28 Punishments for OUR SINS -- GARUDA PURANA

Sinners are sent to various Narakas (Hells) by Yamaraja according to the nature and seriousness of their sins. According to the Garuda Purana there are a total of 28 Narakas. They are as follows.

(1) Tamisram (Heavy flogging) 

           Those who rob others of their wealth are bound with ropes by Yama’s Servants and cast into the Naraka known as Tamisram. There, they are given a thrashing until they bleed and faint. When they recover their senses, the beating is repeated. This is done until their time is up.

(2) Andhatamtrsam (Flogging) 

              This Hell is reserved for the Husband or the Wife who only treat their spouses well when they are to profit or pleasure to them. Those who forsake their wives and husbands for no apparent reasons are also sent here. The punishment is almost the same as Tamisram, but the excruciating pain, suffered by the victims on being tied fast, makes them fall down senseless.

(3) Rauravam (torment of snakes

            This is the hell for sinners who seize and enjoy another man’s property or resources. When these people are thrown into this hell, those whom they have cheated, assume the the shape of “Ruru”, a dreadful serpent. The serpent(s) will torment them severely until their time is up.

(4) Mahararuravam (death by snakes)  

               Here there is also Ruru serpents but more fiercer. Those who deny the legitimate heirs, their inheritance and possess and enjoy others property will be squeezed and bitten non stop by this terrible serpents coiling around them. Those who steal another man’s wife or lover will also be thrown here.

(5) Kumbhipakam (cooked by oil) 

                 This is the hell for those who kill animals for pleasure. Here oil is kept boiled in huge vessels and sinners are plunged in this vessels.

(6) Kalasutram (Hot as hell) 

              This hell is terribly hot. Those who don’t respect their elders esp. when their elders have done their duties are sent here. Here they are made to run around in this unbearable heat and drop down exhausted from time to time.

(7) Asitapatram (sharp flogging) 

          This is the hell in which sinners abandon one’s own duty. They are flogged by Yama’s Servants with whips made of asipatra (sharp-edged sword-shaped leaves). If they run about under the flogging, they will trip over the stones and thorns, to fall on their faces. Then they are stabbed with knives until they drop unconscious, When they recover, the same process is repeated until their time is up in this Naraka.

(8)Sukaramukham (Crushed and tormented) 

            Rulers who neglect their duties and oppress their subjects by misrule, are punished in this hell. They are crushed to a pulp by heavy beating.When they recover, it is repeated until their time is up.

(9) Andhakupam (Attack of the animals) 

                This is hell for those who oppress the good people and not helping them if requested despite having the resources. They will be pushed into a well, where beasts like Lions, tigers, eagles and venomous creatures like snakes and scorpions. The sinners have to endure the constant attacks of this creatures until the expiry of the period of their punishment.

(10) Taptamurti (Burnt Alive) 

              Those who plunder or steal Gold and jewels are cast into the furnaces of this Naraka which always remains hot in blazing fire.

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