O noble one, listen as I describe the terrifying realms where beings are tormented and suffer dreadful consequences for their misdeeds. There exist many hells, each with its own horrors—Kumbhīpāka, Nirucchvāsa, Kālasūtra, and Pramardana. Some souls find themselves in the Mūṣāvasthā, others in the Vasākūpa, or are swept away in the dreadful river Vaitaraṇī. There is the hell called Paśūla, and another known as Paśilā, as well as the fearsome Śālmalī tree. In these places, beings are forced to eat their own flesh and dwell amidst blazing flames. Some must drink briny or scalding water, or even boiling milk, while others are compelled to swallow burning balls of food. There is a hell where everything is the color of stone, and another where souls are made to eat worms. Some are smeared with excrement and forced to consume it; others must drink acrid smoke, are bound tightly with ropes, or are pierced by countless spikes. Many wooden devices of torture await the sinful, including grinding and cutting machines. Some are struck by the tusks of elephants or bitten by venomous serpents. There are those who must drink dreadful alkaline water or consume salt. Others are thrust into pits filled with caustic liquids and forced to eat flesh. Some are thrown from the tops of trees or plunged into deep water. Torments continue with bites from ants and scorpions, or by being left to wallow in foul-smelling mud. Beings may have to drink oil heated to unbearable temperatures or eat substances of extreme pungency. Some are bathed in water so scalding or so cold that it shatters their teeth. O illustrious one, these torments number in the tens of millions, each more fearsome than the last. Among all these hells, each sinner receives the suffering that matches their deeds, O protector of the earth. Those who slay a Brahmin, who drink liquor, who steal, or who violate the teacher’s bed; those who break sacred ranks, who cook food for no righteous purpose, or who constantly revile Brahmins—such people are destined for these hells. Even one who says, “There is no food,” is declared a slayer of Brahman, as is one who causes obstruction or is always devoted to falsehood. Those who delight in disturbing others or in pointing out the faults of their fellows, those always eager to receive gifts, or intent on killing living beings—all these, O king, are counted among the greatest sinners, their acts equal to the slaying of a Brahmin. There are further acts considered equally sinful: eating food from guilds, associating with courtesans, abandoning the company of spiritual guides, or consuming food meant for the gods. A twice-born who, after being struck by a Shudra, eats food, or who, with permission from a Shudra, performs the work of a servant—these, too, are counted as grave offenses, equal to drinking liquor. Taking roots, tubers, fruits, musk, or bark-cloth unlawfully; stealing copper, tin, bell-metal, clarified butter, or honey; taking betel, water, or sandalwood without right; neglecting ancestral rites or obstructing acts of righteousness; stealing food or grain—all these are sinful acts. Even more, to have intercourse with a sister or a son’s wife, with a woman of lower caste, or with the wife of a drunkard—these are all counted among the gravest sins. Thus, O noble one, are the torments and consequences described for those who commit such acts, each one destined to receive suffering in accordance with their misdeeds in the many hells ordained for the sinful.