Varaha Purana 199.23: Adhyaya 199, Shloka 23
Description of the Torments of Rebirth: The Asipatravana Punishment and the Mechanics of Karmic Retribution
Uttara Bhāga · Narakavarṇana (Ethical Consequences and Afterlife Imagery)
तत्र छिन्नाश्च दग्धाश्च हन्यमानाश्च सर्वशः ॥ विधृष्टा विकृताश्चैव दह्यमाना नदन्ति ते ॥
tatra chinnāś ca dagdhāś ca hanyamānāś ca sarvaśaḥ || vidhṛṣṭā vikṛtāś caiva dahyamānā nadanti te
tatra ChinnAshcha dagdhAshcha hanyamAnAshcha sarvashaH || vidhRRiShTA vikRRitAshchaiva dahyamAnA nadanti te
वहाँ लोगों को काटा जाता है, जलाया जाता है। हर तरफ मारा जाता है। लोग गालियाँ सुनते हैं, उनका चेहरा बिगड़ जाता है। जलती आग में वो चिल्लाते हैं।
Sandhi Notes
- छिन्नाः+च, दग्धाः+च, हन्यमानाः+च
- विकृताः+च+एव → विकृताश्चैव
- अन्यत्र स्पष्ट संधि नहीं।
Varāha
Listening, sobered; receiving Varāha’s authoritative account of karmic suffering
What is the lived experience of sinners within those punitive realms—what do they undergo moment to moment?
Suffering is not random; it is structured consequence. Awareness of consequence is itself a medicine that can redirect conduct.
Use fear-and-compassion as motivation to reform: avoid harm, seek atonement, cultivate devotion and ethical steadiness.
Varāha describes the multi-modal torments of naraka—cutting, burning, beating, humiliation, disfigurement—resulting in cries of pain.
Persistent adharma yields compounded suffering; dharmic life and corrective discipline prevent such post-mortem affliction.
Varaha Purana 199 (Varāha’s naraka exposition)
FAQs
It reflects a common Purāṇic didactic strategy: vivid punitive imagery to frame moral causality (karma) and social ethics within narrative discourse.
No terrestrial site is specified here; the passage belongs to a descriptive register of punitive realms (often grouped under ‘naraka’ or infernal topography).
Actions that violate dharma are portrayed as yielding severe consequences; the verse functions as a warning about moral accountability.
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