Namaskar Oct 2015

MYTHOLOGY
KUMBHAKARNA
What you can learn from
a big bully
BY TIA SINHA
One of the greatest bullies in Hindu
mythology was the asura (demi-god)
Kumbhakarna. A giant often compared to a
mountain, he was the brother of the tenheaded
Lord of Lanka, Ravana, in the epic,
Ramayana.
Kumbhakarna resorted to more and more
cruelty day after day, delighting in and
revelling in his wicked ways.
Not satisfied by the enormity of their evil
deeds, Ravana and Kumbhakarna (along with
their brother, Vibheeshan, who was an
oddball of a demi-god, being rather sage-like)
resorted to severe penance atop high
mountains in order to win the favour of
Brahma (the creator god) and acquire even
more power. Brahma’s favour was won. He
granted Ravana’s wish to become the lord of
the three worlds. When Indra, the Lord of
the Gods learnt of this boon, he had every
him if he slept night and day, twenty four
seven for the rest of his life. Brahma relented
and granted Kumbhakarna a reprieve. For
one whole day, every six months,
Kumbhakarna would wake up. But if he was
woken up before the six months were up,
Kumbhakarna’s life would be in danger.
Having been granted his boon and his
reprieve, Kumbhakarna promptly fell asleep
and had to be lifted and carried home
horizontal by his two brothers. Ravana was
unfazed by Kumbhakarna’s plight, who slept
with all his might, convinced that on the day
that he woke up, the poor giant would make
up for lost time, wreaking more havoc than
others who were no match for him in
strength or size, could wreak in a hundred
years.
While Kumbhakarna slept his deep, devilish
sleep, Ravana indulged in his own demonic
deeds. He abducted the exiled prince of
Ayodhya, Rama’s wife, Sita from their
hermitage in a forest and in his flying chariot,
brought her across high seas to his kingdom,
Lanka. While a heartbroken and resolute Sita
resisted Ravana’s charms and threats, his
dark ruses and stratagems to make her his
wife, Rama, with the help of Sugreeva, the
king of Vanaras (a part-monkey, part-human
species) and the loyal, utterly devoted and
immensely powerful minister, Hanuman,
amassed a powerful army of Vanaras and
bears and marching them over to Lanka on a
bridge of rocks that was not rocky but
steady, parked them outside Ravana’s
fortified city.
One giant bully, Kumbhakarna
The name Kumbhakarna derives from two
Sanskrit words. ‘Kumbha’ means ‘pot’ and
‘Karna’ means ‘ear’. So, Kumbhakarna
means one with pot-shaped ears.
Not only was Kumbhakarna gargantuan and
strong, he was a villain of the first order.
Scaring and torturing those unfortunate
enough to be physically weaker than him (this
number being the rule rather than the
exception), was imminently pleasurable to
Kumbhakarna. Even gods, ascetics and sages
found little respite from Kumbhakarna’s
shenanigans. Goaded and lauded by Ravana,
reason to shake with fear on his royal,
bejewelled throne. Indra appealed to
Goddess Saraswati to influence
Kumbhakarna’s speech when it was his turn
to ask Brahma for a boon. And so she did.
When Brahma asked Kumbhakarna his
heart’s desire, he replied, much to Ravana’s
consternation, “Lord! Grant that I sleep all
the time.” And Brahma replied, “So be it.
Night and day, twenty four seven, you shall
sleep for the rest of your life.” An aghast
Ravana appealed to Brahma to revoke his
boon on grounds of clemency as
Kumbhakarna’s enemies were likely to slay
One after the other, Ravana’s trusted
followers, each demon more devious and
wicked than the previous, fell in the battle
with Rama and his allies. When even the Lord
of Lanka was sent scurrying off to his city in
his chariot minus his ten crowns that were
toppled by a crescent-shaped arrow shot by
Rama, Ravana remembered Kumbhakarna. A
veritable army of demi-gods was sent off to
awaken the sleeping giant before his six
months of hibernation were up. But neither
drum nor trumpet, neither cold sandalwood
paste on tummy nor blaring conch at ear,
neither heavy logs of stout trees nor giant
rocks flung on the snoring giant’s mammoth
body, neither rampaging elephants marching
over his supine form nor spears jabbing at
his flesh could disturb the slumber of the
mighty slumberer. When all such ruses had
failed, only one worked - the aroma of
mountainous amounts of food!
Having eaten his fill, Kumbhakarna
proceeded to march to the battlefield and
carry out his brother’s command, only to be
slain that very day by a special arrow shot by
Rama. In his despair and haste, Ravana had
forgotten the caveat to Brahma’s boon, that
if the sleeping giant was woken up before his
six months of slumber were up, his life would
be in danger.
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