Vamana Purana — Sukesha's Boon & Twelve Dharmas, Shloka 49
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
苏克舍因说道：“噢，具足苦行之财的圣者（tapodhana），这些可怖的地狱共有多少？沿途其延展范围如何？其形相与性质又是怎样？”
{ "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.