Body as a Site of Punishment and Its Moral Values in The Garuda Purana

Abstract

The Garuda Purana is one of the eighteen puranas that describes the post death phase and journey of the soul in detail in Vedic philosophy connecting it with ritual practices particularly with death rituals. In this context, this article explores the body as a site of punishment with the help of imageries of suffering and torture given in the hell which are narrated in the Uttarakhanda of The Garuda Purana. The objective of the paper is to examine the portrayal of body as a site of punishment in The Garuda Purana. To obtain the objective, this paper has adopted the textual analysis, interpretive and and comparative method using the body perspective proposed by Michael Foucault in "The Body of the Condemned". This paper argues that The Garuda Purana has dealt with multiple sorts of punishment system for the soul based on its deed in previous life to promote good karma in human life. The paper has concluded that The Garuda Puranawith the concept of heaven and hell, reward and punishment promote righteous deed in life by arousing fear of punishment in life after death. This paper is significant for the study of The Garuda Purana and role of reward and punishment in determining human behavior.