Numen 56 (2009) 385400 www.brill.

nl/nu

Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions

Knut A. Jacobsen
University of Bergen, Department of Archaeology, History, Culture Studies and Religion,
P.O. Box 7805, 5020 Bergen, Norway
Knut.Jacobsen@ahkr.uib.no

Abstract
In this article are analysed three functions of hell in the Hindu traditions, a narrative,
a social and an economic. Because of the strong images the narratives of hell contain,
they are excellent means to catch the attention of the audience. The social function of
hell is to protect the social order, the security of the people and especially to protect
the privileges of those on top of the hierarchy. Since gifts to the priests are matched
with specic punishments in hell that they release from, one economic function of hell
seems to be as a source of income for the priests. However, it is argued that even
though hell is both a textual and ritual reality in the Hindu traditions, its signicance
should not be exaggerated. Death is not the end of life, but the end of one rebirth, and
release, moksa, is not about escaping a destiny in hell, but to gain freedom from the
rebirth realms.

Keywords
Hinduism, hell, Mahbhrata, Manusmrti, Purnas

Hinduism, that is, the Hindu traditions, is primarily a religion of this

life. Religious life is to a large degree about power, auspiciousness and
material welfare. Many religious activities are directed at improving
ones conditions in this life. The world is in the centre in the Hindu
traditions. Death is not the end of life, but the end of a rebirth. The
next life is also here in this world. There are no common burial grounds
in Hinduism because death is not a permanent condition. The ultimate
goal of life according to many of the Hindu traditions, moksa, can mean
many things. When moksa means nal release, as it does in philosophi-
cal and theological texts, it is not about escaping a destiny in hell

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/156852709X405071

386 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

(niraya or naraka), but to gain freedom from the cycle of rebirth in this
world. In Hinduism, it is important to die a good death and possibly go
to a heavenly world. Even though hell is both a textual and a ritual real-
ity in the Hindu traditions, its signicance should not be exaggerated.
A balanced view is to be favored and this means that it is correct to
emphasize that compared to the role of hell in the teaching of some
other religions, hell is somewhat insignicant in Hinduism.1
Naraka, niraya or hell is a possible destination after death, as a pun-
ishment for evil deeds, but not usually as a damnation caused by wrong
faith as in the Western religions of Christianity and Islam. Hindu inclu-
sivism can mean that all religions are considered as valid means leading
to the same salvic goal. Hindu gurus who attract an international
audience often encourage devotees not to change religion since it is not
necessary and does not in itself serve any purpose.
Hell is not a permanent dwelling place, but a realm from which one
returns after the punishment for moral impure deeds have been com-
pleted. There are many rebirth realms. Hell is a name for the worst
place, a place of punishment for the most impure acts. Hell is like a
prison. The prisoner does his time and is thereafter returned to society.
Hell functions in binary opposition to heaven, svarga, but hell is not in
binary opposition to the highest salvic goal, as in Christianity and
Islam. Hell is not a contrast to moksa, nal liberation. Life in this world
is in binary opposition to moksa.
According to views representative of the textual traditions, when the
moral impurities are washed o by the punishments in hell, one is after
some time reborn as an animal and thereafter as a human. According to
other views, found both in the oral traditions and in the Mahbhrata,
when you have done your time in hell you are born in heaven (Crook
1926:146). Heaven is, according to these views, also just a place from
where one returns after the merit of the good deeds has been used up.

1)
Hell, niraya or naraka are often not index words in introduction texts on Hinduism.
If they are mentioned in the text, only a few sentences are oered to explain their mean-
ing. Hells are usually mentioned as part of the Purnic cosmology. To give two exam-
ples: Flood (1966) makes two short references to hell, one as a punishment mentioned
in Manusmrti (64) and one in the section on Purnic cosmology (112). Klostermaier
(1994) refers to 28 hells in his description of Purnic cosmology (122), but he does not
elaborate. In their judgement, the hells are obviously of minor importance.
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 387

After a period in heaven or hell there is a new rebirth. But, as it is said

in the Mahbhrata, all the heavens of the gods are hells compared to
the place of Brahman (12.198.6), the place or state associated with
moksa.
Hell might be distinguished from the rebirth realms in that it is often
not conceived of as a rebirth, but persons are given specic bodies for
the punishment in hell. There is no reproduction in hell and no one is
born there. It that sense it is not part of the rebirth realm. Two views of
the afterlife coexist in Hinduism: the concept of heaven and hell and
the concept of rebirth. They have dierent origins and they are not
brought into a coherent system, and thus contradictory conceptions of
death and the afterlife exist in the Hindu traditions.2 The ideas of karma
and reincarnation assume a more or less immediate rebirth. The death
ritual, the rddha, assumes that the dead will spend a year on his way
to the world of the ancestors to gradually gain an ancestor body. The
rddha functions to feed the dead so that the one year travel to the
world of the ancestors is successful and make sure that the dead do not
stay around as a ghost (bhta) but move on. The fear of ghosts has
probably been more important than the fear of hell in Hindu religious
life. The rituals around death focus on the successful transfer of the
dead to another world.
The god of death in Vedic religion was Yama. He was the ruler of
the realm of the ancestors. In the Mahbhrata, Yama is described as
a god of dharma (Winternitz 1981). Later he is associated mostly with
death, and the fear of him and his messenger Citragupta who keeps a
record of every persons good and bad deeds, is particularly associated
with hell.
In the following I look at hell in three categories of Hindu texts: the
Epics (Mahbhrata), the Dharmastras and Dharmastras (Manusmrti),
and the Purnas (Bhgavata Purna, Garuda Purna). Three dierent
functions of hell are disclosed in these texts: hell as a powerful narrative
theme, hell as an aspect of the social order and hell as a source of income,
that is, the narrative, the social and the economic dimensions of hell.

2)
A. B. Keith in his book The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and the Upanishads
(1925) wrote: The modern view of the spirits and their abode is extremely varied and
confused, and it would be ill-judged to assume that it was otherwise in the earlier
Vedic religion (403).
388 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

Hell in the Mahbhrata

The dramatic narrative of the Mahbhrata ends with Yudhisth iras visit
to hell (in the last books Mahprasthna parvan and Svargrohana par-
van). Hell is here a powerful narrative theme, which adds a surprising
twist to the story and thus assists the narrator to keep the attention of
his audience.
At the end of the war the ve Pnda va brothers, Draupad and a dog
leave the world to go to the Himlaya and the Mount Meru. While going
there, all of them fall down to earth, one after the other, except Yudhisth ira
and the dog. Yudhisth ira, who is the king of dharma, explains why they
fall. Draupad, the common wife of the ve brothers, falls because even
though the ve brothers treated her equally, she favoured Dhanam jaya,
that is, Arjuna. Of the two youngest brothers, Sahadeva falls because he
never considered anyone his equal in wisdom, and Nakula because he
never considered anyone equal to himself in beauty. Arjuna falls because
he had said he would destroy all his enemies in one day, but he did not
accomplish what he had said he would do. Bhma falls because he never
attended to the needs of others while he ate. So Yudhisth ira proceeds with
only the company of the dog. Yudhisth ira is then picked up by Indra,
who wants to bring him to heaven. But Yudhisth ira objects that he will
not go to heaven without Draupad and his brothers. Indra promises him
that he will meet them in heaven. He then declares that he will not go
without the dog, which is very devoted to him. Indra says: There is no
place in Heaven for persons with dogs. But Yudhisth ira counters that
one should not abandon someone who is devoted to you. Therefore he
will not commit that sin in order to go to heaven. Yudhisth ira refuses
to abandon the dog. He declares that to frighten one that has sought
protection, to kill a woman, to steal from a Brhmana, to injure a friend
and to abandon one that is devoted to you, are sins. The dog is then
transformed into the god of dharma. This admirable act, the renounce-
ment of heaven for one who is devoted to you, makes the god of dharma
announce that there is no one in heaven equal to Yudhisth ira.
After having attained heaven, Yudhisth ira wanted to know what had
happened to his brothers the Pndavas, Draupad and the Kauravas,
the sons of Dhrtarstr a. When he arrived in heaven (svarga) he saw
Duryodhana, who was shining like the sun and was in the company of
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 389

many gods. Yudhisth ira became enraged and exclaimed that he would
not want to stay at this place if Duryodhana was here. It was because of
Duryodhana his relatives and friends were killed in large numbers.
Yudhisth ira then decided that he wanted to go where his brothers were.
Nrada explained that Duryodhana attained heaven because he per-
formed the ksatriya duties. And Nrada criticized Yudhisth ira: This is
heaven and there can be no animosity here! Yudhisth ira continues the
dispute and declares that where his brothers are, there is heaven and not
this place. The gods state that if he wants to go to his brothers, the
celestial messenger, Nrada, will immediately take him there. Yudhisth ira
is then taken to hell. The Mahbhrata says:

The path was inauspicious and dicult and trodden by men of sinful deeds. It
was enveloped in thick darkness, and covered with hair and moss forming its
grassy vesture. Polluted with the stench of sinners, and miry with esh and blood,
it abounded with gadies and stinging bees and gnats and was endangered by the
inroads of grisly bears. Rotting corpses lay here and there. Overspread with bones
and hair, it was noisome with worms and insects. It was skirted all along with
a blazing re. It was infested by crows and other birds and vultures, all having
beaks of iron, as also by evil spirits with long mouths pointed like needles. . . .
Human corpses were scattered over it, smeared with fat and blood, with arms and
thighs cut o, or with entrails torn out and legs severed. (Svargrohana parvan 2;
Ganguli 1991, ch. 2, p. 3)

The description is reminiscent of a battle scene a few days after the

battle. Yudhisth ira watched people being tortured and asked how long
they would continue on a path like this. Nrada explained that he
would not go farther, but if Yudhisth ira wanted, he could either return
with him or proceed further. Full of sorrow, Yudhisth ira decided to
return. But just as he turned around, many voices started to talk to
him, asking him to stay. And Yudhisth ira recognized the voices of his
brothers and Draupad. Shocked, Yudhisth ira asked: What bizarre
destiny is this? What have these done to attain hell, and Duryodhana
and the Kauravas, what good deeds did they perform to attain Heaven?
Yudhisth ira reected for a while and then told Nrada that he would
not return to heaven but stay in hell with his brothers and wife. Within
a moment all the gods of heaven arrived. The darkness and all the pain-
ful sights and inictions disappeared. Indra said:
390 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

Hell, oh son, should undoubtedly be seen by every king. Of both good and bad
there is abundance, oh leader of men. He who enjoys rst the fruits of his good
acts must afterwards endure Hell. He, on the other hand, who rst endures Hell,
must afterwards enjoy Heaven. He whose sinful acts are many, enjoys Heaven
rst. (Svargrohana parvan 3; Ganguli 1991, ch. 2, p. 5)

Indra repeats several times that all kings must see hell as Yudhisth ira
had. This point gives the nal part of the story an interesting unex-
pected twist that manages to keep the listeners attention. This might
very well have been its function. The idea is not common in the ritual
tradition. The view that the evil person goes rst to heaven and then to
hell, whereas the good person goes rst to hell and then to heaven,
might also point to the diculty of dharma, which is the main theme
of the Mahbhrata. The idea also has a message of tolerance. Because
everyone has done some evil and everyone has done some good, no one
is perfectly good and no one is totally evil. No one is perfect in this
world. This could be a Hindu message of tolerance. But the primary
function of the twist is probably that hell makes a good story. Hell is a
powerful narrative theme that catches the attention of the audience.

Hell in Manusmr ti
In Manusmrti, hell is primarily a punishment for crime (ptaka). In
the Hindu traditions there are standard lists of hells although their
number varies. Manusmrti lists 21 hells to which one goes who accepts
gifts from a greedy king who does not follow dharma (4.8790). There-
fore a brhmana should not accept gifts from kings. The names of the
hells are:

Darkness (tmisra)
Blind Darkness (andhatmisra)
Belonging to the Great Spotted Dear (mahraurava)
Belonging to the Dear (raurava)
The Thread of Time (klastra)
The Great Hell (mahnaraka)
Vivifying (sam jvana)
The Great Washing Away (mahvci)
Burning (tapana)
Excessive Burning (sampratpana)
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 391

Crushing (sam hta)

Joined with the Raven (sakkola)
Shut up like a Bud (kudmala)
Stinking Earth (ptimrttika)
Iron Spike (lohaanku)
Dregs (rjsa)
Impelling (panthna)
Thorny River (lmalnad)
Forest of Sword Leaves (asipatravana)
Tearing with Iron (lohadraka)

No systematic description of these hells is found in Manusmrti. For this

we may resort to the Bhgavata Purna. In Bhgavata Purna 5.26.7
the names of 21 plus 7 hells are listed, all together 28. Some of the
names are the same, others are dierent. In the descriptions of the hells,
evil deeds are correlated with the appropriate punishments. According
to Bhgavata Purna, hells are for those who kill animals or treat
animals badly, steal or lie, break the rules of behavior for the varnas
such as becoming angry at guests, or a rich person who is stingy, or
someone who joins heretic sects. Bhgavata Purna says that Darkness
(tmisra) is the place for those who steal another persons wealth, chil-
dren or wife. The torments of this hell are denial of food and water
and torments till he becomes unconscious (5.26.8). Blind Darkness
(andhatmisra) is for those who enjoy the wife, property and so on of
other persons as their own. In this hell persons loose their sight and
consciousness (5.26.9). To the hell Belonging to the Dear (raurava)
come those who wrongly identify their body with their soul and regard
the wealth, wife, etc. as his own and nourishes his family by treating
other people bad. In this hell they are tortured by beings called Ruru,
beings more evil than snakes (5.26.1011). Belonging to the Great
Spotted Dear (mahraurava) is for those who nurture their bodies by
unscrupulous means. In this hell are esh-eating Rurus (5.26.12). In
the hell Cooking Vessel (kumbhpka) Yamas servants boil those in oil
who cooked living beasts or birds in this world (5.26.13). Those who
bear malice towards parents, brhmanas and the Vedas end up in the
hell The Thread of Time (klastra). Beings here are fried on copper
plates (5.26.14).
It is noteworthy that in the Bhgavata Purna is found also a hell
that is a punishment for embracing a heretical creed. The hell Forest of
392 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

Sword Leaves (asipatravana) is for those who abandoned their Vedic

ways and embraced a heretical sect (5.26.15). In this hell people are
whipped, and while they run they are cut down by swords. This view is
a characteristic of the Bhgavata Purna.
The Pigs Mouth hell (skaramukha) is for kings who inict punish-
ment on those who do not deserve it, or on brhmanas. Those punished
here are crushed by powerful hands (5.26.16.). The hell Overgrown
Well (andhakpa) is for those who understand the agony of others, but
cause pain to animals who feed on human bodies and are incapable of
being aware of causing pains to others (5.26.17). Beings in this hell are
troubled by all kinds of animals. The hell Feeding on Worms
(krmibhojana) is for those who eat whatever they come by without
sharing with others. This hell is a pool of worms that feed on them, and
they continue to eat worms (5.26.18). Verse 5.26.37 says that there are
hundreds and thousands of similar hells in the abode of Yama and that
only some have been described in this text.
One would expect that Manusmrti would mention hell (naraka)
quite often. Manusmrti is a conservative Dharma text, which protects
the interest of the varn ramadharma and the interests of the Brahmins.
A main purpose of the text was to equate the priestly and Vedic author-
ity (Doniger and Smith 1991). Hell is mentioned in the verses 2.116,
3.172, 3.249, 4.81, 4.8490, 4.165, 4.197, 4.235, 6.61, 6.84, 8.75,
8.127, 8.307, 8.313, 9.138, 11.37, 12.1622, 12.54, 12.7381. How-
ever, Manusmrtis rst chapter (1.2650) establishes the law of karma
and places the classes of beings, human and animals, within it, and it
ends (12.4081) with an exposition of the law of karma to explain how,
depending on their past action, people are reborn as various classes of
beings, in particular as gods, humans and animals. Hell is not part of
this rebirth realm. Beings dominated by sattva become gods, beings
dominated by rajas become humans and beings dominated tamas
become animals, that is the threefold existence (12.40). Sattva, rajas
and tamas are Sm khya categories. In the Sm khyakrik (54) the con-
cept of beings from Brahm to the blade of grass (brahmdistmbapary-
antah) is meant to include all beings. No hell is mentioned. Each of
these realms is again threefold. When hell is mentioned in the
Manusmrti, hell is added as the worst punishment, as if the worst
rebirths are not punishment enough. Verses 12.5455 say that those
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 393

who commit major crimes spend a great many years in terrible hells,
and when that is over, they experience the following transmigrations:
the priest killer gets the womb of a dog, a pig, a donkey, a camel, a cow,
a goat, a sheep, a wild animal, a bird, a erce untouchable and a tribal.
It continues to specify the appropriate rebirth for each crime or impure
behaviour, such as drinking, or those who slip from the duties of their
varna (class) (12.7072). Many of these acts are crimes, but others,
such as being in company of bad people, are not. Persons who do not
follow the dharma of their class are also punished with a bad rebirth.
Hell is described in other verses: Yama is the ruler of the realm of death
and he assigns punishment. The person who does most right and little
wrong comes to heaven, one who does mostly wrong and a few things
right ends up in hell (12.22). 12.16 says that after death, the person
who has done much wrong gets a new solid body designed to be tor-
tured, and Yama organizes the torture. One who acquires the Veda
without permission from someone who recites is a thief of the Veda and
goes to hell (2.116). The function of hell here is to protect the hierar-
chical society and in particular the privileges of the Brahmins.
Hell is a punishment for a crime (ptaka), but having performed a
crime, one can become free from the evil by performing a vow (krcchra).
A number of vows are prescribed. Many crimes are mentioned in the
Manusmrti, and the appropriate vow for each of them mentioned.
Some of the vows are extremely harsh, but verse 11.260 states: But if a
man fasts diligently for three days and goes down into the water three
times a day, chanting the Error-erasing Hymn, he is freed from all
crimes. Just as the horse sacrice, the king of sacrices, dispels all evil,
even so the Error-erasing Hymn dispels all evil (11.261). Only crimes
that are not done penance for have karmic consequences.

Hell According to Garuda Purna

The most important text for the death rituals of the Hindu traditions
is the Pretakhanda of the Garuda Purna. This text is found in many
editions with many textual dierences between the editions (Rocher
1986). This shows that there has been a continuous demand for the
text. The text is used by the priests in the rddha rituals, the rituals to
394 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

secure the dead a safe travel to its next existence.3 About Garuda Purna
Monier-Williams wrote:

Perhaps the best authority for the present creed of the Hindus in regard to the
future state of the soul, and the best guide to the right performance of funeral
rddha ceremonies, is the Garuda Purna . . . portions of it are recited at funerals
and rddhas in the present day. (Monier-Williams 1891:288; quoted in Rocher
1986:178)

The date of the composition of the Garuda Purna is perhaps the

10th century.4 However, the three parts of the Garuda Purna are inde-
pendent texts. The Pretakhanda was added later. The Pretakhanda is
read in the Hindu rddha rituals and not usually at other occasions. A
summary of the Pretakhanda, the Garuda Purna Sroddhra (compi-
lation of the essence of the Garuda Purna) is also in use. In his Intro-
duction to the Garuda Purna Sroddhra, Sris Chandra Vasu notes
that this text is used all over India at funeral ceremonies, but that some
are afraid to read it on other occasions thinking it inauspicious (Garuda
Purna Sroddhra, p. i). Vasu complains that the cognate belief in
heaven and hell are very vague and he states that he wants to revive the
idea. Nervous persons, he writes, have always fought shy studying
this unpleasant department of existence. But pleasant or unpleasant,
the science does not take into account human feelings. No one is forced
to study the subject, unless he feels strong enough to do so, as no one is
bound to study Medicine, unless he is prepared to face the science of
the dissecting room (ibid.). His complaint about the lack of knowl-
edge about hell among Hindus conrms, perhaps, its minor signi-
cance, even though when contemplating death, for many Hindus the
fear of death can include the fear of hell. The authors interest in spread-
ing the knowledge of hell probably did not have much success.
In the descriptions of the funeral ceremony in the Garuda Purna,
hell is an important element. The most important contribution of this
text is the elaboration of the view that activities that will lead to hell can

3)
Jonathan P. Parry (1994:30) writes that his informants in his study of death in
Benares continuously referred to this text.
4)
Rocher 1986:177. Rocher notes that there are great textual dierences between the
editions.
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 395

be nullied by means of gifts to the priest. In Manusmrti the function

of hell was to maintain a social order, to guard the privileges of the
brhmanas and protect society from behavior that is not socially
approved or accepted. But when the person is dead, or almost dead,
which is the case when the rddha rituals are performed, the above
functions no longer operate, and the point is to secure that the person
does not have to pay a visit to hell. For each crime, a gift to the priests
is specied. The function of hell is now to secure the economic interests
of the priests. In Hinduism, the status of the dead person can be changed
by means of rituals after the person has died. The rddha ritual is per-
formed to secure the successful transfer of the dead to the next world.
According to Garuda Purna, when persons who are supposed to go
to hell die, the ferocious, foul smelling messengers of Yama come with
clubs and sticks in their hands to take them to hell. When the sinners
have exhausted the fruits of their action in hell, the jvas are reborn
(2.2.60). The Garuda Purna, does not say anything more about hell at
this place. Instead, the text starts listing rebirth in the animal realm
according to each crime. Only in the next chapter comes the descrip-
tion of hells (2.3). The text repeats the well-known view that there are
thousands of hells and that it is not possible to describe all of them in
detail (2.3.3). Seven main hells and 28 minor hells are described. After
being punished by Yama in the hells, the jvas again enter the rebirth
realm, starting at the bottom as plants or insects. The description stops
in verse 2.3.85. Then start the descriptions of the heavens.
The following chapter (2.4) is important and presents the doctrine of
atonements and gifts. It states that every morally impure act a human
commits, consciously or unconsciously, stands in need of purication
by means of atonement (2.4.1). One who performs a morally impure
act should perform ten types of bath, and then donate ten gifts. These
gifts are: cow, earth, gingelly seeds, gold, butter, cloth, grains, sugar,
silver and salt (2.4.4).

He should make these gifts to those who have come during atonement. Then to
cross the river of hell (Vaitarani) full of pus and blood, at Yamas door he should
donate the Vaitaran cow. (2.4.5)
Gingelly seeds, iron, gold, cotton, salt, seven grains, earth and cow these are all
pure. These eight gifts should be given to a learned brhmana by the dying per-
son. (2.4.78)
396 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

The text goes on to list a type of gifts called pada: Umbrella, shoes,
clothes, ring, gourd, seat, vessel, and food.

A vessel full of gingelly seeds or butter and a bed with all its equipment should be
gifted or all those articles which are liked by the donor.
Horse, chariot, she-bualo, fan and cloth all these should be given to the
brhmanas (2.4.1011).
Oh Lord, these gifts and others should be given as far as possible. He who has
done atonement, given ten gifts on this earth, or the gift of a Vaitaran cow or
eight gifts or the gift of the vessel full of gingelly seeds or claried butter or the gift
of bed or of pada, as prescribed in the stras does not go to hell. (2.4.1214)
Whatever gift a man has given himself, they all count in his favour (at the hour of
death). (2.4.16)
Oh bird, the man who has completed atonement in all its parts is placed in
Heaven, after all his sins are washed away. (2.14.17)

In the next verses are specied the results of many of the gifts and the
gifts are assigned specic functions. The giver of the cow gains immor-
tality since the cows milk is nectar. He who gives an umbrella gets
shelter even in the hell called Raudra, where the persons are burned. If
he gives an umbrella, he encounters the comforting shade in the way
(2.4.20). If he gives shoes, he passes through the hell Forest of Sword
Leaves (asipatravana) on a horse (2.4.21). If he gifts food and a seat, he
eats sitting comfortably on the way; if he gifts a water jar, he feels
comfortable even in the waterless hell region (2.4.22). He who gives
clothes and ornaments is not tortured by the erce messengers of Yama,
who are black and yellow in colour (2.4.23). If a vessel full of gingelly
seeds is donated to a brhmana, it destroys all the three types of moral
impurities born from his speech, body and mind (2.4.24). If he gives a
vessel full of claried butter, he stays in Rudraloka. If he gifts a bed
along with all its equipment, he rides in an aerial car in the company of
fairies and enjoys the heaven of Indra for sixty thousand years (2.4.25).
Moreover,

He who gifts a young faultless horse along with all equipment to a brhmana lives
in heaven, Oh bird, for years equal to the number of hair on the body of a horse.
(2.4.2728)
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 397

If he gives a chariot drawn by four horses along the contiguous equipment to a

learned brhmana, he reaps the benet of performing a Rjasya. (2.4.2930)

The list of gifts and rewards continues till 2.4.33. The nal verse states
that there is a dierence in result according to gifts (2.4.34). The idea
of hell here functions quite blatantly as source of income for the priests.
After listing the gifts, the other ways to liberation are mentioned:

If he accepts sannysa as prescribed in the sacred texts, he is not reborn but is

merged with Brahman itself.
If he dies at a sacred place, he attains moksa after dying there. If he dies on the way,
each and every step he has taken in reaching this place procures for him the fruit
of performing a sacrice. (2.4.38)
If he undertakes a fast unto death, he does not return to this world, oh bird.
(2.4.39)

That ends the section of gifts in the Pretakhanda of the Garuda Purna.
Then starts the treatment of the details of the cremation ritual, the
rddha, which is about the release of the dead from the state of the
preta, which does not have to concern us here. But the description of
hell is taken up again in 2.5.81. Here, the travel of the morally impure
dead is described while he consumes the monthly pinda gift and travels
through terrible places. It is told that the dead regrets the gifts he did
not give, the pilgrimage he did not performed, the asceticism he did
not do.

Neither you oered gifts, nor gave oblations, nor performed penance nor under-
took bath nor rendered a good act. So, oh foolish creature, now suer for what-
ever act you have done. (2.5.129)

After the end of a year, in which the dead has been given a monthly
pinda, the dead assumes a body composed of the essence of his merit
from the gifts of the rice balls (pindas). He then reaches the city of
Yama. The doorkeepers are angry if the pindas have not been performed.
There he sees Yama,

with red eyes, looking erce like a heap of collyrium, with erce jaws and frown-
ing ercely, chosen as their lord by many ugly, erce-faced hundreds of diseases,
398 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

possessing an iron-rod in his hand and also a noose. The creature goes either to
the good or to a bad state as directed by him. (2.5.14749).
A morally impure goes to a bad state, as I have told you before. Those who give
umbrella, shoes and shelter see Yama as gentle-faced with ear-rings and a shining
crest. In the rddha of the eleventh and twelfth month many brhmanas should
be feasted because then the deceased is very hungry. (2.5.15052)
Thus I have told you how one goes to Yamas abode. (2.5.153)

A further explanation of how a soul gets a new body is given in 2.10.74

89. The soul (jva) is the size of a thumb. After leaving the body, the
soul obtains an airy body. Then the pindas oered him by the sons or
relatives unite with the vjuja body. This happens when the jva reaches
Yamaloka. Here he obtains the pindaja body and, as directed by Citra-
gupta, the messenger of Yama, he then suers in hell. Having been
tortured there, he is born as animal (2.10.8889). Also this rebirth is a
punishment of the jva for acts in previous lives.
Morally impure acts, atonements, gifts to the brhmanas and the
idea of hell belong together. After punishment in hell, the jva enters
the karma and rebirth system. According to this rebirth system, the jva
is reborn as an animal, a human or a divinity according to which part
of prakrti is dominant: sattva gives rebirth as a divinity, rajas as a human,
tamas as an animal. One main function of hell in the Garuda Purna
seems to be to serve the economic interests of the brhmanas. That a
function of hell is to feed brhmanas is stated unashamedly in the fol-
lowing verse:

If before sunset wealth is not distributed among the suppliants, I do not know
to whom it will go in the morning that follows. If some wealth is not handed over
to Brahmins and friends or spent in holy rites or pilgrimages, the wealth begins
to cry who shall be my lord? Whether plentiful or scanty, whatever wealth one
has is due to ones previous merits. Realizing this, one has to spend it in virtuous
rites. It is by wealth that virtue is sustained if the mind is sanctied by faith.
(2.11.2833)

The text nally states that a sacred ritual devoid of faith is neither fruit-
ful here nor there. It is by faith virtue is sustained and not by heaps of
riches. This might very well be so, but gifts nevertheless seem to be a
main interest of the text.
 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400 399

Conclusion
I have argued here that three functions of hell can be distinguished in
the Hindu traditions, a narrative, a social and an economic one. First,
hell is a powerful narrative element because of the strong images of evil
it contains. Evil entertains. Hell simply makes a good story. Second,
hell functions for the protection of the social order, the security of the
people and especially for the protection of the privileges of those on top
of the hierarchy, the priestly class. Third, the concept of hell functions
as a source of income for the priests. Gifts to the priests are matched
with specic punishments in hell that they release from.
Hell is both a textual and a ritual reality in the Hindu traditions.
Hell does have narrative, social and economic dimensions, but it is
important not to loose track of the big picture. In a list of everyday
religious concerns of most Hindus, ideas about hell would probably not
be among those on the top. But sociological research is needed to be
able to be more specic on this topic.

References
Bhgavata Purna. 4 vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1992.
Crook, William. 1926. Religion and Folklore of Northern India. (Repr. Delhi: Rupa
2006.)
Doniger, Wendy and Brian K. Smith. 1991. Introduction. In The Laws of Manu.
London: Penguin, xvilxxviii.
Flood, Gavin. 1996. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Ganguli, Kisari Mohan (trans.). 1991. Mahbhrata: The Mahabharata of Krishna-
Dwaipayana Vyasa. Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text.
Vol. XII. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
Garuda Purna. 3 vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1996.
Garuda Purna Sroddhra. With English translation by Ernest Wood and S. V.
Subrahmanyam and an Introduction from Sris Chandra Vasu. Allahabad: Indian
Press 1911.
Keith, Arthur Berriedale. 1925. The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and the Upani-
shads. (Repr. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1989.)
Klostermaier, Klaus K. 1994. A Survey of Hinduism. 2nd ed. Albany: State University
of New York Press.
Manusmrti. The Laws of Manu. Translated and with Introduction by Wendy Doniger
and Brian K. Smith. London: Penguin 1991.
400 K. A. Jacobsen / Numen 56 (2009) 385400

Monier-Williams, Monier. 1891. Brhmanism and Hinduism. New York: Macmillan.

Parry, Jonathan P. 1994. Death in Benares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rocher, Ludo. 1986. A History of Indian Literature. Vol. II, Fasc. 3: The Purnas. Wies-
baden: Harrassowitz.
Sm khyakrik. Sanskrit text and English translation. In Gerald James Larson, Classi-
cal Sm khya: An Interpretation of its History and Meaning. 2nd rev ed. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass 1979, 255277.
Winternitz, Maurice. 1981. A History of Indian Literature. Vol. 1. Trans. V. Srinivasa
Sarma. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.