ussada

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Ussada

A hell (niraya). It resembled a city with four gates and a wall. Mittaviṇḍaka, arriving at Ussaka in his wanderings, saw there a man supporting a wheel as sharp as a razor, which to Mittaviṇḍaka appeared like a lotus-flower. Mittaviṇḍaka took it from him, and realising then what it was, tried to escape, but was unsuccessful. This was the suffering undergone by those who had smitten their mothers. Sakka, during a visit to Ussaka, saw Mittaviṇḍaka, but could do nothing for him (J.iv.3f; iii.206f).

Ussada was considered a place of great suffering (e.g., J.iv.403), and also a place where those who, having promised a gift fail to give it, are born (J.iv.405). Once the Bodhisatta was born in Ussada, for cruelty during his reign as king of Benares, and he suffered for eighty thousand years (J.vi.2). Beings born there have their tongues pierced with glowing hooks and are dragged about on a floor of heated metal (J.vi.112).

In the scholiast to the Matakabhatta Jātaka (J.i.168) reference is made to sixteen Ussada hells.

Revatī (q.v.) was cast into the Ussada-niraya. VvA.223.

Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names • G.P. Malalasekera