting of six sheathlike vestures he becomes gaseous in form. Then he is abandoned by the parents, brothers, uncles, wives, sons, friends and preceptors.

51. Watched by those people in distress, with their eyes full of tears he casts off his body, attains a gaseous form and goes ahead.

52-54. All such dead men are taken along the great path by the attendants of Yama. They are bound with nooses and dragged along and struck with iron clubs. They are led along the great path which is full of darkness. It is very terrible and endless. It yields both happiness and misery. To the persons of sinful activities it is impassable and unbearable. It is very difficult to traverse. It is always injurious to the sinful persons.

55. On seeing the living creature with the span of life extinct, the terrible emissaries of Yama come there desirous of taking him away.

56-57. These emissaries come there seated on various animals and birds at the departure of the dying man. The animals are bears, tigers, donkeys, camels, monkeys, scorpions, wolves, owls, serpents, cats, vultures, kites, Jackals, bees and herons.

58. The emissaries of Yama are excessively terrible and competent to frighten all living beings. They assume different forms and their faces resemble those of bears, buffaloes, vampires.

59. Some have long faces; some are hideous-faced; some have crooked nooses; some have three eyes. They have massive jaw bones, cheeks and faces. Some have hanging lips.

60. The limbs of some are smeared with blood and flesh. Their teeth come out of their mouths resembling spouts of shooting plants. They are very hideous in their shape. Their curved fangs are very fierce.

61. Their mouths resemble the nether worlds with blazing terrible tongues. The eyes are awful in their shape and size. They are shining, roving and tawny-coloured.

62. The eyes of some resemble fire or the eyes of the cat or owl. Some eyes are protruded like the eyes of the beetle. Some resemble the glowworm. Their hair are dishevelled and stand erect.

63. They are bedecked in garlands and skulls. Their limbs drip with blood (?). Their ornaments resemble terrible serpents tied up round their heads.

64. There are black serpents round their necks. They are very terrible due to their kissing sounds. Their tresses are coarse and stiff. They are terrible and they resemble fiery flames.

65. Their faces are covered with reddish brown moustaches and brown or tawny-coloured hairs. Their staff-like arms are very terrible. They hang down on either side and they resemble iron clubs.

66. Some of them have only two arms; others have four arms, still others have ten, sixteen or twenty arms.

67. There are still others with innumerable hands. Some of them have thousand arms. Terrible weapons of various forms shine in their hands.

68. These emissaries of great strength threaten the aying men with different brilliant weapons such as javelin, iron club, discus etc. or nooses, fetters and batons.

69. When the span of life of the men comes to an end these extremely terrible emissaries come to take away the creatures. All of them carry out the orders of Yama.

70. The creature assumes a physical body befitting tortures in the hell and originating from its own actions. It is this body of the creature that is taken away towards the abode of Yama.

71. With the nooses, adamantine fetters and iron chains, the creature is bound by the infuriated servants of Yama. He is beaten and taken over to the abode of Yama.

72-75. The dying man falters, cries and shouts frequently “Alas, my father, O my mother, O my son.” He is defiled by his own evil actions. He is hit by sharp pointed javelins, keen-edged iron clubs and iron hammers. He is tortured with the blows of swords and javelins and terrible adamantine batons. He is threatened and rebuked with thundering shouts by the emissaries equipped with thunderbolts and javelins. One by one the creatures are led by the awful and infuriated servants who beat them on all sides. The creature is in agony. He faints and mutters in despair. It is dragged and taken along the path.

76-78. The man of sinful activities goes to Yama’s abode along the terrible pathway full of Kuśa grass, thorns, ant-hills, pikes, pebbles and gravel. It is infested with blazing fires fiercer than hundreds of thunderbolts (soaked in) acid. He is scorched by the blazing sun. He is burnt by its rays. He is pulled and dragged by the emissaries of Yama terribly shouting like vixens. He is bitten and dragged by hundreds of those vixens.

79. That great path has to be traversed by these sinful persons frightened in some places, terrified in some places and faltering here and there. They are shouting and lamenting due to misery.

80. The living beings have to traverse the path even as they are rebuked and burnt in their bodies. They are agitated due to terror. They run about in great dejection and agitation.

81. Men who are devoid of charitable gifts are scorched and burnt by the heated sand. They have to go along the path strewn with thorns.

82. Those who are guilty of slaying living beings have to traverse the path with their bodies emitting putrescent odour of fat and blood with faeces and urine smeared all over as though they were unguents. They will have their skin burnt or cracked everywhere.

83. The destroyers of living beings must of necessity go along the path shouting and lamenting, cooing and chirping out of tune. They shall be in agony due to their pain.

84. Those who are guilty of slaying living beings must of necessity go along the path even as they are being pierced and smashed by javelins, iron clubs, swords, maces and arrows or by the sharp pointed tridents.

85-89. Sinners must traverse the path even as they are eaten by dogs, tigers, wolves and herons.

Flesh-eaters must traverse the path even as they are cut and severed by a jumbled mass of bubble or sawn and torn by saws and scissors.

Those who habitually eat meat must traverse the path even as they are gored by the tips of horns of buffaloes and oxen and scraped by boars.

Those who are sinful by imbibing wine shall traverse the path even as they are being eaten and stung by the swarms of bees and flies with their needle-pointed antenae.

Those men who treacherously kill their trusting master, friend or woman must traverse the path in agony and distress even as they are split and pierced through by means of weapons. Those men who kill animals and strike guiltless persons traverse the path pertaining to Yama even as they are being swallowed by the Rākṣasas.

90-99. Those who take away the robes and covering cloths of other men’s wives run about naked to the abode of Yama, when they turn into ghosts. They are chased by the servants of Yama.

Those wicked-minded and sinful persons who commit sinful deeds and take away cloths, food-grain, gold, houses or fields have to traverse the path leading to Yama’s abode even as they are beaten and shattered by stones, rods and batons. They shall shed profuse blood.

Those men who profess not to be afraid of hell and snatch away the wealth and property of brahmins and those base men who revile at and strike brahmins are tacked on to dry twigs. Their ears, eyes, and noses are cut off; they are smeared with putrid blood, they axe struck at by the terrible and hideous servants of Yama as well as vultures and jackals of Yama: those sinners go to the abode of Yama shouting and lamenting.

Thus the path is extremely inviolable. It has the lustre of fire: It is terrible, impassable and inaccessible. It has been pointed out (as the path to be traversed by) men. It has the lustre and colour of heated copper. It emits sparks and flames of fire. It is strewn with thorns and yellow Amaranth twigs that are ḥideous and that strike and bit much. It is fully covered by javelins and thunderbolts. It blazes with severe thorns. It is mixed with sand burning like coal. It is impassable on account of fires and worms. It is terrible with clusters of flames. It is all the more scorched by the rays of the sun. The embodied soul is led along this path, being dragged by the ruthless servants of Yama.

100-102. Whenever a creature shouts in misery or falls anywhere he is hit with weapons by the servants of Yama. Thus the most covetous among the sinners, and he who has no right policy is beaten by the servants of Yama who cannot be checked or resisted. Helplessly the creature is led along the path. Everyone has to traverse that impassable path.

103-104. The dying man is led along the very impassable path contemptuously by the emissaries of Yama. O brahmins, the creature is then ushered into the terrible city of copper and iron. He is taken there by the servants of Yama. That city is very extensive in magnitude. It extends to a hundred thousand Yojanas.

105. It is mentioned as a square splendid city with four main gates. The outwalls are made of gold. They are ten thousand Yojanas in height.

106-108. That city is beautified by sapphires, lapis lazuli, the great blue stone and rubies. Agitated by terrible Devas, Dānavas, Gandharvas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas and serpents that city is extremely awful.

The eastern gate of that city is splendid. It is beautified by hundreds of banners and festoons. It is adorned with diamonds, sapphires, lapis lazuli and pearls. It is full of Gandharvas and Apsarās singing and dancing.

109. The entry through this door is exclusively for Devas, sages, Yogins, Gandharvas, Siddhas, Yakṣas and Vidyādharas.

110. The excellent northern gate is adorned with bells and chowries. Umbrellas and chowries are placed there. It is studded with different sorts of jewels.

111. It is resonant with the sweet notes of flutes and lutes as well as charming and auspicious songs. The Sāman fills the air with sages in crowds everywhere.

112-118. Those who are conversant with virtue, those who are devoted to truthfulness and those who observe holy rites enter through this door. The following types of people too enter through this door: those who give water to the thirsty in the summer, those who offer warm fire during the winter; those who shampoo and rub gently (the feet of) tired persons; those who are engaged in pleasing words; those who are devoted to charitable gifts, those who are the heroic ones, those who are devoted to their mothers and fathers; those who serve the brahmins and those who worship guests continuously.

The western gate of the city is embellished with jewels. The steps are studded with wonderful jewels. The gate is beautified by bestoons in the shape of iron clubs. It is resonant with the sounds of drums, Bherī and Mṛdaṅga, conches and Kāhala pipes. It is full of auspicious chanting sounds raised by the delighted Siddhas.

It is through this gate that the delighted man, the devotees of Śiva, enter the city. The following also gain entry through this gate. Those who take holy dip in all sacred waters; those who serve the five sacred fires; those who die in the course of campaign; those who die on the Kālañjara mountain; those who lose their lives in fires; those by whom the eternality has been achieved, those who are killed in the interest of their masters, friends and the general public or in the encounter with the thieves of cattle. O sages, all these people, the heroic men, enter the city through the western gate.

119-122. The southern gate of that city is very terrible. Its frightening cries of “Hā Hā” fill up the air. It is enveloped in darkness. It is infested with animals with dark-pointed horns. The place is strewn with thorns and is impassable. Scorpions, serpents & Vajrakīṭas (adamantine worms?) prick and pierce, (everyone). There are wolves, tigers, hares, lions, foxes, dogs, cats and vultures all having flame-filled mouths. It is through this gate that all men of sinful activities gain entry.

123-128. The following types of sinners enter through the southern gate: Those who kill brahmins, cows, boys, old men, sick men, persons who seek refuge, persons who have trusted, women, friends and persons who have no weapons; those foolish persons who indulge in sexual intercourse with the forbidden women; those who steal other men’s riches; those who misappropriate money deposited or kept in trust; those who poison others or commit arson; those who rob others of their lands, houses, beds, clothes and ornaments; those who ruthlessly wound others in their vulnerable points; those who are habituated to utter lies; those who work havoc in villages, cities and in different places of the country; those who commit perjury; those who sell their daughters; those who invariably consume forbidden food, those who outrage the modesty of their daughters and daughter-in-laws; those who speak harsh words to their parents; all others who have been mentioned as people committing great sins—All these people enter through the southern door.