1. Hell for the ones who partake in Shudra’s food
Angiras Samhita 1:56
[By taking] a Brahmana’s food, [one attains to] poverty; [by taking] a Kshatriya’s food, [one becomes] a beast; [by taking] a Vaishya’s food, one becomes a Shudra; (and by taking] a Shudra’s food, one, forsooth, goes to hell.” (source)
Parashar Smriti 12.35
A Brahman who gets his food habitually cooked by a Shoodra woman, or has got a Shoodra woman for the matron of his house, is shunned by the pitrus and the gods, and goes to the hell called Battrava.” (source)
2. Hell for worshipping idols made by Shudras
Skanda Purana 2.4.3.35-37
He who worships and bows to the idols installed by Sudras, goes to hell along with ten ancestors and ten descendants. If one touches the idol worshipped by a Shudra, he will burn (get burnt) his family up to the seventh generation. Hence one must enquire and worship an idol that has been installed by Brahmanas. Better than this is an idol made by Devas. It yields worldly pleasures and salvation.” (source)
3. Hell for causing the mixture of castes
Brahma Purana 106.121
There is a hell named Gudapaka. It is full of boiling eddies of treacle and molasses. A man responsible for the mixture in castes is thrown into it. He is burnt therein.” (source)
4. Hell for giving Shudra’s the leavings of a Shraddha
Manusmriti 3:249
He who, having eaten at a Shraddha, gives the leavings to a Shudra, this foolish man falls headlong into the Kalasutra hell.” (source)
5. Shudras who do not serve the upper castes goes to Hell
Parashar Smriti 2.14
Abandoning the service of the regenerate castes, the Shoodras who betake to improper occupations become short-lived beings, and undoubtedly go to hell.” (source)
6. Hell for censuring and rejecting the Scriptures
Skanda Purana 5.2.67.23-31
Even as the men were speaking thus, O lady of renown, a voice issued from the firmament as uttered by me in compassion: “Do not say anything out of the way. The immutable Shrutis should not be censured. The Puraṇas spoken by Brahmā, the creator of the worlds, cannot be otherwise. The atheists who censure the Puraṇas and Dharmaśāstras fall into the terrible hell and remain there till all the living beings are annihilated.” (source)
Padma Purana 4.1.8-13
‘For a man who would create an obstacle in the act of the narration of Viṣṇu’s account, there is no escape from hell for a hundred period of Manu. For those who, having heard the account (as narrated) in the Puraṇas, censure or scoff at it, always have the very afflicting hells on their hands (i.e. waiting for them). The sin earned in the previous existences (of him) who desires to listen to the account of Śrīkṛṣṇa, perishes just at that moment only. I do not know what (best) position the man who would devoutly listen to Śrīkṛṣṇa’s account will have on hearing it.” (source)
Brahma Purana 106.135
There is a hell named Atratiṣṭha. It contains putrescent urine and faeces. Those who censure Smṛtis and the Vedas fall into it with faces downwards.” (source)
Mahabharata 3.31
A rejector of proofs, a slanderer of the interpretation of the Vedic scriptures, a transgressor urged by lust and covetousness, that fool goes to hell.” (source)
Gita 16.23-24
He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination. One should therefore understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should act so that he may gradually be elevated.” (source)
7. Hell for Buddhists and Jains
Devi Bhagavatam 12.9.91-100
Some of them began to mark on their bodies various heretical signs, e.g., Taptamūdrā, etc.; some became Kāpālikas; some became Kaulas; some Bauddhas and some Jainas. Many of them, though learned, became lewd and addicted to other’s wives and engaged themselves in vain and bad disputations. For these, they will have to go again surely to the Kumbhīpāka hell…” (source)
Devi Bhagavatam 12.9.63-81
O vile Brâhmanas! You will be always averse to see the festivals of S’iva, to worship S’iva, to Rudrâksa, to the Bel leaves, and to the holy Bhasma (ashes). You will be wholly indifferent to practise the right ways of living as presented in the Vedas and Smritis, to preserve your conduct good and to observe the path of knowledge to Advaita Jñânam, to practise restraint of senses and continence, to the daily practices of Sandhyâ Bandanam, to performing the Agnihotra ceremonies, to the study of the Vedas according to one’s own S’âkhâ or to the daily studies thereof as to teach those things or to give, as gifts, cows, etc., or to perform the S’râddhas of the fathers, etc., or to perform Krichchra Chândrâyana and other penances. O Vile Brâhmanas! As you are ready to do these mean things, you will have to suffer for this that you will desist from worshipping the Most Adorable S’rî Bhagavatî Devî and that you will worship the other Devas with faith and devotion and hold on your bodies S’amkha, Chakra and other signs. You will follow the Kâpâlikas, Bauddha S’âstras and other heretics. You will sell your father, mother, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters and even your wives too! You will sell the Vedas, Tîrthas, and your Dharma. You will not feel ashamed in any way to sell all these. You will certainly have faith in Kâpâlika and Bauddha opinions, Pâñcharâtras and Kâma S’âstras…” (source)
Agni Purana 16.1-6
I am describing the manifestation (of Viṣṇu) as Buddha, by reading and hearing which one gets wealth. Once in the battle between devas and asuras, devas were defeated by the daityas (demons, sons of Diti). They sought refuge in the lord saying, “Protect us! Protect us!”. He (Viṣṇu), who is of the form of illusory delusion became the son of Śuddhodana. He deluded those demons. Those, who had abandoned the path laid down in the Vedas, became the Bauddhas and from them others who had abandoned the Vedas. He then became the Arhat (Jaina). He then made others as Arhats. Thus the heretics came into being devoid of vedic dharmas. They did such a work deserving hell (as reward). They would receive even from the vile. All of them became mixed Dasyus and devoid of good conduct at the end of Kaliyuga. Of the Vājasaneyaka veda (Śuklayajurveda) only fifteen sections will be existing. Non-aryans in the form of kings would devour men who wear the costumes of righteousness and have a taste for unrighteous thing.” (source)
8. Hell for Atheists and Non-believers
Skanda Purana 5.3.227.1-4
Thus, succinctly and in accordance with their importance these Tīrthas have been recounted to you. O son of Pāṇḍu, no one is competent to enumerate in detail all the Tīrthas. This river Narmadā is sacred and pure. It is well-known in all the three worlds. She is the most excellent of all the rivers, and a favourite of Mahādeva. If anyone always remembers mentally and reflects on Narmaḍā, O king, he obtains quickly the excellent benefit of a hundred Cāṇḍrayaṇas. Persons who have no faith, those who are atheists fall into the terrible Naraka. So said Parameśvara.” (source)
Vamana Purana 40.35-36
Therefore Dharma is not to be shunned, for Dharma is the supreme goal. Men devoid of Dharma go to the wide Raurava hell. “Dharma, they say, enables safe passage in heaven and here and Adharma leads to downfall in this world and the next.” (source)
Kurma Purana 2.19.31-32
If any Brahmana does not practise his duty either due to atheism or due to lethargy, he falls into the terrible hells and is reborn as a crow. There is no other way for liberation excepting performance of the duties of one’s own Asrama (stage of life). Hence one should perform the holy rites for the satisfaction of Paramesthin (god-Brahma).” (source)
Kurma Purana 2.24.7
Either due to atheistic feelings or due to lethargy, if anyone does not wish to maintain sacrificial fires, nor does he perform Yajfias, he falls into many hells.” (source)
Narada Purana 1.15.79-80
I shall tell you the sufferings of the atheists who turn their faces away from Hara and Hari. They will be compelled to eat salt for ten million years. Then, they are scorched and fried in red hot sand in Raurava hell. These men of sinful acts remain in that hell for the period of a Kalpa. O ruler of men, in other hells also (they are tortured) like this.” (source)
Shrimad Bhagavatam 11.5.15
The conditioned souls become completely bound in affection to their own corpselike material bodies and their relatives and paraphernalia. In such a proud and foolish condition, the conditioned souls envy other living entities as well as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, who resides in the heart of all beings. Thus enviously offending others, the conditioned souls gradually fall down into hell.” (source)
Skanda Purana 5.2.67.23-31
a voice issued from the firmament as uttered by me in compassion: “Do not say anything out of the way. The immutable Śrutis should not be censured. The Purāṇas spoken by Brahmā, the creator of the worlds, cannot be otherwise. The atheists who censure the Purāṇas and Dharmaśāstras fall into the terrible hell and remain there till all the living beings are annihilated.” (source)
Skanda Purana 7.1.3.144
Thus the foolish ones will say, others will laugh. The non-beleivers, the people destined to fall into hell, get their minds overwhelmed by sins. At the advent of Kali Age, they will never gain Siddhi.” (source)
Linga Purana 2.11.35-37
If people forsake Linga and begin to worship other deities they will go to the Raurava hell along with the king, their ruler. If a king ceases to be a devotee of Siva and becomes attached to other Devas, it is like the behaviour of a young woman who discarding her husband revels among her paramours.” (source)
Kurma Purana 1.12.259-261
The hells such as Tamisra and others were created beneath the earth by god Brahma for those people who do not practise the duties prescribed in my Dharma. There is no scripture other than the Vedas which lays down what is Dharma. A person who takes delight in other things (not sanctioned by the Vedas), should not even talked to by twice-born persons viz. Brahmanas, Ksatriyas and Vaisyas. Those various scriptures which are contrary to Srutis and Smrtis seen in this world, are based on Tamo-guna or ignorance. Belief in them or practising in accordance with them is a Tamasa activity.” (source)
Padma Purana 5.96.49b-76a
Those men who are averse to religion through their deeds, mind and words, and who are without (i.e. who do not have) devotion to Viṣṇu, go to hell. Those men who look upon Brahmā, Śaṅkara and Viṣṇu as different (from one another), and who are detached from knowledge about Viṣṇu, go to hell. That man who, through lust or delusion, gives up the act proper for his family or country, and would do something else, goes to hell. A man who worships what should not be worshipped, and does not worship what should be worshipped, and is disinterested in the knowledge about Viṣṇu, suffers in many hells.” (source)
9. Hell for delaying daughter’s marriage beyond puberty
Parashar Smriti 7.5-6
When the twelfth year is reached by the female child, if the guardian does not give her away in marriage, her forefathers drink, without interruption, during each succeeding month, whatever blood is passed in her courses. The mother, and the father, and likewise the eldest brother, all these three relatives will go to hell, if before menstruation they neglect to marry the girl.” (source)
Samvarta Smriti Verse 66-68
A maiden eight years [old] becomes Gouri; one of nine years a Rohini; and of ten years, a Kanya (maiden); and after that, a Rajasvala (a woman in menses). By seeing a maiden in menses, her mother, father and eldest brother these three go to hell. Therefore one should espouse a maiden before she has menstruated; the marriage of an eight years old maiden is most preferrable.” (source)
10. Hell for Adulterers
Vishnu Purana 2.6.11-13
and he who is disrespectful to his spiritual guide, who is abusive to his betters, who reviles the Vedas, or who sells them, who associates with women in a prohibited degree, into the Lavaṇa (salt) hell.” (source)
Brahma Purana 106.90-97
The hell named Salmala contains blazing sturdy thorny shrubs. The woman who lives with many men has to embrace these thorny shrubs. She becomes wiserable thereby.” (source)
11. Hell for Blasphemers
Kurma Purana 1.16.168b-170a
Those who consider Visnu as the unmanifest Atman and who are endowed with faith, but who worship Isana with a different vision (i.e. regard him as different from Visnu) are not my beloved ones. Those deluded persons who hate the creator of the world are roasted and cooked in Raurava and other hells and are not released there from even after hundreds and crores of kalpas.” (source)
Gita 9.11-12
Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be. Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated.” (source)
Brahma Vaivarta Purana Krishna Janma Khanda 40.116-141
A sinner who slanders Brahma, the creator of the world, the goddess Durga who is the best of female deities, Laksmi, Saraswati, Sita, Tulsi, Ganga, the Vedas, the mother of the Vedas, a vow, devotion, mystic formula pertaining to worship of the spiritual guide who gives formula will dwell in the hell called the ‘Blind well’ for half the period of the longevity allotted to Brahma, where bitten by snakes he will scream dreadfully. Whoever slanders Lord Harisikesa Visnu, literally, lord of senses) regarding him as an ordinary god or talks ill of the Puranas (which engender faith in Hair and are more praiseworthy than the S’rutis) or blames the cow herdess, Raddha, who sprang out of half of the body of Krisna or the ever-adorable Brahmins must dwell in the hell called Avatoda so long as Brahma exists. He dwells there with his feet upwards and face downwards surrounded by snakes. There, bitten by fearful snakes, he screams horribly and oppressed by hunger, he consumes saliva, ordure and urine. Then the fearful myrmidons of Yama in anger thrust torches into his mouth, chastise him in the morning, noon and evening, storm and thunder. He is then very much frightened and with the torments caused by beating he is rendered thirsty and drinks urine to quench his thrust.” (source)
Padma Purana 4.17.14-28
Formerly in Tretayuga there was a sinful brahmana by name Sudarsana. O best brahmana, on the day of (i.e. sacred to) Visnu he would always eat (food, i.e. would not observe a fast). He always censured the sacred texts and always condemned the vows…O brahmana, when once the time of death arrived, he died. The messengers of Yama came (to his place), and binding him they took him to Yama’s abode…Suta said: O brahmana, then, by Yama’s order his terrible messengers threw him into faeces (where he remained) for more than a hundred ages of Manu. Freed from there he became (i.e. was born as) a village pig on the earth. For a long time he would remain in hell due to his having eaten food on the day of (i.e. sacred to) Visnu…” (source)
Skanda Purana 4.2.75.41
Those who are engaged in censuring Śiva in the midst of the devotees of Śiva, fall into the terrible hell as long as the Sun and the Moon (shine).” (source)
Shiva Purana 1.24.45-46
Fie upon the forehead that is devoid of ash. Fie upon the village that has no Śiva temple. Fie upon that life that does not worship Śiva. Fie upon the lore that does not refer to Śiva. Great indeed is the sin accruing even from the sight of those who censure Śiva who is the support of three worlds and those who censure the man wearing Tripuṇḍra on his forehead. They are on a par with pigs of rubbish heap, demons, donkeys, dogs, jackals and worms. Such sinful persons are hellish fiends even from their very birth.” (source)
Padma Purana 5.20.39-44
Those sinners who (even) once censure the śālagrāma stone, are cooked in the Kumbhīpāka (hell) till deluge. The mother, the father, the groups of relatives of that foolish man who prohibits a man on the point of worshipping (a śālagrāma stone), rot in hell…” (source)
Vamana Purana 12.3-4
Those who always censure the Vedas, gods and the Brahmanas, and the sinners who do not respect the teachings of the Puranas and Itihasas, those who find fault with their preceptors, those who hinder the performance of sacrifices, those who prevent donor from making gifts – all fall in these hells.” (source)
Vishnu Purana 2.6.11-13
and he who is disrespectful to his spiritual guide, who is abusive to his betters, who reviles the Vedas, or who sells them, who associates with women in a prohibited degree, into the Lavaṇa (salt) hell…” (source)
Mahabharata 3.31
A rejector of proofs, a slanderer of the interpretation of the Vedic scriptures, a transgressor urged by lust and covetousness, that fool goes to hell.” (source)
Brahma Purana 106.135
There is a hell named Atratistha. It contains putrescent urine and faeces. Those who censure Smrtis and the Vedas fall into it with faces downwards” (source)
Brahma Purana 105.40-45
All these have death under delusion-the perjuror, he who tells lies, he who kills others and he who censures the Vedas. The attendants of Yama are terrible. They have putrid odour. They have massive iron clubs in their hands. These persons are wicked in their designs. When they appear in front of him the dead man begins to tremble. He cries incessantly calling out his mother, father and brothers, O brahmins. That word Yama is indistinct…” (source)
Vayu Purana 2.39.156-157
He who sells the Vedas, he who blasphemes the Vedas, those who abuse or disrespect elders or hit them with wounding words and one who carnally approaches forbidden women – all these fall into hell named Sabala, A thief or a trespasser falls into the hell Vimoha…Those who hate Devas and Brahmanas, those who do not worship preceptors and those who contaminate precious gems fall into the hell Krmibhaksya.” (source)
Kurma Purana 2.16.38-40
One should scrupulously avoid blaspheming Devas and the Vedas. O great sages, no atonement is seen ordained in the scriptures in the case of a Brahmana who censures Devas, sages, Brahmanas, or the Vedas. If a man loudly decries or censures the preceptors, Devas or the Vedas, he shall be cooked in the hell Raurava for hundreds of crores of Kalpas and even more.” (source)
Skanda Purana 1.3b.5.17-18
Sinners are made to bear heavy burdens by the messengers of Yama. A Brahmana-slayer shall be (reborn as) a tuberculosis patient…He who censures the Vedas shall become a Candala.” (source)
Vishnu Purana 1.6.29-31
Those, however, in whose hearts the dross of sin derived from Time (Kála) was still more developed, assented not to sacrifices, but reviled both them and all that resulted from them, the gods, and the followers of the Vedas. Those abusers of the Vedas, of evil disposition and conduct, and seceders from the path of enjoined duties, were plunged in wickedness…For those who neglect their duties, who revile the Vedas, and obstruct religious rites, the places assigned after death are the terrific regions of darkness, of deep gloom, of fear, and of great terror; the fearful hell of sharp swords, the hell of scourges and of a waveless sea.” (source)
Brahmanda Purana 3.19.59b-60
One who censures and reviles at yogins, meditators and those who desire Moksa, shall fall into a terrible hell. There is no doubt that even he who listens to the same falls into the hell of terrible appearance and is enveloped in darkness al round. By reviling at leading Yogins a man never goes to heaven.” (source)
Brahma Purana 20.12-13
He who indulges in sexual intercourse with his ■daughter or daughter-in-law is hurled into Mahajvala hell. He who insults preceptors and elders, he who reviles at them, he who slanders the Vedas, he who sells the Vedas and he who cohabits with the forbidden women falls into Sabala hell, O brahmins.” (source)
12. Hell for thieves
Vayu Purana 2.39.156-157
He who sells the Vedas, he who blasphemes the Vedas, those who abuse or disrespect elders or hit them with wounding words and one who carnally approaches forbidden women – all these fall into hell named Sabala, A thief or a trespasser falls into the hell Vimoha…Those who hate Devas and Brahmanas, those who do not worship preceptors and those who contaminate precious gems fall into the hell Krmibhaksya.” (source)
Brahma Purana 105.123-128
The following types of sinners enter through the southern gate : Those who kill brahmins, cows, boys, old men, sick men, persons who seek refuge, persons who have trusted, women, friends and persons who have no weapons; those foolish persons who indulge in sexual intercourse with the forbidden women; those who steal other men’s riches; those who misappropriate money deposited or kept in trust…All these people enter through the southern door.” (source)
13. Hell for wives who are not obedient
Skanda Purana 3.2.7.37
If a woman transgresses the injunction of her husband and performs holy rites, fasts and other observances, she takes away the longevity of her husband. After her death, she falls into a hell.” (source)
Brahma Viavarta Purana Prakriti Khanda 31.19-21
The one who punishes a Brahmana and by whose terror a Brahmana gets terrified, such a wicked fellow falls in the hell named Prakampana and remains there for the number of years equivalent to the number of the hair on the body of a Brahmana. The woman who looks at her husband in rage and also utters harsh words to him, falls into the hell named Ulkdmukha. The messengers of Yama continuously insert the burning wood into her mouth and she remains in that hell suffering the torture striking her head. She is then reborn in the human race and becomes a widow seven times. Thus suffering the misfortune of becoming a widow, she suffers from ailments and thereafter she is purified.” (source)
Brahma Viavarta Purana Krishna Janma Khanda 75.43-52
The one who does not adore the teacher, has to fall into the terrific hell, the wicked woman or a foolish woman who disregarding her husband resembling Hari and neglects him besides denouncing him, she has to fall into the kumbhipaka hell. If one denounces her husband by evil words she has to be born a crow and if one resorts to physical violence against her husband, she has to be born as a pig by becoming angry, she has to be born as a snake.” (source)
14. Hell for offering forbidden flowers to Vishnu
Varaha Purana 134.61-64
Varaha said: O Earth, I shall tell you what happens to the man who offers forbidden flower for me…Fools alone dare to offer me like this and they fall into the hell called Raurava, and then, because of their ignorance, undergo a lot of suffering. They remain as monkeys for ten years, cats for thirteen years.” (source)
15. Hell for marrying before your elder brother
Valmiki Ramayana 4.17.36
The regicide, the brahmincide, the slayer of the cow, the thief and the one who finds pleasure in the destruction of other beings, the unbeliever and the one who weds before his elder brother, all these enter hell.” (source)
16. Hell for not performing Shradhha
Brahmanda Purana 3.19.57b-58a
After hearing these rules and regulations regarding Śrāddha, if any man does not perform it, he is an atheist and he shall fall into the terrible hell enveloped in darkness.” (source)
17. Hell for not worshipping the Shivling
Shiva Purana 1.19.26
If a brahmin does not worship the earthen phallic image he shall fall in the terrible hell with a terrible trident pierced through his body.” (source)
Devi Bhagavatam Purana 9.35.1-44
If any Brāhmaṇa does not worship with devotion the phallic emblem of Śiva, he goes to the dreadful Śūlaprota Kuṇḍa for that heinous sin. He remains there for one hundred years; then he becomes a quadruped animal for seven births and again he becomes born a Devala Brāhmin for seven births when he becomes freed.” (source)
18. Hell for plucking flowers from temple parks
Shiva Purana 5.10.19-20
If men, out of greed, pluck and sniff at flowers of the temple parks, or wear them on their heads, their heads are covered with iron spikes and their noses are filled with plenty of acid and other things.” (source)
