Chapter 8 of 51 · Uma Samhita · Overall chapter 322 of 464
Description of Hell
Chitragupta's direct reprimands to wicked kings and other sinners are followed by a systematic cosmography of hell itself: twenty-eight named layers below the seventh nether region, each containing five named main hells, for a traditional total exceeding a hundred major hells and four thousand hells overall.
Chitragupta said
You perpetrators of wicked deeds, you stole what belonged to others. Proud of your beauty and valour you molested others' wives. You must enjoy whatever deeds you performed, so why did you commit wicked deeds that have led to this calamity? What is the point of lamenting now? You will suffer by your own deeds and must enjoy their fruits; this is no one else's fault.
Sanatkumara continued
So those who have done terrible deeds, and proud, strong kings who have done evil, come before him. Full of rage, Chitragupta, the great lord, speaks to them, knowing dharma, instructing them in Yamaraja's instructions.
Chitragupta said
Wicked kings, you were wicked in conduct and made your subjects suffer. A kingdom lasts a short time, so why did you do these wicked deeds? Deluded in enjoying the kingdom, you used illegal force on your subjects. Kings, you will now enjoy the fruits of the punishment you inflicted. Where is the kingdom now? Where is the wife for whom you did those inauspicious acts? Abandoning them all, you stand here alone. I see the army you used to crush your subjects is destroyed. How will you now face Yama's messengers?
Sanatkumara said
So Yama uses many words to make the kings understand. They stand silent, lamenting their own deeds. So Dharmaraja Yama instructs the kings about their dharma, and, to purify the mire of their sins, speaks to the messengers.
Yama said
Chanda, Mahachanda, use your force to seize these kings. Restrain them gradually and purify them in the fire of the hells.
Sanatkumara said
At this they quickly seize the kings by the legs, whirl them round with great force and fling them down, seize them again and dash them with great force against hot stone slabs. They tremble like great trees struck by the vajra, bleeding from the ears and mangled. The embodied being loses consciousness and is made immobile, and when the wind touches him he comes back to life. After this, to purify his sins, he is flung into the ocean of hell. Under the earth is the seventh nether region, Tala, and below it a region wrapped in darkness. There are twenty-eight layers of hell there. The first is Ghora, with Sughora below it; after Atighora and Mahaghora, Ghorarupa is fifth; the sixth is Talatala and the seventh Bhayanaka; the eighth Kalaratri and the ninth Bhayotkata; below those the tenth, Chanda, and the eleventh, Mahachanda. Next are said to be Chandakolahala, Prachanda, Chandanayika, Padma, Padmavati, Bhita, Bhima and Bhishananayika. They are terrible and more terrible, with Vajra as the twentieth. After that come Trikona, Panchakona, Sudirgha, Akhilartida, Sama, Bhimabala and Ugra, with Diptapraya last. These are the names of the terrible layers of hell, each of the twenty-eight meant to cause sinners pain, and each has five main hells, whose names follow. In the first layer the first hell is Rourava, where embodied beings cry; they suffer great hardship in Maharourava and weep in Mahanta; then Shita and Ushna. In the second layer: Sughora, Sumahatikshna, Sanjivana, Mahatamas and Viloma. In the third: Vilopa, Kantaka, Tivravega, Karala and Vikarala. In the fourth: Prakampana, Mahavakra, Kala, Kalasutra and Pragarjana. In the fifth: Suchimukha, Suneti, Khadaka, Suprapidana and Kumbhipaka. In the sixth: Supaka, Krakacha, Atidaruna, Angararashi-bhavana and Meru. In the seventh: Asrikprahita, Tikshnatunda, Shakuni, Mahasamvartaka and Kratu. In the eighth: Taptajantu, Pankalepa, Gratimamsa, Trapudbhava and Ucchvasa. In the ninth: Sunirucchvasa, Sudirgha, Kutashalmali, Durishta and Sumahavada. In the tenth: Pravada, Supratapana, Megha, Vrisha and Shalma. In the eleventh: Simhanana, Vyaghranana, Gajanana, Shvanana and Sukarananana. In the twelfth: Ajanana, Mahishanana, Ghukanana, Kokanana and Vrikanana. In the thirteenth: Graha, Kumbhi, Nakra, Sarpa and Kurma. In the fourteenth: Vayasa, Gridhra, Uluka, Halouka and Shardula. In the fifteenth: Kratha, Karkata, Manduka, Putivakra and Raktaksha. In the sixteenth: Putimrittika, Kanadhumra, Agni, Krimi and Gandhivapu. In the seventeenth: Agnidhra, Apratishtha, Rudhirabha, Shvabhojana and Lalabhaksha. In the eighteenth: Antrabhaksha, Sarvabhaksha, Sudaruna, Kantaka and Vishala. In the nineteenth: Vikata, Kataputana, Ambarisha, Kataha and Kashta. In the twentieth: the river Vaitarani, Sutaptalohashayana, Ekapada, Prapurana and Asitalavana. In the twenty-first: Ghora, Asthibhanga, Supurana, Vilatasa and Asuyantra. In the twenty-second: Kutapasha, Pramardana, Mahachurna, Asuchurna and Taptalohamaya. In the twenty-third: Parvata, Kshuradhara, Yamalaparvata, Mutrakupa and Vishthakupa. In the twenty-fourth: Ashrukupa, Ksharakupa, Shitala, Musala and Ulukhala. In the twenty-fifth: Yantra, Shila, Shakata, Langala and Talapatra. In the twenty-sixth: Asigahana, Mahashakata, Mandapa, Sammoha and Asthibhanga. In the twenty-seventh: Tapta, Chala, Ayoguda, Bahuduhka and Mahaklesha. In the twenty-eighth: Kashmala, Samala, Malat, Halahala and Virupa. There are also Svarupa, Yamanuga, Ekapada, Tripada, Tivra, Achivara and Tamas. So there are twenty-eight layers in order, with five hells in each. Rourava and the other hells number more than a hundred, and the circle of great hells is said to number four thousand. Sanatkumara told Vyasa he had thus told how the hells are situated, that counting them leads to detachment, and that he would next tell what happens to sinners there.
Retold in our own words from Bibek Debroy's English translation of the Shiva Purana (Penguin Classics). Names, numbers and the order of events follow the source.