Chapter 225 - Greatness of Anarakeśvara (Anaraka-īśvara)

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Īśvara said:

1-6. O great goddess, a pilgrim should thence go to the shrine of the deity Anarakeśvara situated to the north thereof (i.e. Indreśvara). It is destructive of all sins. O my beloved, I shall explain its greatness, listen attentively.

The city named Mathurā is well-known all over the earth. Formerly there was a Brāhmaṇa well-known as Devaśarmā in that city. He was born of the Agastya Gotra. He was learned but was greatly afflicted with poverty.

O goddess of Devas, there was another Brāhmaṇa well-versed in the Vedas. He had the same name and descended from the same Gotra. In form and age he was also the same as the other one.

Once Yama ordered his messenger Raudramūrdhaśiroruha (one with hideous head and hairs). “O, go to Mathurā quickly and bring Devaśarman.”

Accordingly the messenger came there and took Devaśarman. On seeing him Yama bowed down to him but said to the messenger angrily. “You have not been asked to fetch this Devaśarman. There is another Devaśarman whose span of life has come to an end. Bring him here. Take this Brāhmaṇa of long span of life back to that place quickly.”

Īśvara said:

7. Then the Brāhmaṇa said: “O Lord, I will not go home. O Lord of Suras, throughout my life I have been pestered by poverty and I have become disgusted. I shall spend the rest of my life here in your presence.”

Yama said:

8. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, no one comes here before time. If the time (duration of life) is over no one stays on the earth even for a short while.

9. That is why my name is well-known as Dharmarāja.

10. There is no one on the surface of the earth who can be called intimate friend or anyone worthy of being hated (by me). Even if a man is pierced by a hundred arrows, he does not die before the stipulated time.

11. If the time (span of life) is over, then if a man is pricked by even the tip of a blade of Kuśa grass, he does not remain alive.

Hence, O excellent Brāhmaṇa, go back before the body is cremated.

12-15. Then the Brāhmaṇa said, “O Lord, if you are sending me back, it behoves you to explain exactly the following question. O Lord, meeting good people cannot pass off in vain at any place. Particularly so in your case. So I am saying thus. O Yama, here we see extremely horrible Narakas (Hells). What is that (sinful) deed as a result of which a man goes to a Naraka? How many are these Narakas? Of what extent? O most excellent one among Suras, it behoves you to explain everything as it is.”

Yama said:

16. O Sir, listen. I shall mention how many of these Narakas are there. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, I shall also mention the act as a result of which a man goes there. Twenty-one Narakas are stated to be in my abode.

17. Here, O Brāhmaṇa, you see some people trapped between machines and tortured by my servants. They are ungrateful ones full of sins.

18-22. You see some whose eyes are plucked out by crows with steel-like beaks. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, the wives of others have been always eyed lustfully by these sinners of wicked hearts.

Here you see some sinners cooked in the Kumbhīpāka. They were indulging in perjury and utterances of harsh words.

Here some wicked-minded people who had been in close intimacy with other men’s wives are seen embracing heated iron pillars blazing like fires.

O excellent Brāhmaṇa, all these are guilty of breach of trust, these who lie in the middle of the Vaitaraṇī, turbid with putrid blood.

Those who are being cut and smashed to pieces in the hideous Asipatravana are those who had fled away forsaking their masters when a war was imminent.

23. These base men who are being dragged through heaps of blazing coals were those who indulged in treachery against their masters and were (atheists) engaged in controversial disputations.

24. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, those who never gifted shoes are base men. Here they move about bare-footed in the places full of iron spikes and cry aloud.

25. These base men who are tied to the trees in topsy-turvy position above burning fire are guilty of Brāhmaṇa-slaughter.

26. These people who are being bitten and eaten by mosquitoes, bugs, crows and other birds had been engaged in teasing persons performing Vratas and spoiling their Vratas as well.

27. These people with axes held against their necks are mostly like the people of wicked soul, killing cows and censuring deities and Brāhmaṇas.

28-29. Those who are being eaten by jackals and wolves with their jaws hard like steel are those who had misappropriated other people’s wealth and abducted other men’s wives.

O excellent Brāhmaṇa, these sinners who seem to be very hungry and go on eating their own flesh are ones by whom cooked food was never given to others.

These people who drink blood mixed with putrid fat are those who were always bent upon destroying Brāhmaṇas and cows.

30. These people who are tied to Kūṭaśālmalī (thorny species of trees intended for torture) and are being tortured with sharp thorns were those who were always eager to find out vulnerable foibles and weaknesses of others.

31. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, these people who are being cut with Krakacas (saws) were eager to eat prohibited food, thereby defiling their own religion and righteousness.

32. Those who sold virgins and spoiled the lives of virgins are now kept inside burning husks (Kārīṣa) and scorched by my servants.

33. (Here you see) some whose tongues are frequently plucked out, they are those who were engaged in transgressing their own promises and uttering falsehood.

34. These people who are frequently shivering and who are distressed due to chilliness are those who had taken away Brāhmaṇas’ money and temple assets.

35. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, huge and excessive burden has been placed upon the heads of those people. Hence, O excellent Brāhmaṇa, they howl horribly.

Yama said:

36. Thus, O excellent Brāhmaṇa, the nature and salient features of Narakas have been narrated to you. So also their ways of functioning.

37. O highly esteemed one, go back quickly lest your body should be burned.

The Brāhmaṇa said:

58. O most excellent one among Suras, tell me everything with single-pointed attention. How can a man avert falling into Naraka?

39. Persons of clever intellect say that friendship is formed on Saptapada (speaking of seven words/walking together seven steps). It behoves you to explain succinctly considering our friendship.

Yama said:

40. A man who goes to Prabhāsa Kṣetra and visits the excellent shrine of Anarakeśvara devoutly will never see Naraka.

41-42a. It is this Liṅga that was installed by me, endowed with devotion to Śiva. O excellent Brāhmaṇa, this secret has been divulged to you out of love. At my instance this should be guarded assiduously.

42b. The Brāhmaṇa who was told thus went to the earth himself.

43. He regained his body. On recollecting those words of Dharmarāja he became wonderstruck.

44. O lady of excellent beauty, he went there (i.e. to Prabhāsa) and always worshipped the Lord as long as he lived. Then he attained the greatest Siddhi.

45. Hence a man should devoutly and assiduously visit the deity. Even if he is a sinner, he never falls into a hell.

46. He who performs Śrāddha there on the fourteenth day in the dark half of Aśvayuk, in accordance with the injunctions, shall derive the merit of a horse-sacrifice.

47. The hide of a black antelope should be gifted there to a Brāhmaṇa who has mastered the Vedas. He is honoured in heaven for as many years as there are hairs on the hide.