12 - Jada describes the Hells Mahá-raurava, Tamas, Nikrintana, Apratishtha, Asi-patra-vana, and Tapta-kumbha to his father. 

The father spoke.

1 "Good, my son! thou hast declared the deepest obscurity of mundane existence, relying or the great fruit that grows

2 from the bestowal of knowledge. Therein thou hast verily described the Rauravas as well as all the Narakas; tell me them at length, O mighty in intellect!" 

The son spoke.

3       "I have described to thee first the hell Raurava, now listen to the description of the hell named Mahá-raurava, * O father!

* Very terrible.

4 There for seven times five thousand yojanas all around the

5 earth is made of copper; beneath it† is fire. Heated by the heat thereof the whole region shines with a light equal to that the rising moon, most intensely severe to sight touch and the

† For tasya read tasya?

6 other sensations. There the evil-doer is deposited, bound hand and foot, by Yama's servants; he moves rolling about in the

7 midst. Preyed upon by crows, herons, wolves, and owls, scorpions, and mosquitoes, and vultures he is speedily drag

8 ged out into the road. Burnt and confounded, he exclaims repeatedly, " Father! Mother! Brother! Dear one!" Full of

9 fear he can get no repose. In this manner therefore emancipation from existence is attained to by violent men, who evil-minded have committed sin, in ten thousand times to thousand years.

10 “Moreover, there is another hell named Tamas; †† it is bitterly cold naturally; it is as long as Mahá-raurava, and is envelope

†† Darkness.

11 in darkness. There the inert, afflicted with the cold, running about in the awful darkness, encounter one another and see

12 refuge clasping one another. And their teeth adhere together chattering with pain through the cold; there are also other

13 plagues the strongest of which are hunger and thirst. A cutting wind, laden with particles of snow, pierces their bones pressed with hunger, they feed on the marrow and blood that

14 trickle down therefrom. Constantly licking, they whirl about in mutual contact. So there in Tamas very great affliction in

15 indeed endured by human beings, until, O most worth brahman! their sins are completely consumed. 

“Next there is another notable hell, known as Nikruintana." §

16 In it potter's wheels revolve incessantly, O father! Human beings are mounted thereon and are cut by the string of Fate

§ Cutting off.

17 which is borne on the fingers of Yama's servant, from the sole of the foot to the head; and these men do not lose their life

18 thereby, most virtuous brahman! and their portions severed in hundreds reunite. In this way sinners are cut in sunder

19 during thousands of years, until indeed the whole of their sins are consumed.

20    “Listen also while I speak of the hell A-pratishtha, the occupants of which hell undergo intolerable pain. Those wheels are there indeed, and jar and well-ropes on the other

21 side, which have been constituted causes of pain to men who engage in sin. Some human beings mounted on the wheels

22 whirl around there; for thousands of years no other condition is theirs; and then another man is bound to the jar and

23 well-rope, as the jar in the water. Human beings whirl around, continually spitting out blood, with blood pouring

24 from their faces, and with eyes streaming with tears. They are visited with pains that are beyond endurance by living creatures. 

 25    “Hear also of another hell called Asi-patra-vana; * which has the ground covered with blazing fire for a thousand yojanas, where they are grievously scorched by the very

* Sword-leaf- forest.

26 fierce vehement beams of the sun. The living beings that inhabit the hell are ever falling down there. In the midst thereof appears a charming forest with moist leaves. The leaves there are sword-blades, 0 most virtuous brahman! Myriads † of powerful black dogs also bark there, with long muzzles, with large teeth, formidable as tigers. Then gazing at that forest before them, with its cool shades, the living beings hasten thither, oppressed with raging thirst, crying 'Ah mother! ah dear one! in deepest woe; their feet burnt by the fire lambent on the ground. When they wend there, a wind blows, that hurls down the sword-leaves, and so casts the swords down upon them. Thereat they fall to the earth into & mase of blazing fire, which has pervaded the entire surface of the ground, and is constantly licking in other directions.

† For ayuta-shobhitah read ayutásho' sitáh? 

33 Thereupon the terrific dogs quickly rend many limbs from the bodies of those wailing ones. I have described this Asi-patra-vana to thee, dear father!

34 “Next learn of me about the very dreadful Tapta-kumbha. * On all sides heated pitchers are surrounded with the flames

* Burning-pitcher.

35 of fire, and are filled with oil iron and powder which boil oven on to the heaps of blazing fire. Into them the workers of

36 iniquity are cast head-long by Yama's servants. † They are boiled, and foul the water with the marrow that oozes from their bursting limbs. Terrible vultures pulling them out

† For yámyah read yamyaiḥ.

37 fracture the eye-bones of their bursting skulls; again, they are dropped into the same pitchers by the impetuous birds; again

38 they become united with the liquefied heads, limbs, sinews, flesh, skin and bones, by means of the oil in the seething vessel. Then being quickly and vigorously stirred up by Yama's ser

39 vants with a spoon, the sinners are churned up in the whirling pool of copious oil. Such is the Tapta-kumbha that I have fully described to thee, O father!"