Mahāvaṭa

Mahāvaṭa · mahā-vaṭa, “the great banyan”

Mahāvaṭa is one of the narakas, the places of suffering ruled by Yama into which those who do pāpa (wrong deeds) are cast after death. It is made of worms and insects and is full of corpses. One who sold a maiden (kanyā-vikraya) falls head-down into it from a great banyan tree. Vyāsa describes it to the munis in the Brahma Purāṇa.

Mahāvaṭa among the narakas

The munis ask Vyāsa to tell them in full how those who do pāpa go along the southern road to Yama. Vyāsa tells of that dreadful road and of Yama’s court. Among the beings the dūtas bring before Yama is the seller of a maiden. When a being’s fault is established, Yama commands his kiṅkaras, and they punish each offence in the very manner that Vasishṭha and the other maharshis laid down for it, and so cleanse the pāpa.

Then Vyāsa tells the terrible form of the narakas and their measures. Mahāvaṭa is made of worms and insects and is full of corpses, and one who sold a maiden falls head-down from that great banyan tree. After it Vyāsa describes Tilapāka, where those who desired to torment others are crushed like sesame seeds in an oil press.

At the end of his account Vyāsa says that those who turn away from dharma in mind, speech, body and deed must suffer the very dreadful torments of Yama-loka for thousands, lakhs and crores of years.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215