Chapter 15 - Bhagīratha Advised to Bring the Gaṅgā

Dharmarāja said:

1. I shall mention the different types of sins as well as the tortures (in hells) in a broad manner. Take courage and listen to them since these hells are terrible.^[1]

2. I shall describe those fiery hells which accord terrible results and wherein the sinner and the wicked persons are always roasted.

3. They are^[2] Tapana, Vālukā, Kumbha, Mahāraurava, Raurava, Kumbhīpāka, Nirucchvāsa, Kālasūtra, Pramardana.

4. The terrible Asipatravana, Lālābhakṣa, Himotkaṭa, Mūṣāvasthā, Vasākūpa, the river Vaitaraṇī.

5. Purīṣahrada where feces are eaten, Mūtrapāna where urine is drunk, Taptaśūla, Taptaśilā, Śālmalīdruma.

6. Śoṇitakūpa, the terrible, Śoṇitabhojana, Svamāṃsabhojana, Vahnijvālāniveśana.

7. Śilāvṛṣṭi, Śastravṛṣṭi, Vahnivṛṣṭi, Kṣārodaka, Uṣṇatoya, Taptāyaḥpiṇḍa-bhakṣaṇa [bhakṣaṇam].

8. Śiraḥśoṣaṇa [śiraḥśoṣaṇam], Marutprapatana, Pāṣāṇavarṣa [Pāśāṇavarṇa], Kṛmibhojana.

9. The tortures^[3] are Kṣārodapāna (drinking briny water) Bhramaṇa (whirling), Krakacadāraṇa (torn off with a saw), Purīṣalepana (smearing with fecal matter), Purīṣa Bhojana (eating the fecal matter).

10. Drinking semen virile, the highly terrible scorching in all the joints, inhaling smoke, binding with nooses, hitting with different kinds of spears;

11. Lying down on burning coal, pounding with the threshing pestles, many wooden machines with which men are crushed and pared;

12. Falling and throwing up and down, belabouring with iron clubs and batons, striking with the tusks of elephants, biting through serpents.

13. Sprinkling of chill water, drinking of terrible saltish water through the nostrils and mouth, and eating of salts;

14. Cutting off the muscles, binding of the sinews, the cutting of the bones, penetration of salt water through crevices or pores on the body, eating of flesh;

15. The obnoxious feeding of bile, (forcible) feeding of phlegm, throwing down from the top of the tree and sinking in the water;

16. Forcing one to bear weighty stones, lying on thorns, getting bitten through ants and stung through scorpions;

17. Infliction of pain through tigers, jackals and buffaloes, lying in mud, filling in with foul smelling things;

18. Half-crouching on many occasions, taking in excessively bitter things, drinking of extremely hot oil and eating the most pungent thing;

19. Drinking of astringent water, paring with heated rock, bathing in excessively hot and extremely chill water, dashing of the teeth.

20. Lying on heated iron plates and tying of weighty iron blocks. O blessed one, the tortures in the hell are these and similar ones. There are millions and millions of tortures.

21. O Protector of the Earth, I am not competent to mention in details even in a thousand years, which sinner has to undergo which torture.

22. I shall now narrate to you all those things. Even as I narrate it listen to the same.

22b-23a. The slayer of a Brāhmaṇa, a wine-addict, a thief and a defiler of the preceptor’s bed—these are great sinners (Mahāpātakins). He who associates himself with these is the fifth among them.

A Brāhmaṇa-slayer:

23b-24a. The following five are regarded as Brāhmaṇa-slayers:^[4] the splitter of rows (of persons taking dinner), one who prepares food in vain, one who always slanders Brāhmaṇas, the instigator of these (or a bad astrologer) and a seller of the Vedas.

24b-24c. These five are called the slayers of Brāhmaṇas. The person who invites a Brāhmaṇa saying, “I shall give you money and other requirements” and refuses it afterward saying “there is nothing”.

25. The person who acts as obstacle or intruder to a Brāhmaṇa, while he goes to take his bath and perform worship, is called a slayer of a Brāhmaṇa.

26. One who is always engaged in censuring others, who is interested in self-conceit and self-aggrandizement and who indulges in falsehood is spoken of as a murderer of a Brāhmaṇa.

27a. A person who consents to and abets these sins is spoken of as a Brāhmaṇa-slayer.

27b-28a. A person interested in alarming and frightening others, a person who always finds faults with others and the person who indulges in arrogant behaviour is called a murderer of a Brāhmaṇa.

28b-29. A person who is always interested in accepting monetary gifts and indulges in killing living beings, a person who encourages unrighteousness is spoken of as a Brāhmaṇa-murḍerer. O king, thus, many sins are on par with Brāhmaṇa-slaughter.

30-34. Wine drinking^[5]

30a. I shall succinctly tell you the sins which are on par with drinking of wine:

30b-31a. Eating of the food of attendants, resorting to prostitutes, eating of the food of fallen persons—these are declared as sins equal to drinking of wine.

31b-32a. Abandoning of worship, taking of food from the professional worshipper of idols, and indulgence of sexual intercourse with women addicted to wine—all these are equivalent to drinking of wine.

32b-33a. The Brāhmaṇa who, on being invited by a Śūdra, partakes of his food, should be known as a wine addict. He is excluded from all holy rites.

33b-34. That mean fellow who does the work of an attendant with the permission of a Śūdra, incurs a sin equal to drinking of wine. Thus many sins are proclaimed to be equal to wine drinking.

35-40a. Theft^[6]

35-36a. I shall now mention the sins which are equivalent to the theft of gold. Listen. The theft of bulbous roots, roots and fruits, of musk and of perfumed powder, and the theft of jewels—all these are always equal to the theft of gold.

36b-37a. The theft of gold, iron, tin and bell metal, of

ghee and honey and stealing fragrant articles—all these are declared (in Smṛtis) to be equal to the theft of gold.

37b-38a. The taking away of areca nut, of water, of sandal and the taking away of the juice of leaves—all these are equal to the theft of gold.

38b-39a. The abandonment of the Pitṛyajñas (offering of libations of water, Śrāddha, etc.), omission of performing one’s righteousness and holy rites and disrespect for the ascetic—all these are equal to the theft of gold.

39b-40a. Taking away edible things, carrying away of grains, and stealing of Rudrākṣa beads—all these are equal to the theft of gold.

4ṇb-44. Defiling the preceptor’s bed^[7]

40b-41a. Cohabiting with one’s sister or with one’s son’s wife, or a woman in a monthly course is equivalent to the sin of defiling the preceptor’s bed.

41b-42a. Sexual intercourse with a woman of low caste, intimate association, with women addicted to wine and sexual intercourse with another person’s wife—all these are equal to the sin of defiling the preceptor’s bed.

42b-43a. Cohabiting with the wife of one’s own brother or of a friend or a woman who keeps entire trust in one, is equal to the sin of defiling the preceptor’s bed.

43b-44. Performance of holy rites out of the prescribed time limit, cohabiting with one’s own daughter, omission in performing righteous duties and speaking low of the holy scriptures—all these are proclaimed (in Smṛtis) as equivalent to the sin of defiling the preceptor’s bed. These and such other acts, O king, are called great sins.

45-46. One who intimately associates himself with any of these sinners shall be equal to them. Expiatory rites for these sinful activities have been found with difficulty by great, quiescent sages through the rites of atonement, etc. O king, listen to the sins which cannot be atoned for by these expiatory rites.

47. All sins are equally leading to infernal regions. It is with very great difficulty that some way of expiating sins like Brāhmaṇa slaughter are found.

48. But there is no expiation^[8] anywhere to a person who hates a Brāhmaṇa. So also, O Ruler of men, there is no atonement for those who are ungrateful persons and those who commit breach of trust.

49-50. There is no expiation anywhere to those persons who intimately associate themselves with Śūdra women, whose bodies are nourished with the food of the Śūdras and who indulge themselves in denouncing the Vedas. There is no expiation here or hereafter to those who find fault with stories of saintly people.

51. Even ṃrough hundreds of expiations, it is impossible to see the redemption of that Brāhmaṇa who enters a Buddhistic shrine, even in a great emergency.

52. The Buddhists are heretics, as they are the revilers of the Vedas. Hence, a Brāhmaṇa shall not even look at them, since they are excluded from righteous holy rites.

53. A Brāhmaṇa may enter a Buddhist shrine knowingly or unknowingly. If he enters knowingly, there is no redemption at all. This is the decision of the scriptures.

54-55. Since their sins are numerous, their stay in the hell is for a period of ten million Kalpas. O Lord, other sins for which there is no expiation are also mentioned now. Listen to it even as I recount their stay in the hell.^[9]

56. Those who have committed great sins stay in each of the hells for a yuga. At the end of it they come back to the Earth. They are born as donkeys in the course of seven lives.

57. Then for ten lives, they are born as dogs, getting their bodies whipped and lashed. For the period of a hundred years, they remain as worms in the fecal matter, after which they are born as serpents for twelve lives.

58. O king, thereafter, in the course of a thousand lives, they are born as deer and other animals. Then for a hundred years they are born as immobile beings. Thereafter, they take up the bodies of alligators.

59. Then for seven lives they are born as Cāṇḍālas who commit sinful crimes. Then, for sixteen lives they are born as Śūdras and other persons of the lowest castes.

60. Then for two births they remain as impoverished persons afflicted with sickness. They are intent on always in accepting monetary gifts. Again, they go back to hell.

61. Those whose minds are defiled by jealousy fall into the hell called Raurava. Staying there for two Kalpas, they are born as Cāṇḍālas in the next hundred lives.

62. He who says ‘Don’t give’ in regard to cows, fires and Brāhmaṇas is born as a dog in the course of a hundred lives at the end of which he is born among the Cāṇḍālas.

63. Thereafter, he is born as the worm in the fecal matter and a tiger in the course of three births. At its end, he goes to the hell and remains there for twenty-one Yugas.

64. Listen to the results of the sinful activities of those who are engaged in slandering others, those who speak roughly and harshly and those who create obstacles in regard to charitable gifts.

65. Thieves are thrashed roundly by means of mortar and pestle. They are reduced to powder. At its end, they have to hold heated stone for three years (in the Taptaśilā hell).

66-67. Thereafter, in the hell called Kālasūtra, for seven years, they are pared with the instrument Kālasūtra (‘the thread of death’, like the tḥreaḍ on the wheel with which the potter cuts off a raw earthen pot in two). Those who have misappropriated other men’s wealth bewail their sinful activities, as they are being cooked in the hellish fires continuously, as a retribution of their acts.

68. Listen to the terrible hell for the tale-bearers and traḍucers of other men’s wealth. They have to hold in their mouths red hot iron for a period of a thousand Yugas.

69. Their tongues are pressed and crushed by means of very terrible tongs. Without being permitted to breathe they are compelled to stay in very terrible hell (called Nirucchvāsa) for a periṇḍ of half of a Kalpa.

70-72a. I shall tell you the hell of those persons who are ardently desirous of other men’s wives. Copper images resembling those beautiful women are made and exquisitely embellished in ornaments. They are then heated red hot. The men are then compelled to embrace those images many times. If any one is afraid of it and runs away, he is caught hold of forcibly. Attendants announcing his sinful activities take him round all the hells in order.

72b-73. O Lord of Earth, those women who abandon their husbands and resort to others, are made to lie on beds of red hot iron and are enjoyed by men of red hot iron per force for a long time.

74. Then these women are released by them. They (the women) are then compelled to embrace iron columns blazing like fire. They have to stand in that position for one thousand years.

75. They are then bathed in liquid caustic acid and are compelled to drink that liquid acid. At the end of it, they experience the tortures of all hells for a hundred centuries.

76. He who kills a Brāhmaṇa or a cow or a Kṣatriya or an excellent king, experiences all tortures for a period of five Kalpas.

77-78. Listen attentively to the resulting punishment to him who enthusiastically listens to the censure of great men. Red hot iron nails are pierced through their ears. Thereafter, hot boiling oil is copiously poured into those holes so that the ears are filled with it. He is then taken to Kumbhīpāka hell.

79. I shall tell you the sufferings of the atheists who turn their faces away from Hara and Hari. They will be compelled to eat salt for ten million years.

80. Then, they are scorched and fried in red hot sand in Raurava hell. These men of sinful acts remain in that hell for the period of a Kalpa. O ruler of men, in other hells also (they are tortured) like this.

81. With a thousand red hot needles they hurt and pierce the eyes of those mean men who look with wrath at Brāh-maṇas furiously.

82. Then, O excellent king, they are sprinkled with currents of liquid acid. Then, the people of evil activities are cut and pierced by means of terrible saws.

83. Listen to the terrible hell of those who commit breach of trust, those who break the bounds of decency and those who covetously yearn for other men’s food.

84. They are compelled to eat their own flesh. They are being eaten by the dogs continuously. They stay in everyone of the hells for a year.

85. Listen to the treatment of those who are interested in accepting monetary gifts from others, those who practise astrology (accepting fees for the advice) and those who regularly partake of the food of professional worshippers of idols (in temples).

86. O king, those persons who are always engaged in the enjoyment of pleasures and who are defiled by their sins are miserably cooked by means of these tortures till the end of a Kalpa.

87. Thereafter, they are filled with oil. They are afflicted through Kālasūtra (thread of Death). Thereafter, they are compulsorily bathed in liquefied acid and fed on fecal matter anḍ urine.

88. At the end of it, they come back to Earth anḍ are born as Mleccha tribes. Those who are engaged in injuring others go to the river Vaitaraṇī.

89. Those who have abandoned the five great sacrifices go to the hell Lālābhakṣa. One who abandons worship goes to the hell Ṛaurava.

90. O king, listen to the fate of those who exact revenues and taxes from Brāhmaṇas anḍ villages donated to them. They are subjected to these tortures as long as the stars anḍ the moon shine.

91. The leading king who levies the maximum tax from the villages, experiences the tortures in the hells for five Kalpas along with a thousand members of his family.

92-93a. The sinner who encourages anḍ permits increased taxation from villages of Brāhmaṇas, O king, (commits the sin as if) he has (actually) committed the murder of a thousand Brāhmaṇas. He stays in the terrible hell Kālasūtra for the period of two cycles of four yugas.

93b-94a. The great sinner who discharges semen in non-vaginas (ayonis) (as in masturbation), in those who are destitute of vulva (viyonis), and uterus of animals (paśuyonis) shall fall into the hell Retobhojana (where one has to subsist on semen).

94b-95a. He then falls into Vasākūpa (a deep anḍ narrow well of fat). There he stays for seven divine years. That man has semen for his diet. He becomes the most despicable man in the world when reborn.

95b-96a. The man who washes his teeth with a twig of a tree as the tooth brush, O king, on the day of fast (like Ekādaśī) falls into the terrible hell called Vyāghra-Pakṣa (and remains there) for a period of four yugas.

96b-97. The person who abandons his religious duties is called a heretic by learned men. He and a person who associates with him are great sinners. They fall into hells in a serial order, in the course of thousand and millions of kalpas.

98. Those who misappropriate the assets of the deity of a temple, those who take away the wealth of their preceptors, O king, contract sins similar to Brāhmaṇa-murder and experience similar consequences.

99. Those who take away the wealth of orphans and helpless persons, those who are hostile towards them, remain in hell for thousands and millions of kalpas.

100. I shall mention the fruits of sins accruing to those who engage themselves in the recitation and study of the Vedas in the vicinity of women and Śūdras. Listen to it attentively.

101. They are compelled to stand with their heads down and legs upwards. Thus, they are nailed to two pillars and are compelled to inhale smoke continuously in this posture. They stay thus for the period of year of god Brahmā.

102. He who discharges the impurity of his body (such as fecal matter and urine) in the water or in the premises of a temple incurs as terrible a sin as the destruction of a foetus.

103. Listen to the fruit of sins accruing to those who throw teeth, bones, hair and nails in the precincts of a divine shrine or the leavings of food into water.

104-105a. Spears are thrust into their bodies. They are crushed with plough-share. While they cry and groan piteously in their distress, they are fried and roasted in the extremely terrible (cauldron of) boiling oil. They are made highly miserable there and then they go to other hells as well.

105b-106a. He who steals the asset of a Brāhmaṇa or a scented log of sandal or aloe-wood, goes to the terrible hell and remains there as long as the moon and the stars shine.

106b-107a. O king, misappropriation of a Brāhmaṇa’s assets yields sorrow and misery both here and hereafter. Here, it brings about the destruction of wealth and it leads hereafter to hell.

107b-109a. Listen to the fruit of sins accruing to a perjuror. He undergoes all these tortures as long as fourteen Indras reign. In this world his sons and grandsons perish. In the other world, he falls into Ṛaurava and other hells as well, in a serial order.

109b-110. Leedies comparable to serpents are thrust into the mouths of those men who are excessively passionate and lecherous and those who are propounders of false or heretic views. Thus, they stay for sixty thousand years. Thereafter, they are sprinkled with liquefied acid.

111-112a. Those who are devoted to flesh eating without any reason, go to the hell Kṣārakardama. From there they are dragged into the hell Marutprapātana where they are trampled over by elephants. At the end of the torture therein, they come back to the Earth where they are born with deficiency in their limbs (i.e. are physically handicapped).

112b-1 13a. O Lord of men, he who does not cohabit with his wife during the prescribed days after the monthly menses, falls into the terrible hell Ṛaurava and incurs the sin of a Brāhmaṇa-slaugḥter also.

113b-114a. If any one, though competent to prevent, does not prevent some one seen practising the code of conduct of others (instead of his prescribed duties), he incurs the latter’s sin. Both of them fall into the hell.

114b-115a. O king, (sometimes) people count the sins of sinners and intimate them to others. If the accusation is true, they share it equally (with the sinners), but if the accusation is false, they incur double that sin.

115b-116. He who falsely imputes sins to a sinless person and censures him for it, falls into a terrible hell and remains there as long as the moon, the sun and the stars shine. When sinners are censured, half the number of their sins is dispelled.

117. He who takes up the vow of holy observances and abandons them without observing them completely to the end, experiences distress in the hell Asipatra and is reborn with defects and deficiencies in his limbs, in the world.

118. The man who puts obstacles in the observance of the holy vows that have been undertaken by others, falls into the hell Śleṣmabhojana which is excessively terrible and leading to misery.

119. He who shows partiality in administering justice and in the instructions of dharma, has no means of redemption, even after ten thousand expiatory rites.

120. A person who partakes of forbidden food falls into the hell Viḍ-bhojya (wherein fecal matter is served as food) and remains there for ten thousand years. Then he is born as a Cāṇḍāla, where he always subsists on beef.

121. One who insults and dishonours Brāhmaṇas through harsh words, incurs the sin on a par with Brāhmaṇa-ślaughter. He undergoes all the tortures of hell and is born as a Cāṇḍāla in the course of ten lives.

122. Expiatory rites as in the case of Brahmahatyā (committal of Brāhmaṇa-slaughter) must be performed by the person who puts obstacles, when something is being offered to a Brāhmaṇa.

123. If any one steals another man’s wealth and gives it away as a gift (to another person), the merit of the gift accrues to the owner of the original wealth, but the thief who steals, falls into the hell.

124. By not giving a thing after having promised it, a man falls into the hell Lālābhakṣa. O king, a person engaged in censuring ascetics falls into the hell Śilāmātra.

125. Those who destroy parks and gardens fall into the hell Śvabhojana where they stay for twenty-one yugas. Thereafter, they undergo all the tortures of hells in a serial order.

126. Listen to the evil destination attained by the destroyer of shrines, of lakes as well as of flower-gardens, O king.

127-128a. They undergo all those tortures in the different hells severally. Thereafter, they are born as worms in the fecal matter for twenty-one kalpas. O king, thereafter, they undertake one hundred births in the Cāṇḍāla caste.

128b-129a. Even during the course of my life, I am not competent to narrate adequately the great sin of the destroyer of villages and those who burn or plunder them.

129b-130a. The tortures that the partakers of other men’s leavings of food and the persons engaged in injuring friends, undergo are very severe. They suffer these as long as the moon and the stars shine.

130b-131a. Those who have ceased to perform the rites and the yajñas for Pitṛs (manes) and Devas, those who stay outside the part of the Vedas, are notorious as heretics. They undergo all sorts of tortures.

131b -132a. O king, thus, there are various types of tortures in regard to those who commit sins. I am not competent to enumerate either the sinners or the tortures, O Lord.

132b-133a. Who else other than Lord Viṣṇu is capable of mentioning the number of sins, tortures or righteous duties?

133b-134. When expiatory rites are performed in accordance with the injunctions of Dharma Śāstras, the mass of sins is annihilated. Expiatory rites are to be performed in the presence of the lord of Lakṣmī (Viṣṇu).

135. In case the holy rites suffer due to superfluity or omission, the waters of the Gaṅgā, the Tulasī plant, companionship with holy persons and glorification of Lord Hari (are enough to compensate).

136. (In addition to these) non-jealousy and non-violence are dispeller of sins. All holy rites dedicated to Viṣṇu are indeed fruitful.

137a. Those rites which are not so dedicated are futile as like sacrificial oblations consigned to ashes (instead of offering into the sacrificial fire).

137b-138. The Nitya (rites to be performed daily), Naimittika (rites to be performed on certain occasions) and the Kāmya (rites performed with the desire of achieving specific objects) as well as other means of salvation, when dedicated to Viṣṇu, become Sāttvika and fruitful. Devotion to Hari is the greatest destroyer of all sins of men.

139. That bhakti (devotion) should be known to be of ten^[10] types. To the forest of sins it is like a great conflagration of fire. O excellent king, it is practised by men whose natures are characterised by sattva, rajas and tamas.

140. O king, if any one worships the lord of Śrī for the destruction of another, his devotion is the meanest of all Tāmasī type of Bhaktis, since there is a wicked motivation therein.

141. If any one worships Nārāyaṇa, the lord of the universe with a deceptive mind like the unchaste woman serving her husband, that Bhakti is the middling (Madhyamā) among the Tāmasī type of Devotion.

142. O lord of Earth, if, on seeing others engaged in the worship of the deity, one begins to worship Hari with a spirit of rivalry, that Bhakti is the most excellent among the Tāmasī devotions.

143. If any one endowed with ardent-most faith worships Hari, seeking wealth, grain and other things that Bhakti is the meanest among Rājasī bhaktis.

144. If any one worships Mādhava with the greatest love and affection keeping in view the attainment of worldwide fame. that Bhakti is Madhyama (middling) among the Rājasī bhaktis.

145. O lord of the Earth, if any one worships Hari, keeping in view the position of Sālokya (state of being in the same region with the lord) that Bhakti is glorified as the most excellent among the Rājasī Bhaktis.

146. If any one worships Hari for destroying sins committed by himself and he is endowed with the greatest of faith, that Bhakti is the meanest among Sāttvikī bhaktis.

147. “This is pleasing to Hari.” If with this idea a person serves Hari and is endowed with a living faith that Bhakti is the middling among Sāttvikī bhaktis.

148. O king, if any one worships Hari like a slave unto lord of Śrī, with the knowledge that it is the injunction of Śrutis, that Bhakti is the most excellent of all Sāttvikī Bhaktis.

149. If after glorifying a little the greatness of Hari, a man is pleased and happy in identifying himself with the Lord, that Bhakti is the most excellent of all.

150. If any one perceives thus: “I am the great lord Viṣṇu himself. All this universe exists in me”, always know him to be the most excellent of all good men.

151. Thus the devotion of ten types is the cause for the severance of the bond of worldly existence. Even there, the Sāttvikī Bhakti is the bestower of all cherished fruits.

152. Hence, listen, O king, Bhakti to Janārdana should be pursued without any antagonism to one’s duties,^[11] by one who is desirous of conquering the mundane world.

153. If a man forsakes his duties and lives solely by devotion, Lord Viṣṇu is not pleased with him. Viṣṇu is pleased only with the Ācāra (performance of one’s own prescribed duty).

154. In all the Āgamas (sacred literature), Ācāra (performance of one’s prescribed course of duties) is considered as the foremost. Righteousness is born of Ācāra and Acyuta is the lord of Dharma.

155. Hence, Hari’s devotion should be pursued consistently with abidance by one’s own prescribed duty. Even the Dharmas of those devoid of good conduct cause unhappiness.

156. The Bhakti devoid of pursuance of one’s own duty (prescribed by one’s dharma) is glorified, if not proceeded with. What has been asked by you has been narrated by me.

157. Hence, worship Janārdana with full devotion to Dharma (performance of the duties prescribed by Śāstras for you). Worship Nārāyaṇa who is minuter than the minutest, and you will attain perpetual happiness.

158. Śiva alone is Hari himself.^[12] Hari alone is Śiva himself. One who sees the difference between the two is a rogue. He falls into ten million hells.

159. Hence, worship with the knowledge that Viṣṇu and Śiva are identical. One who creates difference, attains misery here as well as hereafter.

160. O lord of people, I shall tell you the purpose for which I have approached you. O intelligent one, listen with attention.

161. O king, your grandfathers who have committed sins of suicidal nature and have been burnt down by the wrath of Kapila, are staying in hell.

162. O highly blessed one, deliver them by means of the act of bringing the Gaṅgā (over their remains).^[13] O lord of Earth, indeed the Gaṅgā destroys all sins.

163. O excellent king, if the hair, bones, nails, teeth or the ashes of a person are touched by the waters of the Gaṅgā one is taken to Lord Viṣṇu’s abode.

164. O king, the man whose bones or ashes are cast into the Gaṅgā by his kinsmen is liberated from all sins. He goes to the abode of Hari.

165. O king, whatever sins have been mentioned to you by me are destroyed by means of sprinkling with the drops of the water of the Gaṅgā.”

Sanaka said:

166. O leading sage, after saying this to the great king Bhagīratha of righteous soul, Dharmarāja vanished immediately.

167. That king was highly intelligent. He was a master of all topics in the sacred texts. He entrusted the care of the entire Earth to the ministers and went to the forest for performing penance.

168. After going to the Himalayas, he performed penance on a peak which was sixteen Yojanas to the West of the hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa and was covered with snow.

169. By performing the penance, he brought down the Gaṅgā that sanctifies the three worlds.

{GL_NOTES}

1. raudrā ye narakā

The Smṛtis, Purāṇas and medieval digests on Dharma Śāstra declare that if sinners do not undergo an expiatory penance (Prāyaścitta) or are notpunished by the King for their crime, fall into hell, and are born as lower animals and even after attaining human birth they become marked by malformations, diseases. The idea of hell is found in all ancient communities, e.g. Egyptians, Hebrews, Iranians. In the Ṛgveda the idea about hell is vague but it became more concrete from the time of Atharva Veda onwards. The gruesome descriptions of the torture in hells are described in details in Smṛtis and more lucidly in Purāṇas, a specimen of which will be found in this chapter.

2. There is a divergence of opinion about the number of hells. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.6.41 enumerates seven hells: Tāmisra (dark), Andhatāmisra (blinding dark), Mahāraurava (abounding in paths with heated surface (Prāyaścitta Viveka P.15), Raurava, Asipatravana (a forest full of trees with sword-blades to cut up the sinner), Kālasūtra (like a thread on the wheel with which a potter cuts off a raw earthen pot into two), and Avīci (Full of waves in which the sinner is every now and then submerged). At another place (II.6.2-5) it mentions 26 hells. Manu IV.88-90, Agni Purāṇa 371.20-22, mention 21 hells. The list in Manu IV.88-90 is as follows : Tāmisra, Andhatāmisra, Mahāraurava, Raurava, Kālasūtra, Mahānaraka, Sañjīvana (where one is killed and revived to be killed again), Mahāvīci, Tapana (burning hot as fire), Sampratāpana (Kumbhīpāka according to some. In it, the sinner is cooked as in a cooker), Saṅghāta (The sinner is compressed in a place smaller than his size), Kākola (where the sinner is pecked and preyed on by crows), Kuḍmala (The sinner is bound into a bundle appearing like a bud), Pūtimṛttika (of putrid stenching day), Lohaśaṅku (when the sinner is pierced with iron nails), Ṛjiṣa (Where the sinner is schorched with boiled flour), Pathin [panthāḥ] (Where the sinner is made to walk without break), Śālmali (The sinner is pricked with thorns like those of Śālmali—silk-cotton-tree), Nadī (thrown in a river like the Vaitaraṇi), Asipatravana, Lohadāraka (Where the sinner’s limbs are cut up with iron).

The list of hells given here is practically the same as above. Here for every kind of torture, a separate hell is assigned, and the number of hells went on increasing depending on the ingenuity or imagination of the writer of Purāṇas to conceive new kind of torture.

Ultimately these numbers increased to thousands in the Garuḍa Purāṇa Preta-Khaṇḍa 3.3—

narakāṇām sahasrāṃ vartante hyaruṇānuja /

3. These describe the tortures in hells enumerated above. It is a certainly, blood-curdling description.

4. These verses describe what actions, come under the ‘great sin’ Brāhmaṇa-slaughter. It may be noted that even a slanderer of Brāhmaṇas, or one who obstructs his religious routine, or causing a Brahmin get up from the row of a dinner or a person who abets to or consents these acts is called a Brāhmaṇa-slayer.

5. Next to Brāhmaṇa-slaughter, wine-drinking is regarded as ‘a great sin’ but under liquor-drinking is included eating fond from a low-caste and from a professional worshipper of idols, resorting to prostitutes, working as an attendant for Śūdra.

6. Theft is regarded as a heinous crime. Here in addition to stealing of precious stones and metals, abandonment of pitṛyajñas, non-performance of one’s holy duties, are regarded as equivalent to theft.

7. With the exception of Soma’s adultery with Bṛhaspati’s wife, we do not have other outstanding cases recorded of ‘defiling the preceptor’s bed’. But the Nārada Purāṇa includes under this category all cases of adultery whether with near relatives or low-caste women or with one’s dependants, as also omission of doing religious duties and speaking low of the scriptures.

8. These verses include the crimes for which there is no adequate expiation for redemption. It is interesting to note that ‘sins’ like ungratefulness, breach of trust, entrance into a Buddhistic shrine even in times of emergency are included under ‘unredeemable sins’.

9. This is a sort of a penal code supposed to be in force in the land of Yama. The principles underlying these punishments are retribution anḍ deterrence.

10. The tenfold classification is distinct from the navavidhā bhakti or the nine modes or ways of Bhakti. Here the motivation whether it is dominated by Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—is taken as the basis.

11. Not only the Nārada Purāṇa but other Purāṇas also insist on a synthesis of Karma (performance of duties prescribed by Śāstra’s for one’s class or caste and stage of life) and Bhakti.

12. Identity between gods Śiva and Viṣṇu is the main thesis of all Purāṇas irrespective of their classification as Śaivite, Viṣṇuite, etc. To them these are the names attributed to the Brahman which is the only one Reality. Hence, the futility of disputes between the advocates of Śiva, Viṣṇu, or Śakti cults.

13. The efficacy of Gaṅgā in destroying sins is repeated again in Nārada Purāṇa infra 11.39.30-31, 40-64. The Vedic seers, Smṛti and Purāṇa-writers, and Nibandha-writers are unanimous in extolling the Gaṅgā in the highest terms. A reference to works like Tīrtha-Cintāmaṇi, Kalpataru (on Tīrtha) etc. gives us numerous verses (mostly quotations) on the greatness of the Gaṅgā—which is a special theme in the Nārada Purāṇa

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

raudrā ye narakā

The Smṛtis, Purāṇas and medieval digests on Dharma Śāstra declare that if sinners do not undergo an expiatory penance (Prāyaścitta) or are notpunished by the King for their crime, fall into hell, and are born as lower animals and even after attaining human birth they become marked by malformations, diseases. The idea of hell is found in all ancient communities, e.g. Egyptians, Hebrews, Iranians. In the Ṛgveda the idea about hell is vague but it became more concrete from the time of Atharva Veda onwards. The gruesome descriptions of the torture in hells are described in details in Smṛtis and more lucidly in Purāṇas, a specimen of which will be found in this chapter.

[2]:

There is a divergence of opinion about the number of hells. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.6.41 enumerates seven hells: Tāmisra (dark), Andhatāmisra (blinding dark), Mahāraurava (abounding in paths with heated surface (Prāyaścitta Viveka P.15), Raurava, Asipatravana (a forest full of trees with sword-blades to cut up the sinner), Kālasūtra (like a thread on the wheel with which a potter cuts off a raw earthen pot into two), and Avīci (Full of waves in which the sinner is every now and then submerged). At another place (II.6.2-5) it mentions 26 hells. Manu IV.88-90, Agni Purāṇa 371.20-22, mention 21 hells. The list in Manu IV.88-90 is as follows : Tāmisra, Andhatāmisra, Mahāraurava, Raurava, Kālasūtra, Mahānaraka, Sañjīvana (where one is killed and revived to be killed again), Mahāvīci, Tapana (burning hot as fire), Sampratāpana (Kumbhīpāka according to some. In it, the sinner is cooked as in a cooker), Saṅghāta (The sinner is compressed in a place smaller than his size), Kākola (where the sinner is pecked and preyed on by crows), Kuḍmala (The sinner is bound into a bundle appearing like a bud), Pūtimṛttika (of putrid stenching day), Lohaśaṅku (when the sinner is pierced with iron nails), Ṛjiṣa (Where the sinner is schorched with boiled flour), Pathin [panthāḥ] (Where the sinner is made to walk without break), Śālmali (The sinner is pricked with thorns like those of Śālmali—silk-cotton-tree), Nadī (thrown in a river like the Vaitaraṇi), Asipatravana, Lohadāraka (Where the sinner’s limbs are cut up with iron).

The list of hells given here is practically the same as above. Here for every kind of torture, a separate hell is assigned, and the number of hells went on increasing depending on the ingenuity or imagination of the writer of Purāṇas to conceive new kind of torture.

Ultimately these numbers increased to thousands in the Garuḍa Purāṇa Preta-Khaṇḍa 3.3—

narakāṇām sahasrāṃ vartante hyaruṇānuja /

[3]:

These describe the tortures in hells enumerated above. It is a certainly, blood-curdling description.

[4]:

These verses describe what actions, come under the ‘great sin’ Brāhmaṇa-slaughter. It may be noted that even a slanderer of Brāhmaṇas, or one who obstructs his religious routine, or causing a Brahmin get up from the row of a dinner or a person who abets to or consents these acts is called a Brāhmaṇa-slayer.

[5]:

Next to Brāhmaṇa-slaughter, wine-drinking is regarded as ‘a great sin’ but under liquor-drinking is included eating fond from a low-caste and from a professional worshipper of idols, resorting to prostitutes, working as an attendant for Śūdra.

[6]:

Next to Brāhmaṇa-slaughter, wine-drinking is regarded as ‘a great sin’ but under liquor-drinking is included eating fond from a low-caste and from a professional worshipper of idols, resorting to prostitutes, working as an attendant for Śūdra.

[7]:

With the exception of Soma’s adultery with Bṛhaspati’s wife, we do not have other outstanding cases recorded of ‘defiling the preceptor’s bed’. But the Nārada Purāṇa includes under this category all cases of adultery whether with near relatives or low-caste women or with one’s dependants, as also omission of doing religious duties and speaking low of the scriptures.

[8]:

These verses include the crimes for which there is no adequate expiation for redemption. It is interesting to note that ‘sins’ like ungratefulness, breach of trust, entrance into a Buddhistic shrine even in times of emergency are included under ‘unredeemable sins’.

[9]:

This is a sort of a penal code supposed to be in force in the land of Yama. The principles underlying these punishments are retribution anḍ deterrence.

[10]:

The tenfold classification is distinct from the navavidhā bhakti or the nine modes or ways of Bhakti. Here the motivation whether it is dominated by Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—is taken as the basis.

[11]:

Not only the Nārada Purāṇa but other Purāṇas also insist on a synthesis of Karma (performance of duties prescribed by Śāstra’s for one’s class or caste and stage of life) and Bhakti.

[12]:

Identity between gods Śiva and Viṣṇu is the main thesis of all Purāṇas irrespective of their classification as Śaivite, Viṣṇuite, etc. To them these are the names attributed to the Brahman which is the only one Reality. Hence, the futility of disputes between the advocates of Śiva, Viṣṇu, or Śakti cults.

[13]:

The efficacy of Gaṅgā in destroying sins is repeated again in Nārada Purāṇa infra 11.39.30-31, 40-64. The Vedic seers, Smṛti and Purāṇa-writers, and Nibandha-writers are unanimous in extolling the Gaṅgā in the highest terms. A reference to works like Tīrtha-Cintāmaṇi, Kalpataru (on Tīrtha) etc. gives us numerous verses (mostly quotations) on the greatness of the Gaṅgā—which is a special theme in the Nārada Purāṇa