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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
called siddhi karan, and dispenses justice attendants of the god Shiva, Gandharvas, according to it. A man guilty of adultery Vaitals. Brahmarakshasas. Kushminds is sentenced to embrace a redhot image of and other demigods. Virtuous women are a woman; one who has slaughtered animals born as goddesses or devis or as apsaràs or is devoured by those animals, while those celestial songstresses. Those who have per. who have committed the sin of murdering formed only a few acts of righteousness Brahmans are relegated to hell for ever.1 enter the ranks of Jakhanis, Kinnaris,
There are seven rungs to the ladder Màtrikås, and the maid servants of the which leads to the next world. The first is goddess Durga. covered with a thick forest. The second The souls of the righteous are carried by bristles with pointed spears. The third is
Yamadutas or the messengers of the god of strewn with gokharu (a species of thorns ). death through five cities, by a route passing The fourth has piercing blasts. On the through beautiful gardens; while those of fifth runs the river Vaitarna. The sixth is the sinful are led barefooted over brambles full of red-hot iron. The serenth is covered and pointed spears by roads running through with deep streams.?
dense forests hidden in pitchy darkness. After death, the soul has to cross the The latter have also to cross large rivers river Vaitarna (vide the fifth rung above ) and pass through streams filled with blood on its way to the next world. Those who and puss. As they pass, eagles prey upon have given cows' in charity can cross this
their bodies and they are bitten by venomous river without difficulty by hoiding the tails
snakes. of the cows, wlio present themselves to help The souls of those who have in life per. them.
formed good actions pass through the sun Those who have given sloes in eharity
and assume divine forms; while those of can tread th:e third step with ease.
ordinary beings pass through the moon and The sinful have to walk barefooted on
return to this world. ground studded with pointed spears, and to
A sinful soul has to go to Yamaloka or embrace red-hot iron pillars. It is with the
hell through sixteen cities. On its way it object of avoiding these miseries that people
has to cross the river Vaitarna, which condistribute shoes and clothes in charity."
sists of blood mixed with puss. He who The sinful expiate their sins by passing
has presented a cow to a Brahman can cross through a cycle of 8,400,000 births. * 'They
this river with ease. Beyond this river lies have to be born 2,100,000 times in
a land which is covered with spikes. Those the class of creatures born of eggs, 2,100,000
who have viven in charity ashtamahàdàn times in the species of worms produced
that is, sesimum seeds, flour, gold, cotton, f'rom sweat, 2,100,000 times from embryonic birth and a similar number of times in the
salt, clarified butter, milk and sugarcandy, vegetable kingdom.
can walk over this ground without being Those who lack virtue but commit no sins hurt. When the soul has reached Yama or are born in the divine order of a low the god of death, the sun and the moon, grade such as the servants of Kuber, the the ever-living witnesses of human actions.
1 The School Mistress, Barton Female Training College, Rajkot. 2 The School Master of Limbdi.
3 The School Master of Kotda Sangani. Like the green grass on the turf I have often grown and regrown. I have visited bodies." Maulana Ilaluddin Rumi.
• The School Master of Ganod. 5 The School Master of Vapod.
• The School Master of Jetalpur,
770,000
