The Vishnu Purana
Chapters
The Vishnu Purana: Book II: Chapter VI

an informer, one who lives by his wife's prostitution 7, one who attends to secular affairs on the days of the Parvas (or full and new moon, &c.) 8, an incendiary, a treacherous friend, a soothsayer, one who performs religious ceremonies for rustics, and those who sell the acid Asclepias, used in sacrifices, go to the Rudhirándha hell (whose wells are of blood). He who destroys a bee-hive, or pillages a hamlet, is condemned to the Vaitarańí hell. He who causes impotence, trespasses on others' lands, is impure, or who lives by fraud, is punished in the hell called (black, or) Krishńa. He who wantonly cuts down trees goes to the Asipatravana hell (the leaves of whose trees are swords): and a tender on sheep, and hunter of deer, to the hell termed Vahnijwála (or fiery flame); as do those who apply fire to unbaked vessels (potters). The violator of a vow, and one who breaks the rules of his order, falls into the Sandansa (or hell of pincers): and the religious student who sleeps in the day, and is, though unconsciously, defiled; and they who, though mature, are instructed in sacred literature by their children, receive punishment in the hell called Śwabhojana (where they feed upon dogs). These hells, and hundreds and thousands of others, are the places in which sinners pay the penalty of their crimes. As numerous as are the offences that men commit, so many are the hells in which they are punished: and all who deviate from the duties imposed upon them by their caste and condition, whether in thought, word, or deed, are sentenced to punishment in the regions of the damned 9.

The gods in heaven are beheld by the inhabitants of hell, as they move with their heads inverted; whilst the god, as they cast their eyes

downwards, behold the sufferings of those in hell 10. The various stages of existence, Maitreya, are inanimate things, fish, birds, animals, men, holy men, gods, and liberated spirits; each in succession a thousand degrees superior to that which precedes it: and through these stages the beings that are either in heaven or in hell are destined to proceed, until final emancipation be obtained 11. That sinner goes to Naraka who neglects the due expiation of his guilt.