A deep pit or distant land located under the earth or in a dark precinct where humans and other creatures exist after earthly death, common to many mythologies. The nature of the place varies from a dreary land where the dead are gathered and from which only a few exceptional human heroes are permitted to enter heaven, to a terrible precinct where sinners pay for misdeeds. In many religions, it is from the underworld that dreams, ghosts, and demons originate.
