49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



body of Parsis still to be found in Persia and India. According 

 to the Parsi belief, the good after death pass safely over the bridge 

 Chinevat, which stretches from Mount Alborj up to Garotman, 

 the blissful realm of Ormuzd;' while the wicked fall from the 

 bridge into the Gulf of Duzahk, which yawns beneath, where they 

 are tormented by dsevas. At the end of the world, a comet will 

 fall upon the earth, causing a vast conflagration, by which the 

 whole earth will be melted, and the molten stream will pour down 

 into Duzahk, carrying with it the sinners who are on earth at the 

 time. Here they and the earlier comers, except those already 

 redeemed by the prayers of friends, will burn for three days 

 and nights and then thus purified will be received into heaven. 

 Afterward all the dsevas, and even the arch-fiend Ahriman, will 

 have their evil burned away and will also enter the abode of 

 light. 



The Laws of Manu, one of the early sacred books of Brahman- 

 ism, names twenty-one hells. Punishments for different sins are, 

 to be reborn into one of these hells, or to return to earth as a beg- 

 gar, cripple, or leper, or in the form of a rat, a sna^e, or a louse, 

 the penalty being in each case appropriate to the crime. Pun- 

 ishment need not be endless for any one, as each successive life 

 is a new probation, in which righteousness wins admission to a 

 higher stage of existence. 



In Buddhism, which is one of the religions of China, and the 

 state religion of Thibet and other countries of eastern Asia, future 

 punishment is provided for in a great hell, comprising a system 

 of one hundred and thirty-six lesser hells. The torments of these 

 hells are depicted in many Buddhist books and paintings, with 

 much detail and vividness. 



The punishments recorded in the Jade Record and other works on future tor- 

 ment give frightful pictures of the torture of bad men.; in many Buddhist temples 

 these are represented by small figures, and in others by life-size images. Men are 

 ground to powder, the dust becoming ants, fleas, and lice; pestled in a mortar, 

 and mashed to jelly in iron mortars ; chopped in slices with a knife and hacked to 

 pieces with hatchets; the tongue of deceit and lying pulled out; sawn asunder; 

 the bones and flesh crushed by falling mountains; women cast into a lake of blood ; 

 crossing the narrow bridge and falling among fiery serpents; the caldron of oil 

 for those who waste rice ; drunkards with the cangue and standing on the hands ; 

 quack doctors with hands and feet tied, and a large stone on the back, the fierce 

 judge administering hot drinks; a man going into the mill head foremost, with 

 the legs sticking out, and a dog coming out below in the transmigration; a head- 

 less ghost pulling his murderer to judgment ; disemboweled, tossed on a hill of 

 knives ; cast on a lake of ice ; chained to a red-hot cylinder ; iron dungeon, dark- 

 ness within and fire without; lashed with burning iron wires; when thirsty, 

 drinking molten iron; eating red-hot iron balls ; besides, there is the freezing hell, 

 the burning hell, and the hell of bubbling filth.* 



* 



The Dragon, Image, and Demon, by the Rev. Hampden C. Du Bose, pp. 311-313. 



