← A Study of the Bhâgavata Purâna; or, Esoteric Hinduism
Chapter 27
The Narakas
SKANDHA V. CHAP. 26.
Where are the Narakas, O Rishi, asked Parikshit? Are they particular localities? Are they outside the Trilokî or inside?
Suka replied: —
They are inside the Trilokî on the south side below the earth, over the waters, where Agnishvâttâ and other Pitris deeply meditate on the welfare of their respective descendants.
There, Yâma, the Death-god, metes out just punishment to the dead.
There are twenty-one Narakas: —
- Tâmisra
- Andha Tâmisara
- Rourava
- Mahârourava
- Kumbhipâka
- Kâla Sutra
- Asipatravana
- Sûkara Mukha
- Andha Kûpa
- Krimi bhajana
- Sandansa
- Tapta Surmi
- Vajra-Kantaka Sâlmali
- Vaitarani
- Pûyôda
- Prânarodha
- Vaisâsana
- Lâlâbhaksha
- Sârameyâdâna
- Avichi and
- Ayahpâna.
There are seven other Narakas:
- Kshâra Kardama
- Rakshogana bhōjana
- Sûlaprōta
- Danda Sûka
- Avata-nirodhana
- Paryâ vartana and
- Sûchi mukha.
(For details of these Narakas, the reader is referred to the original. They are more for the exoteric than for the esoteric reader.)
There are hundreds and thousands of such Narakas in the realms of Yâma. The vicious enter them by turns. The meritorious go to Svarga. But the Karma of men is not exhausted in Svarga or Naraka. For that which remains unexhausted, they enter life again by re-birth.
(The mention of Pitris and Yâma connects the Narakas with the astral plane.)