Adhyaya 16
Exposition of Sin and Merit (Sumanas Episode: Yama’s Realm and Rebirths)
Chapter PP.2.16 portrays the harsh “moral geography” of the afterlife for sinners. The wicked are dragged over burning coals, scorched by heat like twelve suns, driven through shade-less mountains, beaten by Yama’s messengers, and then tormented by freezing winds. The sinner is taken to dreadful strongholds and finally beholds Dharmarāja (Yama), dark and terrifying, with Citragupta present amid a realm crowded with disease. Yama strikes the “thorn of dharma” with heavy mallets; the torment is said to endure for a thousand yugas, with repeated “cooking” in many hells, even entering a hellish womb among worms. The chapter then turns to karmic rebirth: repeated births among dogs and other animals, and even among marginalized human communities, are listed as consequences of sin. At the close, Mahādeva announces further instruction on the dreadful experiences at death and hints at explaining another deity.
Shlokas
Verse 1
सुमनोवाच । अंगारसंचये मार्गे घृष्यमाणो हि नीयते । दह्यमानः स दुष्टात्मा चेष्टमानः पुनः पुनः
Sumana said: “Along a path heaped with burning coals, he is dragged while being rubbed against it. That wicked-souled one is scorched, writhing again and again.”
Verse 2
यत्रातपो महातीव्रो द्वादशादित्यतापितः । नीयते तेन मार्गेण संतप्तः सूर्यरश्मिभिः
There is an exceedingly fierce heat, as though scorched by twelve suns; along that path one is driven, tormented by the Sun’s rays.
Verse 3
पर्वतेष्वेव दुर्गेषु छायाहीनेषु दुर्मतिः । नीयते तेन मार्गेण क्षुधातृष्णाप्रपीडितः
That evil-minded man is led along that path—through difficult mountains devoid of shade—tormented by hunger and thirst.
Verse 4
स दूतैर्हन्यमानस्तु गदाखड्गैः परश्वधैः । कशाभिस्ताड्यमानस्तु निंद्यमानस्तु दूतकैः
Struck by the messengers with maces, swords, and axes—lashed with whips and reviled by those messengers—he was made to suffer.
Verse 5
ततः शीतमये मार्गे वायुना सेव्यते पुनः । तेन शीतेन दुःखी स भूत्वा याति न संशयः
Then again, upon a path made of cold, he is assailed by the wind; tormented by that chill, he proceeds in misery—of this there is no doubt.
Verse 6
आकृष्यमाणो दूतैस्तु नानादुर्गेषु नीयते । एवं पापी स दुष्टात्मा देवब्राह्मणनिंदकः
Dragged away by the messengers, he is taken to various dreadful strongholds. Thus goes the sinful, wicked-souled man—one who reviles the gods and the brāhmaṇas.
Verse 7
सर्वपापसमाचारो नीयते यमकिंकरैः । यमं पश्यति दुष्टात्मा कृष्णांजनचयोपमम्
One whose conduct is wholly sinful is led away by Yama’s attendants; that wicked-souled person beholds Yama, dark like a heap of black collyrium.
Verse 8
तमुग्रं दारुणं भीमं भीमदूतैः समावृतम् । सर्वव्याधिसमाकीर्णं चित्रगुप्तसमन्वितम्
He saw that fierce, harsh, and terrifying realm, surrounded by dreadful messengers—crowded with every kind of disease and attended by Citragupta.
Verse 9
आरूढं महिषं देवं धर्मराजं द्विजोत्तम । दंष्ट्राकरालमत्युग्रं तस्यास्यं कालसंनिभम्
O best of the twice-born, I saw the divine Dharmarāja mounted on a buffalo—his fangs fearsome and exceedingly terrible, and his face resembling Time (Death) itself.
Verse 10
पीतवासं गदाहस्तं रक्तगंधानुलेपनम् । रक्तमाल्यकृताभूषं गदाहस्तं भयंकरम्
Clad in yellow garments, holding a mace in his hand, anointed with red, fragrant unguents; adorned with red garlands as ornaments—mace in hand, he appeared terrifying.
Verse 11
एवंविधं महाकायं यमं पश्यति दुर्मतिः । तं दृष्ट्वा समनुप्राप्तं सर्वधर्मबहिष्कृतम्
Thus the wicked-minded person beholds Yama—of such a form and vast body; and seeing him arrived before him, realizes himself to be cast out from all dharma.
Verse 12
यमः पश्यति तं दुष्टं पापिष्ठं धर्मकंटकम् । शासयेत्तु महादुःखैः पीडाभिर्दारुमुद्गलैः
Yama beholds that wicked man—most sinful, a thorn against dharma—and chastises him with grievous sufferings, tormenting him with heavy wooden mallets.
Verse 13
यावद्युगसहस्रांतं तावत्कालं प्रपच्यते । नानाविधे च नरके पच्यते च पुनः पुनः
For as long as a thousand yugas endure, for that span he is tormented; and in manifold hells he is ‘cooked’ again and again.
Verse 14
नारकीं याति वै योनिं कृमिकोटिषु पापकृत् । अमेध्ये पच्यते नित्यं हाहाभूतो विचेतनः
The evildoer indeed enters a hellish womb, amid crores of worms. In filth he is ceaselessly ‘cooked’, crying “hā hā”, senseless and bereft of awareness.
Verse 15
मरणं च स पापात्मा एवं याति सुनिश्चितम् । एवं पापस्य संयोगं भुंक्ते चैव सु दुर्मतिः
Thus that sinful-souled person surely meets death in this very manner; and thus the utterly misguided one indeed undergoes the consequences of association with sin.
Verse 16
इति श्रीपद्मपुराणे पंचपंचाशत्सहस्रसंहितायामैंद्रे सुमनोपाख्याने । पापपुण्यविवक्षानाम षोडशोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the sixteenth chapter, titled “On the exposition of sin and merit,” in the Śrī Padma Purāṇa—within the fifty-five-thousand-verse compilation, in the Aindra section, in the narrative known as the Sumanas episode.
Verse 17
व्याघ्रो भवति दुष्टात्मा रासभीं याति वै पुनः । मार्जार शूकरीं योनिं सर्पयोनिं तथैव च
A person of wicked soul becomes a tiger; again he enters the womb of a donkey—also taking birth as a cat, a sow, and likewise as a serpent.
Verse 18
नानाभेदासु सर्वासु तिर्यक्षु च पुनः पुनः । पापपक्षिषु संयाति अन्यासु महतीषु च
Again and again one is born among all the many kinds of lower creatures; and one enters sinful births—among birds and also among other great and numerous forms of life.
Verse 19
चांडाल भिल्लयोनिं च पुलिंदीं याति पापकृत् । एतत्ते सर्वमाख्यातं पापिनां जन्म चैव हि
The doer of sin is born as a Caṇḍāla, in the Bhilla lineage, or as a Pulindī. Thus all this has been declared to you—indeed, the births that befall sinners.
Verse 20
मरणे शृणु कांत त्वं चेष्टां तेषां सुदारुणाम् । पापपुण्यसमाचारस्तवाग्रे कथितो मया
Now, beloved, listen to the exceedingly dreadful experiences they undergo at the time of death. I have already explained to you, in your presence, the course of their sinful and meritorious conduct.
Verse 21
अन्यदेवं प्रवक्ष्यामि यदि पृच्छसि मानद
If you ask, O honorable one, I shall explain also about another deity (deva).