Somaka Rescues His Preceptor from Hell
King Somaka arrives in the next world and finds his preceptor being cooked in a terrible hell. When he learns the priest suffers for a sacrifice performed on Somaka's behalf, he demands to take his place — and argues with Dharmaraja himself that their deeds are identical and their fates should be shared.
King Somaka's preceptor — the brahmana who had officiated his sacrifices — went to the next world. Some time later, Somaka followed him there.
What he found stopped him cold. His preceptor was being cooked in a terrible hell, surrounded by flames that did not relent. Somaka asked: "O brahmana! Why are you being cooked in this hell?"
The preceptor, burning in the terrible fires, told him the truth. "O king! I sacrificed for your sake and these are the fruits of that deed."
The sacrifice had been performed on Somaka's behalf. The priest had acted as his instrument. And now the priest alone was suffering for it.
Somaka went directly to Dharmaraja, the god of justice who presides over the dead. "I will enter this place. Set my priest free. This immensely fortunate one is being cooked in the fires of hell because of my deed."
Dharmaraja answered: "O king! No one ever obtains the fruits of someone else's action. O supreme among givers! Behold! Your fruits are there."
Somaka did not accept this. "Without this one, learned about the brahman, I do not desire these sacred worlds. I only desire to dwell with him, be it in the abode of the gods, or in hell. O Dharmaraja! My deed is identical with his. O god! Therefore, the merits or the demerits should be equal."
He was not asking for special treatment. He was asking for shared responsibility — that what they had done together, they should suffer together.
Dharmaraja considered this. Then he said: "O king! If that is your desire, then suffer those fruits with him, for an equal length of time. Later, you will obtain the objective of the virtuous."
Somaka did exactly that. He entered the hell and suffered alongside his preceptor for the full measure of time. And when the period was complete, together with his brahmana preceptor, and by virtue of his own deeds, he obtained the radiant worlds.
The hermitage before them, Lomasha told Yudhishthira, was Somaka's own — radiant and sacred. A man who controls himself and spends six nights there obtains the end of the virtuous. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 425