DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0244
232 Demon-worship mid Spirit-worship.
mention of numerous regions above and below the earth which
serve as the abode of such beings. Thus we learn from the
Epic poems and Puranas that there are seven upper and
seven lower worlds1 (see p. 102, note), and beneath the latter
are twenty-one hells. They are enumerated in Manu IV.
88-90, and others are added in Vishnu-purana II. 62.
The hells are for the infliction of various degrees of suf-
fering on sinful men. Yet they are not places of eternal
punishment. They are merely temporary purgatories in-
tended for the purification of those who have led wicked
lives. One is a place of terrific darkness; another consists
of heated caldrons (tapta-kumbha) ; another of red-hot iron
(tapta-loha); another contains pits of red-hot charcoal;
another of blood; another is a dense forest whose leaves
are sharp swords; another is a hell of pincers (Sandansa);
another is a sea of fetid mud; another is a plain paved
with iron spikes3.
1 All fourteen worlds are believed to rest on the thousand heads of the
great serpent Sesha ; or the earth which is the lowest of the seven upper
worlds is supposed to be supported at the quarters and intermediate
quarters of the sky by eight male and eight female mythical elephants.
Then, again, the earth is thought to be composed of seven great circular
islands (most of which are known by the name of some tree or plant,
such as Jambu, Kusa, Plaksha, Salmali), surrounded by seven circular
seas, all of which are described in Maha-bharata VI. 236, etc., and in
the Vishnu-purana II. 2, etc. See also my ' Indian Wisdom,' p. 419.
2 This Purana and the Bhagavata make twenty-eight hells.
3 In a recent number of a Chicago paper I find the following curiously
parallel ideas quoted from a Roman Catholic book for children, by the
Rev. J. Furniss: 'The fourth dungeon is the boiling kettle. Listen;
there is a sound like that of a kettle boiling. The blood is boiling in
the scalded brains of that boy ; the brain is boiling and bubbling in his
head; the marrow is boiling in his bones. The fifth dungeon is the red-
hot oven, in which is a little child. Hear how it screams to come out;
see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire ; it beats its head
against the roof of the oven ; it stamps its feet upon the floor of the
oven.' The idea of terrific torture lasting to all eternity seems a wholly
Western conception. The same Chicago paper goes on to quote from
another author : ' The world will probably be converted into a great lake
or liquid globe of fire, in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed, which
mention of numerous regions above and below the earth which
serve as the abode of such beings. Thus we learn from the
Epic poems and Puranas that there are seven upper and
seven lower worlds1 (see p. 102, note), and beneath the latter
are twenty-one hells. They are enumerated in Manu IV.
88-90, and others are added in Vishnu-purana II. 62.
The hells are for the infliction of various degrees of suf-
fering on sinful men. Yet they are not places of eternal
punishment. They are merely temporary purgatories in-
tended for the purification of those who have led wicked
lives. One is a place of terrific darkness; another consists
of heated caldrons (tapta-kumbha) ; another of red-hot iron
(tapta-loha); another contains pits of red-hot charcoal;
another of blood; another is a dense forest whose leaves
are sharp swords; another is a hell of pincers (Sandansa);
another is a sea of fetid mud; another is a plain paved
with iron spikes3.
1 All fourteen worlds are believed to rest on the thousand heads of the
great serpent Sesha ; or the earth which is the lowest of the seven upper
worlds is supposed to be supported at the quarters and intermediate
quarters of the sky by eight male and eight female mythical elephants.
Then, again, the earth is thought to be composed of seven great circular
islands (most of which are known by the name of some tree or plant,
such as Jambu, Kusa, Plaksha, Salmali), surrounded by seven circular
seas, all of which are described in Maha-bharata VI. 236, etc., and in
the Vishnu-purana II. 2, etc. See also my ' Indian Wisdom,' p. 419.
2 This Purana and the Bhagavata make twenty-eight hells.
3 In a recent number of a Chicago paper I find the following curiously
parallel ideas quoted from a Roman Catholic book for children, by the
Rev. J. Furniss: 'The fourth dungeon is the boiling kettle. Listen;
there is a sound like that of a kettle boiling. The blood is boiling in
the scalded brains of that boy ; the brain is boiling and bubbling in his
head; the marrow is boiling in his bones. The fifth dungeon is the red-
hot oven, in which is a little child. Hear how it screams to come out;
see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire ; it beats its head
against the roof of the oven ; it stamps its feet upon the floor of the
oven.' The idea of terrific torture lasting to all eternity seems a wholly
Western conception. The same Chicago paper goes on to quote from
another author : ' The world will probably be converted into a great lake
or liquid globe of fire, in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed, which