Kṛmīśa
Kṛmīśa · kṛmi-īśa, “the lord of worms”
Kṛmīśa is one of the narakas, the places of suffering into which those who do pāpa (wrong deeds) are cast after death. The Brahma Purāṇa names it twelfth in its description of the narakas, where Lomaharshaṇa tells the vipras of Raurava and the rest. Like all the narakas, it is a domain ruled by Yama. It is the naraka of one who has performed a bad yāga.
Its place among the narakas
“O vipras! Now hear about the narakas, Raurava and the rest, into which those who do pāpa are cast.” So the chapter opens, and it names the narakas in order: Raurava, Śaukara, Rodha, Tāla, Viśasana, Mahājvāla, Taptakuḍya, Mahālobha, Viyocana, Rudhirāndha, Vasātapta, Kṛmīśa, Kṛmibhojana, Asipatravana, Kṛshṇa, Lālābhaksha, Pūyavaha, Vahnijvāla, Adhaśśiras, Sadaṃśa, Kṛshṇasūtra, Tamas, Āvīci, Śvabhojana, Apratishṭha and Māvīci. Kṛmīśa stands twelfth, after Vasātapta and before Kṛmibhojana. Beyond these, the Purāṇa says, there are many more narakas, supremely dreadful.
All of them are the domains ruled by Yama. In them are the servants of Yama, the yama-bhaṭas, who use weapons, fire and poisons, and those attached to deeds of pāpa are tormented there. Those who do pāpa leave this body and take yātanā-śarīras, bodies made for suffering; those who act against varṇa and āśrama in mind, speech and body go to naraka.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22
Who goes there
Where the chapter tells which deed leads to which naraka, it says that one who has performed a bad yāga (duryāga) goes to Kṛmīśa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22
How one is kept from naraka
The same chapter teaches that one who does pāpa and does not perform prāyaścitta (expiation) goes to naraka. The great ṛshis laid down in the smṛtis a prāyaścitta suited to each pāpa, great for a great pāpa and small for a small one. Yet for all of them the prāyaścitta is Kṛshṇa-smaraṇa, the remembrance of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and there is nothing beyond it. If one who has done pāpa feels remorse and remembers Śrī Hari, there is no greater means of puṇya. Therefore, the Purāṇa says, one should remember Bhagavān Vishṇu day and night; with his pāpas destroyed and purified, he never sees naraka.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 22