Varaha Purana 200.71: Adhyaya 200, Shloka 71
Description of the Forms of Infernal Torments
Naraka Yātanās
Uttara Bhāga · Preta-yātanā (Post-mortem torments) / Naraka-varṇana
अतीव च बुभुक्षात्र पिपासा चाप्यतीव हि ॥ उष्णमत्युष्णमेवात्र शीतलं चातिशीतलम् ॥
atīva ca bubhukṣātra pipāsā cāpyatīva hi || uṣṇam aty-uṣṇam evātra śītalaṃ cāti-śītalam ||
atIva cha bubhukShAtra pipAsA chApyatIva hi || uShNamatyuShNamevAtra shItalaM chAtishItalam
यहाँ भूख इतनी ज़्यादा होती है कि बर्दाश्त नहीं होता। प्यास भी इतनी ज़्यादा लगती है। गर्मी इतनी तेज़ होती है कि जल जाओगे। सर्दी भी इतनी ज़्यादा होती है कि ठहर जाओगे।
Sandhi Notes
- बुभुक्षात्र = बुभुक्षा + अत्र
- चाप्यतीव = च + अपि + अतीव
- अत्युष्णम् = अति + उष्णम्
- चातिशीतलम् = च + अति + शीतलम्
Varāha
Life driven by excess and harm ripens into experiential extremes; dharma aligns one with measure, steadiness, and relief.
Practice moderation (mitāhāra), generosity, and compassion; reduce greed and cruelty that metaphorically (and karmically) generate hunger/thirst and harshness.
Naraka is characterized by extremes (hunger/thirst/heat/cold), teaching that adharma yields unrelenting deprivation and sensory torment.
Unethical living culminates in states of chronic lack and painful extremes; dharmic conduct and purification lead away from such conditions.
Varāha Purāṇa: later naraka descriptions emphasizing sensory extremes (contextual)
FAQs
It exemplifies a widespread Purāṇic didactic mode that uses vivid sensory extremes to frame ethical causality and post-mortem consequence narratives.
No specific earthly geographic site is named in this verse; the setting is a generalized realm of yātanā (torment).
The passage functions as an ethical warning: harmful actions are portrayed as leading to states of intense deprivation and discomfort after death.
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