Chapter 43

Vishnu Smriti 43

Now, the hells (narakas). // Vi_43.1 //

Tāmisra (Darkness). // Vi_43.2 //

Andhatāmisra (Blinding Darkness). // Vi_43.3 //

Raurava (Howling). // Vi_43.4 //

Mahāraurava (Great Howling). // Vi_43.5 //

Kālasūtra (The Black Thread). // Vi_43.6 //

Mahānaraka (The Great Hell). // Vi_43.7 //

Saṃjīvana (Reviving). // Vi_43.8 //

Avīci (Waveless). // Vi_43.9 //

Tapana (Burning). // Vi_43.10 //

Saṃpratāpana (Scorching). // Vi_43.11 //

Saṃghātaka (Crushing). // Vi_43.12 //

Kākola (Raven). // Vi_43.13 //

Kuḍmala (Bud). // Vi_43.14 //

Pūtimṛttika (Putrid Clay). // Vi_43.15 //

Lohaśaṅku (Iron Spike). // Vi_43.16 //

Ṛbīsa (Furnace). // Vi_43.17 //

Viṣamapanthā (Uneven Path). // Vi_43.18 //

Kaṇṭakaśālmali (Thorny Silk-Cotton Tree). // Vi_43.19 //

Dīpanadī (River of Fire). // Vi_43.20 //

Asipatravana (Forest of Sword-leaves). // Vi_43.21 //

Lohacāraka (Iron Cage). // Vi_43.22 //

In these, those who have committed heinous sins without performing prāyaścitta are tormented in succession for a Kalpa. // Vi_43.23 //

Great sinners, for a Manvantara. // Vi_43.24 //

And sinners equivalent to great sinners. // Vi_43.25 //

Minor sinners, for a Catur-yuga. // Vi_43.26 //

Those who have committed sins causing caste mixture, for a thousand years. // Vi_43.27 //

And those who have committed sins causing loss of caste. // Vi_43.28 //

And those who have committed sins making one unworthy of receiving gifts. // Vi_43.29 //

And those who have committed defiling acts. // Vi_43.30 //

And miscellaneous sinners, for many thousands of years. // Vi_43.31 //

Sinners, having committed sins, immediately after giving up their lives, / Reach the path of Yama and suffer terrible pain. || Vi_43.32 ||

Dragged here and there by the terrible servants of Yama, / They are led along with difficulty, in a manner that imitates their sins. || Vi_43.33 ||

By dogs, jackals, carrion-eaters, crows, herons, cranes, and the like, / With fiery beaks they are devoured, and by serpents and scorpions. || Vi_43.34 ||

They are burned by fire and pierced by thorns, / And being sawn apart with saws, and being tormented by thirst. || Vi_43.35 ||

And suffering from hunger, and by terrible troops of tigers, / Fainting at every step from the smell of pus and blood. || Vi_43.36 ||

Desiring the food and drink of others, they are beaten by the servants of Yama, / Who have faces like those of terrible crows, herons, and cranes. || Vi_43.37 ||

Somewhere they are boiled in oil, somewhere they are beaten with clubs, / And somewhere they are rolled on iron plates and on rocks. || Vi_43.38 ||

Somewhere they eat vomit, somewhere pus and blood, / Somewhere excrement, somewhere meat, putrid and most terrible. || Vi_43.39 ||

They stand in terrible darkness somewhere, / And are devoured by worms with most terrible fiery mouths. || Vi_43.40 ||

Somewhere they are afflicted by cold, somewhere they are in the midst of filth, / And somewhere the most terrible departed spirits devour one another. || Vi_43.41 ||

Somewhere they are beaten by a ghost, and somewhere they are hung up, / Somewhere they are pierced by showers of arrows, and somewhere they are cut up. || Vi_43.42 ||

With their feet placed on their necks, entwined by the coils of serpents, / They are crushed by machines and dragged by their knees. || Vi_43.43 ||

With their backs, heads, and necks broken, with throats like needles, most terrible, / And with bodies the size of a mansion, capable of enduring torment. || Vi_43.44 ||

Thus the sinners, having experienced their sin, deeply afflicted, / Enter the wombs of animals and suffer various pains. || Vi_43.45 ||