Hell in Dragon Ball

[ahill1]

We know that there's hell in DB, as a random dude from the otherworld mentioned it was located below the snake road... but Piccolo mentioned that Vegeta, due to his evil doings, would have his body eliminated and his soul would serve as basis for another being... so would Vegeta not be in hell? Manga-wise (not Super), do you imagine the bad guys were in hell?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

For reasons you mentioned, I don't think Piccolo was referring to Hell when talking to Vegeta, given that cleansing the soul completely would eliminate the need for Hell and he would've probably be sent to the equivalent of Purgatory, with the only references to him going to Hell being exclusive to the anime.
Even though you said not to include Super, I do think it provides a decent idea of what Hell could be like in the DB Universe, each person getting a place for their own unique torture befitting of their personality, which is somewhat similar to the eastern philosophies such as Buddhism that DB is grounded in where a person is sent to one of six hells most befitting their sins in life.

 

[ahill1]

But would Vegeta be an exception then? Maybe he wasn't evil to the point of being tortured post death like Freeza?

 

[Papasmurf]

Piccolo did say Vegeta would be "taken to a different world than Galu" where his memories and soul would be cleansed and he'd be reborn, so I think he'd spend some time in Hell before he's reincarnated.

 

[Future Warrior]

I'm pretty sure hell is where spirits roam freely for a while until they get reincarnated. So Vegeta is going to hell, as he deserves.

 

[Hector]

What happens after death is vague in DB World. In DBS, it was even mentioned that Goku/Vegeta do not exist in Trunkses timeline because they died.