Vajrakapāṭa
Vajrakapāṭa · vajra-kapāṭa, “the door of vajra”
Vajrakapāṭa, “the door of vajra”, is one of the narakas, the realms of torment ruled by Yama. The Brahma Purāṇa names it in Vyāsa‘s account of the narakas: there the killer of a friend and the killer of one who came to him for refuge are bound with chains made of vajra, the adamant of Indra‘s thunderbolt.
In Vyāsa’s account of the narakas
The munis asked Vyāsa, whose wealth is tapas, to tell them in full how those who have done pāpa (wrong deeds) go along the southern road (dakshiṇa-mārga) to Yama. Vyāsa told them of that dreadful road, of Yama’s court and of Citragupta’s reckoning, and of how the Yama-kiṅkaras punish each fault in the very manner that Vasishṭha and the other maharshis laid down for it. Then he said: “Hear the terrible form of the narakas and their measures.”
Among the narakas he named, after Tilapāka, where those who wished to torment others are crushed like sesame seeds in an oil press, came Vajrakapāṭa. The killer of a friend (mitraghna) and the killer of one who came for refuge (śaraṇāgata-hantā) are bound there with chains made of vajra. After it Vyāsa told of an airless naraka of thick darkness, where the seller of milk is tormented without mercy.
Vyāsa closes his account of the narakas with these words: those who have turned away from dharma in mind, speech, body and deed must suffer the very dreadful torments of Yamaloka for thousands, lakhs and crores of years.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 215