Shloka 49
Sukesha's Boon & Twelve Dharmas — Sukesha’s Boon, the Twelve Dharmas of Beings, and the Cosmography of the Seven Dvipas with the Twenty-One Hells
सुकेशिरुवाच कियन्त्येतानि रौद्राणि नरकाणि तपोधनः कियन्मात्राणि मार्गेण का च तेषु स्वरूपता
sukeśiruvāca kiyantyetāni raudrāṇi narakāṇi tapodhanaḥ kiyanmātrāṇi mārgeṇa kā ca teṣu svarūpatā
قال سوكيشِن: «يا تَپودهَنَ، أيها الزاهد الغنيّ بالتقشّف، كم عددُ هذه الجحيمات الرهيبة؟ وما مقدار امتدادها على الطريق، وما هي ماهيّتُها وصفتُها؟»
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The question frames naraka not as arbitrary punishment but as a structured moral order: actions (karma) have definite consequences, describable in number, measure, and character. The didactic intent is deterrence from adharma and reinforcement of accountability.
This passage aligns most closely with dharma/karma-phalavāda and cosmological description rather than the five hallmark topics; within pancalakṣaṇa mapping it is ancillary to sarga/pratisarga cosmography (world-structure including infernal regions), not vaṃśa or vaṃśānucarita.
By asking for “number, measure, and nature,” the text symbolically presents moral law as orderly and knowable—an intelligible cosmos where even suffering realms have defined contours, underscoring that ethical causality is not chaotic.