Kumbhakarna

Kumbhakarna (कुम्भकर्ण), “pot-eared”, is the giant younger brother of Ravana and elder brother of Vibhishana. Immense in size and appetite, he slept for months at a time because of a boon gone wrong. Woken to fight in the war of Lanka, he advised his brother to return Sita, but went into battle anyway out of loyalty and was killed by Rama.

The boon of sleep

The Uttara Kanda tells that the three brothers performed great penance to Brahma. The gods feared what the huge and hungry Kumbhakarna might ask for, so at their request the goddess Saraswati sat on his tongue. Meaning to ask for Indrasana, the throne of Indra, he asked instead for Nidrasana, a bed of sleep (in some tellings, for nirdevatvam, the destruction of the gods, became nidravatvam, sleep). Brahma softened the boon at Ravana’s plea: Kumbhakarna would sleep for six months and wake for one day.

The waking

When the war began to go against Lanka, Ravana had his brother woken. It took mountains of food, the noise of drums and conches, and elephants walking over his body. Awake, Kumbhakarna told Ravana plainly that he had acted wrongly in taking Sita and should return her. When Ravana grew angry, Kumbhakarna said that whatever his brother had done, he would fight for him.

His last battle

Kumbhakarna strode onto the battlefield like a moving mountain, crushing and devouring the vanaras. He knocked down Sugriva and carried him off unconscious, until Sugriva bit off his ears and nose and escaped. At last Rama cut off his arms and legs with his arrows, and then his head, which fell into the sea. Ravana’s grief at his death was terrible.

Who was Kumbhakarna?

The Bhagavata Purana says that Ravana and Kumbhakarna were the gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, Jaya and Vijaya, in their second birth as Vishnu’s enemies. Many readers see in Kumbhakarna a tragic figure of loyalty: he knows his brother is wrong, says so to his face, and dies for him all the same.