Indian Antiquary Vol 46

SR No.: 032538
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 508
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

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108
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
moment it is caught by the servants of Yama while he is crying out ha! ha! looking at its corporal receptacle."
And again :
"Covering the body of the soul (which suffers intensely ) and strangling it forci- bly, the servants of the god Yama carry it away just as a culprit is carried by a king's soldiers."
The verses that follow describe the miseries inflicted upon the poor thumb-shaped soul for the sins committed by him during his lifetime. The sinful soul has to undergo similar miseries in hell. From hell it returns to this world guarded by the servants of Yama, to partake of the rice-balls and other articles of food offered by the sons or other relatives. It is then again taken to hell to suffer more miseries and penalties in expiation of past sins. Then it returns once inore to receive the offerings of rice-balls made at shoràddha ceremonies. If, even after this, any desires remain unfulfilled, it has to continue a wretched existence in the other world.1
In a chapter of the Pretamanjari of the Garud Puràn it is stated that the souls of righteous men go to the next world unmolested.2
Some people believe that the departing soul assumes a form like a thumb, and remains in that state until relieved by the performance of shraddha by his heirs. It then enters the other world to enjoy the fruits of its good actions. The Yamapuri or the city of the god of death is 8,600 Yojansa Yojan being equal to four milesto the south of the earth. The lord of this place is Dharmardja. Yama is his servant, whose duty is to carry the soul from one place to another. 8
Others maintain that two states await the soul after death according to whether it
has performed righteous or sinful acts during life.
The righteous attain to heaven and enter the Parshad Vaikunta of Vishnu. The sinful go to hell or Yamaloka.
The sinful souls go to Yamaloka and are made to suffer the miseries of twenty-eight naraks or bells in proportion to the sins perpetrated by them, after which they return to the earth.
The following are some of the punishments meted out to wicked souls for their sins, in their next lives :
1 Those who marder Brahmans suffer from consumption,
2 Those who slaughter cows are born as tortoises,
3 Those guilty of female infanticide suffer from white leprosy.
4 One who kills his wife, as well as a woman guilty of causing abortion, becomes a beggar.
5 Those who commit adultery become impotent
6 He who seats himself on the bed or seat of his preceptor is affected by skin diseases.
7 Flesh-eaters get a red body.
8 Thuse who indulge in drink get black teeth.
9 A Brahman partaking of prohibited food suffers from dropsy.
10 One who eats sweets without sharing them with the by-standers suffers from cancer in the throat.
11 One who offers polluted food to departed spirits suffers from black leprosy.
12 One who disobeys and despises his teacher suffers from wind a pasmar.
13 One who does not believe in the shåstras suffers from enlargement of the spleen or Bright's disease.
14 A perjurer is born dumb.
1 The Shastri, Bhayavadar, Pathshala 3 The School Master of Ganod.
• The School Master of Dhank. • The D. E. Inspector, Håldr.