In the present work, the first of its kind in the field of Indian philology, Marc Tiefenauer outlines the history of representations of hell in Indian religious traditions. His study is based on primary sources in Sanskrit, Pali, Ardhamagadhi, Chinese, Braj, Persian and Hindi, extending over three millennia. He identifies the main ideological contributions to Brahmanical representations of the afterlife, particularly those stemming from Buddhism, Jainism, devotional currents (Bhakti) and Islam. He shows the utility of eschatological research to hermeneutics, especially in view of improving the understanding of the literatures of ancient India.