Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 604

NARAKA, OR HELL
564
who
is
wicked.
the rewarder of the good and the terror of the
In a word, they recognize a paradise and a
hell.
But how grievously have these sacred truths been dis-
torted in the mouths of these ministers of idolatry and
It is difficult to discover a single trace of such
falsehood
fundamental truths amid the mass of extravagant fables
under which superstition has concealed them.
The Hindus agree that a place of punishment is set
apart for those souls which have given themselves up
This they call
entirely to sin during their life on earth.
Naraka or Patala. It is divided into seven principal
sections, destined to contain the different kinds of sinful
and here they undergo torments more or less
souls
severe, according to the gravity of their crimes.
Yama, the judge of the dead, is the king of hell. He has
servants to carry out his decrees, who are charged with
tormenting the inhabitants of Naraka. His emissaries are
constantly on the watch throughout the world. They
await the moment of death, and then arrest the dead and
bring them before Yama's tribunal. Yama consults his
!
;
records, kept by many scribes working under his orders,
and containing an exact account of all the good and evil
which is done on earth. According to the report submitted
to him, this sovereign judge pronounces the fate of the
souls which appear before him for judgement, and awards
punishments proportionate to their guilt.
Yama, however, is not the only deity possessing agents
on earth for seizing upon the souls of the dead. Vishnu
and Siva have also their agents, who know perfectly well
the devotees of their respective patrons. When such souls
die the emissaries of the two gods contend for them with
Yama, and the result is a keen conflict and often a bloody
battle.
The special devotion to Siva or to Vishnu, however
lukewarm it may have been, possesses so much merit that
the emissaries of the two gods usually gain the victory over
those of Yama.
As for the torments of Naraka, the punishments which
the wicked have to endure there are truly terrible.
I will
here give an abstract of what the Padma-purana savs
of
it
:—