There were several ill omens that appeared when Kumbhakarna started to fight. The sea was agitating, and the birds circled above in an anticlockwise direction. Even a dead eagle fell on the head of Kumbhakarna. When Kumbhakarna reached the gates of the city, the Vanaras waiting there saw him and his army and started running in all directions. Angada the chief of Vanaras encouraged them and asked them to come back and fight. Thus encouraged the Vanaras returned, armed with huge rocks, trees, and so on, and attacked Kumbhakarna. But all those fell on the ground broken by Kumbhakarna. He fought ferociously and destroyed the Vanaras like a forest fire would the woods. Then the great Vanara warriors, Dwividha, Hanuman, Panasa, and others came to fight with Kumbhakarna. Kumbhakarna roamed about in the war field swallowing the dead soldiers by thousands. Dwividha hurled a mountain but it missed Kumbhakarna and fell on the army killing several of them. Hanuman rose in the skies and hurled at him a big hill that broke into pieces on his chest but did not hurt him. Hanuman then stood in front of him and slapped him with all his might, which did shake him. But he sent his trident and wounded Hanuman. Some Vanaras who had been swallowed by Kumbhakarna escaped through his nose. Sugreeva came with a huge hillock and dashed it on Kumbhakarna’s chest. But it was of no avail and Kumbhakarna in retaliation hurled his very heavy trident of black iron-on Sugreeva. But Hanuman caught it and broke it. It was a great feat because it weighed 1000 Bharams.
Bharam literally would mean
heavy. Bharam is also a measure of weight, which was in use in India until some
60 years ago. We have used it in our arithmetic problems in school. According
to this unit of measure, this trident would weigh over 200 tons which is hard to
conceive. It should therefore be some other unit of measure.
Kumbhakarna was furious and he uprooted a hill and hurled it at Sugreeva who fell unconscious. Kumbhakarna lifted him up and carried him to Lanka. The Vanaras were totally demoralized. Hanuman who is full of wisdom and presence of mind wanted to take a huge form and hit Kumbhakarna and save his king. But he thought it better to wait because he did not want Sugreeva to feel humiliated by his intervention. As Kumbhakarna entered the city of Lanka carrying Sugreeva all the rakshasas were so happy that they showered flowers and sprinkled cold water on Kumbhakarna. This fell on Sugreeva too and he regained his senses and bit into Kumbhakarna’s ears and nose with his sharp teeth and nails. Kumbhakarna wailed in pain and dropped Sugreeva who then flew and rejoined Rama. This infuriated Kumbhakarna who was bleeding profusely and looked like a mountain with its streams flowing. He took a very powerful weapon called ‘Mudgara’ and attacked all the Vanaras. He also ran among the Vanaras swallowing several of them, the bears, and so on. Lakshmana then started to attack Kumbhakarna showering him with his arrows. But Kumbhakarna told Lakshmana that he did admire his courage to come and attack him but he wanted to kill only Rama and not his brother. Lakshmana replied that he too admired Kumbhakarna for his victories over Indra and said that Rama was just waiting for him. Kumbhakarna then ran towards Rama who sent a powerful astra aimed at Kumbhakarna’s chest. He cried loud in pain and ran towards the Vanaras. He lost some of his weapons and he attacked with his hands. Then he threw a hill on Rama who interrupted it on its way with his arrows. Then Rama cut off his huge and mighty gold shield which fell down and killed hundreds of Vanaras by its weight. Lakshmana suggested that all the Vanaras climb on Kumbhakarna so that he would fall on the ground. But it had no effect. Rama got very angry, rushed at Kumbhakarna, and stared at him. Kumbhakarna laughed aloud and said ‘Rama does not take me to be Khara or Kabandha or Viradha or even Vali. Look at my powerful weapon with which I had conquered the Devas and Asuras. Show me your strength and then I will come and eat you. Rama sent several arrows but he stopped them with his Mudgara weapon. Rama then sent an astra after chanting some mantras dedicated to Vayu the wind God which cut off his hand holding the weapon. Kumbhakarna cried in pain and rushed at Rama to kill him. Then Rama sent another astra dedicated to Indra and cut off his other hand too. Finally, Rama cut off his head which fell down smashing several towers and the city wall. Finally, Kumbhakarna’s body fell into the sea smashing many crocodiles and huge fishes and sinking into the ground. As he sank the earth and the mountains trembled. Rama thus killed Kumbhakarna and brought happiness to all. The world was rid of the evil rakshasa and the rishis and the Devas praised Rama. The Vanaras were all very happy too.
0 Comments