Tilapāka
Tilapāka · tila-pāka, “the cooking of sesame”
Tilapāka is one of the narakas, the places of suffering in the realm of Yama. It is dreadful: those who desired to torment others are crushed there in an oil press like sesame seeds, and boil in sizzling oil. The Brahma Purāṇa names it in Vyāsa‘s account of the southern road to Yama and of the narakas that wait at its end.
The naraka of the oil press
The munis ask Vyāsa to tell them in full how those who did pāpa (wrong deeds) go along the southern road. Vyāsa describes the dreadful road, the court of Yama and the words of Citragupta, and then says, “Hear the terrible form of the narakas and their measures.” He names each naraka with the deed that leads to it. After Mahāvaṭa, where one who sold a maiden falls head-down from a great banyan tree, he names Tilapāka. It is dreadful. Those who desired to torment others are crushed there in an oil press, as sesame seeds are crushed, and boil in sizzling oil. After it comes Vajrakapāṭa, where the killer of a friend and the killer of one who came for refuge are bound with chains of vajra.
Vyāsa closes the account: those who turned away from dharma in mind, speech, body and deed must suffer in the very dreadful torments of Yama-loka for thousands, lakhs and crores of years.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215