At the end of a kalpa, when the cycle of creation draws to its close, dissolution comes to all, O mighty-armed one. Those who follow demonic paths, embracing unrighteous conduct, meet their destruction when their deeds reach their end. Their fate is dreadful: difficult to witness, bereft of purity, and terrifying, bringing ruin as the consequence of their actions. Then, the hells arise—beginning with Raurava and Pushkara—each fierce and frightful to behold. The nature and extent of these hells along the path are many, and their total number, starting with Raurava, is twenty-one. Raurava is described as the first among them. The second, Maharaurava, is twice as vast as Raurava. The fourth, Andhatāmisra, is a terrible hell with double gates. The seventh is known as Apratiṣṭha, also called Ghaṭīyantra. The eighth, Narakottama, is measured in yojanas, vast in its expanse. There is Karapatra, and another named Śvānabhojana. The eighteenth hell is the dreadful river Vaitaraṇī. There is also Saṃśoṣaṇa and Ananta, O Sukeśin—these are counted among your hells. O best of Brāhmaṇas, your curiosity is great; so listen as I describe these hells, each meant for the experience of the fruits of one’s own actions. Sinners who fail to honor the meanings of the Purāṇas and Itihāsas, and those base ones who sow division between the sacrificer and the teacher, are split in two by the servants of Yama, using a saw called Karapatra. Those who steal a child’s fan or take food mixed with sand are cut in two by birds with sharp beaks. Above them, these birds stand and strike relentlessly. Crows, with beaks and claws like thunderbolts, tear at their tongues. They are cast face-down into filth, pus, and urine. Those who eat before feeding children, fathers, fire, or mothers are reborn as Sūcīmukhas—tormented by hunger, their bodies as immense as mountains. O king of the Rākṣasas, those who eat excrement go to hell. Those who eat without sharing are consigned to food made of phlegm. Their hands are thrust into cauldrons of terribly heated iron, and fire is blown into their eyes by Yama’s servants. Men who have touched wives, elders, or teachers with their feet are thrown into the dreadful Raurava hell, where flames burn up to their knees. For them, balls of heated iron are cast into their mouths, a sight astonishing to behold. Those who observe and utter slander against sinners are pierced in their ears by the servants of Dharmarāja. Those who break and destroy wells, ponds, and reservoirs are cut with very sharp, dreadful knives by Yama’s servants, and even their intestines are torn out at the anus by crows. In times of famine or confusion, such souls are thrown among food meant for dogs. Those tormented by mechanical devices are struck and beaten by the servants of Yama. Thus, each soul reaps the exact fruit of its actions, experiencing the consequences in these various hells as described.