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Naraka (Sanskrit: नरक) is a term in Buddhist cosmology[1] usually referred to in English as "hell" (or "hell realm") or "purgatory". It is where the souls of the sinners go after death. The sinners here experience mental pain, or simply "suffer" in a mental manner. There are realms in this Buddhist hell, where each realm transcends each other qualitatively in nature and aspects. The more sins you commit, the deeper you go in the realms of Naraka. [2][3] Another term used for the concept of hell in earlier writings is niraya.[4] The Narakas of Buddhism are closely related to Diyu, the hell in Chinese mythology. A naraka differs from one concept of hell in Christianity in two respects: firstly, beings are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment or punishment; and secondly, the length of a being's stay in a naraka is not eternal,[5][6] though it is usually incomprehensibly long.[7][8]
A being is born into naraka as a direct result of its accumulated actions (karma) and resides there for a finite period of time until that karma has achieved its full result.[9][10] After its karma is used up, it will be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of karma that had not yet ripened.[11]
The eight hot naraka appear in Jātaka texts and form the basis of the hell system in Mahayana Buddhism, according to them the hells are located deep under the southern continent of Jambudvīpa denoting India. They are built one upon the other like storeys, the principle is that the more severe kind of damnation is located under the previous one. There are differences in the conception of the naraka's height, breadth, length and depth and distance, meaning that there is not a clear canonic system of naraka at this point of time besides their size.[11]
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