Ambarīsha (Naraka)
Ambarīsha, “the frying pan”
Ambarīsha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Ambarīsha.
Ambarīsha is one of the narakas, the places of suffering in the domain of Yama into which those who do pāpa (wrong deeds) are cast after death. The Brahma Purāṇa tells that it is lit by the kālāgni of pralaya, the fire of the end of time, and that the stealer of gold falls into it for a hundred crore kalpas. Vyāsa tells this to the munis when they ask him how the doers of pāpa travel along the southern road to Yama.
Where the account is told
The munis asked Vyāsa, “Tapodhana, tell us in full how those who do pāpa go along the southern road.” Vyāsa described that road, more dreadful than the dreadful, with its thorns, knives, blazing embers, burning sand and foul water, where the servants of Yama drag the bound jīvas, hungry and thirsty, to Yama’s court. There Yama hears from Citragupta the account of each one’s karma, and has each offender punished in the very manner that Vasishṭha and the other maharshis laid down for each offence. Then Vyāsa said, “Hear the terrible form of the narakas and their measures,” and named them one by one, with the deed that leads to each.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215
The naraka of the stealer of gold
Ambarīsha is lit by the kālāgni of pralaya. The stealer of gold (svarṇa-steyī) falls into it, and stays there for a hundred crore kalpas.
In Vyāsa‘s list it comes after Kshuradhāra, the razor-edged naraka where the one who seized a brāhmaṇa’s land is cut until the end of the kalpa, and before Vajrakuṭhāra, made wholly of vajra, where those who cut down trees fall. The narakas Vyāsa names in this chapter are, in order: Mahāvīci, Kumbhīpāka, Raurava, Ayomaya, Apratishṭha, Vilepaka, Mahāprabha, Jayantī, Śālmala, Mahāraurava, Tāmisra, Mahātāmisra, Asipatravana, Karambhavālukā, Kākola, Kuḍmala, Mahāvaṭa, Tilapāka, Vajrakapāṭa, Aṅgāropacaya, Mahāpāyī, Mahājvāla, Krakaca, Guḍapāka, Kshuradhāra, Ambarīsha, Vajrakuṭhāra, Paritāpa, Kālasūtra, Kaśmala, Ugragandha and Vajramahāpīḍa, with others between them whose names are not given.
Vyāsa closes the account: those who turned away from dharma in mind, speech, body and deed must suffer in the very dreadful torments of Yamaloka for thousands, lakhs and crores of years.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215