Vamana Purana — Sukesha's Boon & Twelve Dharmas, Shloka 58
Sukesha’s Boon, the Twelve Dharmas of Beings, and the Cosmography of the Seven Dvipas with the Twenty-One Hells
तथापरः शोणितपूयभोजनः क्षुराग्रधारो निशितश्च चक्रकः संशोषणो नाम तथाप्यनन्तः प्रोक्तास्तवैते नरकाः सुकेशिन्
tathāparaḥ śoṇitapūyabhojanaḥ kṣurāgradhāro niśitaśca cakrakaḥ saṃśoṣaṇo nāma tathāpyanantaḥ proktāstavaite narakāḥ sukeśin
« Et il est d’autres enfers : Śoṇitapūyabhojana (“manger le sang et le pus”), Kṣurāgradhāra (“le courant aux tranchants de rasoir”), et Niśita-cakraka (“le lieu des roues/disques aiguisés”). Il y a aussi Saṃśoṣaṇa, et de même Ananta. Ainsi ces enfers t’ont-ils été déclarés, ô Sukeśī. »
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FAQs
The verse reinforces karmic moral realism: actions generate fitting consequences, here taught through vivid punitive topographies. The intent is deterrence and ethical instruction—turning the listener away from adharmic conduct by illustrating the gravity of wrongdoing.
This passage aligns most closely with Dharma/karma instruction and didactic material rather than the core five (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). If mapped within Purāṇic classificatory habits, it functions as ancillary dharma-śikṣā embedded in narrative dialogue.
The named hells symbolically mirror inner states produced by vice: ‘eating blood and pus’ evokes moral disgust and self-degradation; ‘razor-edge streams’ and ‘sharp wheels’ evoke the cutting, grinding nature of harmful actions returning upon the agent; ‘desiccation’ suggests the drying up of compassion/merit; ‘endless’ indicates the felt interminability of suffering when one is bound by unexpiated wrongdoing.