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Naraka is the Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 word for the underworld
Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
; literally, of man. According to Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
 and Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
, Naraka is a place of torment, or Hell
Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
.

Hinduism
Naraka or Neraka in Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
, is compared to the Abrahamic concept of Hell
Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
. It is mentioned especially in dharmasastra
Dharmasastra

Dharmasastra is a genre of Sanskrit texts and refers to the sastra, or Indic branch of learning, pertaining to Hindu dharma, religious and legal duty....
s, itihasas and s but also in Vedic samhitas
Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in History of India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest Hindu scripture of Hinduism....
, Aranyaka
Aranyaka

The Aranyakas are part of the Hinduism sruti , the four Vedas; these religion texts were composed in Late Vedic Sanskrit typical of the Brahmanas and early Upanishads; indeed, they frequently form part of either the Brahmanas or the Upanishads....
s and s. Some Upanisads speak of 'darkness' instead of hell. A summary of , Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is an important Sanskrit Hindu scripture. It is revered as a sacred scripture of Hinduism, and considered as one of the most important religious classics of the world....
, mentions hell several times.






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Naraka is the Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 word for the underworld
Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
; literally, of man. According to Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
 and Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
, Naraka is a place of torment, or Hell
Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
.

Hinduism


Naraka or Neraka in Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
, is compared to the Abrahamic concept of Hell
Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
. It is mentioned especially in dharmasastra
Dharmasastra

Dharmasastra is a genre of Sanskrit texts and refers to the sastra, or Indic branch of learning, pertaining to Hindu dharma, religious and legal duty....
s, itihasas and s but also in Vedic samhitas
Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in History of India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest Hindu scripture of Hinduism....
, Aranyaka
Aranyaka

The Aranyakas are part of the Hinduism sruti , the four Vedas; these religion texts were composed in Late Vedic Sanskrit typical of the Brahmanas and early Upanishads; indeed, they frequently form part of either the Brahmanas or the Upanishads....
s and s. Some Upanisads speak of 'darkness' instead of hell. A summary of , Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is an important Sanskrit Hindu scripture. It is revered as a sacred scripture of Hinduism, and considered as one of the most important religious classics of the world....
, mentions hell several times. Even Adi Sankara mentions it in his commentary on Vedanta sutra
Brahma Sutras

The Brahma sutras, also known as Vedanta Sutras, constitute the Nyaya prasthana, the logical starting point of the Vedanta philosophy ....
. Still, some people like members of Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj

Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded in India by Swami Dayananda in 1875. He was a sannyasa who believed in the infallible Moral absolutism of the Vedas....
 don't accept the existence of Naraka or consider it metaphorical.

In Puranas like Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana

The Bhagavata Purana is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hinduism literature, and is Sanskrit for "The Book of God". Its primary focus is the process of bhakti yoga, which is Sanskrit for "Union with God through devotion for Him", in which Krishna is unequivocally declared to be Svayam Bhagavan....
, Garuda Purana
Garuda Purana

Garuda Purana is one of the Puranas which are part of the Hinduism body of texts known as smriti....
 and Visnu Purana there are elaborate descriptions of many hells. They are situated above Garbhodaka ocean.

Yama
Yama (Hinduism)

This article is about the deity Yama in Hinduism. For yama in the sense of a code of conduct, see Yamas. For a general article about Yama, see Yama....
, Lord of Justice, puts human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
 beings after death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 for appropriate punishment, for example, in boiling oil. Even Mukti-yogyas
Mukti-yogyas

In Dvaita theology, Mukti-yogyas is a class of souls classified by Shri Madhvacharya as eligible for mukti or moksha. They are Jivas or souls who are receptive to spiritual values, and through repeated embodiments they evolve into better and better men, and finally through concentrated spiritual discipline and God's grace attain salvation....
 (souls eligible for mukti or moksha, liberation), and Nitya-samsarins
Nitya-samsarins

In Dvaita theology, Nitya-samsarins, as classified by Shri Madhvacharya, are souls which are eternally reincarnation. These souls delight only in worldliness Value s and feel no need for ethics and Spirituality life....
 (forever transmigrating ones in Dvaita
Dvaita

Dvaita is a dualist school of Vedanta Hindu philosophy. The Sanskrit word dvaita means "dualism". This school was established as a new development in the Vedanta exegetical tradition in the thirteenth century CE with the south Indian Vaishnavism theologian Madhvacharya, who wrote commentaries on a number of Hindu scriptures....
 theology) can experience Naraka for expiation. After the period of punishment is complete, they are reborn on earth in human or animal bodies. Therefore neither naraka nor svarga
Svarga

In Hinduism, Svarga is set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a Heaven where the righteous live in a paradise before their next reincarnation....
 are permanent abodes.

Yama Loka is the abode of Lord Yama. It is not equivalent to the concept of Hell
Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
 in Christianity and other religions, as Yama is also Dharmaraja or God of justice; it is a temporary purgatorium for sinners or papi
PAPI

PAPI or Papi may refer to:* Performance Application Programming Interface in Computer Science* Point of Access for Providers of Information...
s. According to Hindu mythology, Yama's divine assistant Lord Chitragupta
Chitragupta

Chitragupta is a Hindu god assigned with the task of keeping complete records of actions of human beings on the earth, and upon their death, deciding as regards sending them to the Svarga or the Naraka, depending on their actions on the earth....
 maintains a record of the individual deeds of every person in the world, and based on the some total of his deeds, dispatches the soul of the deceased either to Svarga
Svarga

In Hinduism, Svarga is set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a Heaven where the righteous live in a paradise before their next reincarnation....
 (Heaven) or to the various Narakas according to the nature of their sins. For example, conversion to Pa?anda, i.e. forbidden religions (non-vedic, incl. Buddhism, Jainism, Atheism (Nastikavada) and alien religions including Christianity, Islam, etc.,) would fetch adopatram, (Sanskrit:inverted leaf) where the sinner would be scourged with spiny leaves by the attendants of Yama (called Yama kinnaras) until his sins were cleansed. The mythology describes that even people who have done a majority of good deeds could come to Yama Loka for redemption from the small sins they have committed, and once the punishments have been served for those sins they could be sent for rebirth or to heaven. In the epic of Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
, even the Pandavas (who represent righteousness and virtuousness) spent a brief time in hell for their small sins.

At the time of death, sin
Sin

Sin is a term used mainly in a religion context to describe an act that violates a morality rule, or the state of having committed such a violation....
ful souls are vulnerable for capture by Yamadutas, servants of Yama (who comes personally only in special cases). Yama ordered his servants to leave Vaishnavas alone. The attributes of Vaishnavas are urdhva pundra tilaka
Tilaka

In Hinduism, the tilaka or tilak is a mark worn on the forehead and other parts of the body. Tilaka may be worn on a daily basis or for special religious occasions only, depending on different customs....
 (Tiruman and Sri Choornam for Sri Vaishnavas or Gopi Chandan for Gaudiya Vaishnava
Gaudiya Vaishnavism

Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a Vaishnavism religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in India in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to Gauda with Vaishnavism meaning the worship of Vishnu....
s), tapa samskara (shoulders branded with Sankha and Chakra), and tulasi mala (necklace/garland of tulasi beads). Sri Vaishnavas are taken by Vishnudutas to Vaikuntha and Gaudiya Vaishnavas to Goloka
Goloka

Goloka is the eternal abode of Krishna, Svayam bhagavan according to some Vaishnava schools, including Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the Swaminarayan Sampraday....
.

In Buddhism


Buddhist texts describe the terrible sufferings of beings in the many subterranean layers of Narakas in intricate if not always consistent detail. However, Naraka in Buddhism is not equivalent to Hell in Christian
Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
 faith. Naraka is a purgatory
Purgatory

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven....
 where the soul gets purified of sin by sufferings, so Naraka and Purgatory are equivalent to Hamistagan
Hamistagan

As described in the 9th century Zoroastrian text Dadestan-i Denig , hamistagan is a neutral place or state for the departed souls of those whose good deeds and bad deeds were equal in life....
 of Zoroastrianism, and not Hell. Hell is also a state of consciousness and this suffering need not take place after death, when the soul has vacated the physical body, but during incarnation. This can be related to the law of karma
Karma

Karma is the concept of "action" or "deed" in Indian religions understood as that which causes the entire cycle of causality originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhism philosophies....
 where one's inner and outer actions will sooner or later bear their fruits.

See also

  • Patala
    Patala

    Patala is a town and a nagar panchayat in Ghaziabad district in the Indian States and territories of India of Uttar Pradesh....
  • Hell
    Hell

    In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
  • Underworld
    Underworld

    In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
  • Yama
    Yama

    Yama , also known as Yamaraja in India, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, and Enma in Japan, is the lord of death, first recorded in the Vedas....


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