Kids · लङ्काकाण्ड Laṅkā Kāṇḍa · Ages 8–12
The Giant Who Would Not Wake
In the golden city of Laṅkā there slept a giant. Kumbhakarṇa — 'pot-ears' — was Rāvaṇa's younger brother, so huge that when he yawned, his mouth looked like a mountain cave, and so strong that even the gods were careful around him. But long ago he had been granted a strange destiny: he slept for months and months at a stretch, and almost nothing in the world could wake him before his time.
Now the great war had come to Laṅkā's gates. Lord Rāma's army of vānaras and bears stood before the walls, and the battle was going badly for the demon king. So Rāvaṇa thought of his sleeping brother — the one warrior in Laṅkā who had never been afraid of anyone. There was just one problem: first, somebody had to wake him up.
The king remembers his brother
The war was not going the way Rāvaṇa had promised his court it would. His champions had fallen, his army was shaken, and for the first time the ten-headed king felt something cold in his chest. 'Wake Kumbhakarṇa!' he commanded. 'Wake my brother, whom nothing in the three worlds can frighten!' And so a whole procession of demons set out for the giant's vast sleeping hall — carrying, very sensibly, an enormous amount of food.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
How do you wake a mountain?
Sage Vālmīki tells the waking like a great comedy. The demons piled up hills of food and pails of drink by the giant's bed, so the smell would call him. They lit incense and sang his praises. Then they blew conches, rolled kettledrums, and roared — so loudly that birds fell out of the sky! Kumbhakarṇa slept on. They thumped him with maces and mallets, tugged his hair, even poured water in his ears. He slept on. At last they drove a thousand elephants to walk up and down over his body — and the giant stirred, feeling something like a gentle touch.
Sage Vālmīki
A very hungry giant
Kumbhakarṇa sat up with a yawn like a cavern and reached, first of all, for breakfast — and what a breakfast it was! He ate the hills of food beside his bed and drank the pails dry. Only then did he look around at the trembling messengers and ask the sensible question: 'No one would dare wake me for a small reason. So tell me truly — what is the matter?' When he heard that war had come to Laṅkā, he strode off to see his brother the king.
Sage Vālmīki
The bravest words in Laṅkā
Everyone else in Laṅkā told Rāvaṇa what he wanted to hear. Not Kumbhakarṇa. The giant looked at his mighty brother and spoke the plain truth, kindly but without fear: 'What you did was wrong, brother. You carried off Mother Sītā, and you asked nobody wise before you did it. Those who loved you gave you good counsel, and you would not listen. Even now, the right thing is to bow to Lord Rāma.' Rāvaṇa's twenty eyes flashed with anger — a king does not like the truth when it arrives late.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
The blessing for Vibhīṣaṇa
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās adds a tender meeting. Vibhīṣaṇa — the brother who had chosen Lord Rāma's side — came and fell at the giant's feet. Kumbhakarṇa lifted him up and held him close. 'Blessed are you, little brother,' he said. 'You have chosen the Lord, and you are the jewel of our whole family.' The giant knew, in his deep and honest heart, exactly which side dharma was on — even as he made ready to fight on the other.
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās
Loyal to the very end
For that is the strange, sad, mighty thing about Kumbhakarṇa: he told the truth, and then he kept his word to his brother anyway. 'While I live, you shall not despair,' he told Rāvaṇa, and out he marched to meet an army by himself. He fought like a storm given legs, and he fell at last facing Lord Rāma — and Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells us that as the giant fell, his inner light rose and merged into the Lord he had praised. Even the Lord's enemy, if his heart turns true at the end, is gathered home.
In both Rāmāyaṇas
✦ Two tellings, one story
Sage Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit)
Sage Vālmīki gives the waking a whole glorious chapter: the mounds of food and pails of drink, the incense and garlands, conches and kettledrums so loud that birds dropped from the sky, the maces, the hair-tugging, the water poured into the giant's ears — and finally the thousand elephants walking over him, which he felt as a gentle touch. His Kumbhakarṇa then gives Rāvaṇa a wise statesman's rebuke: you acted first and asked counsel afterwards, and you would not hear Vibhīṣaṇa or Queen Mandodarī — yet out of a warrior's loyalty he promises to fight for his brother all the same.
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās’s Rāmcaritmānas (Awadhi)
Gosvāmī Tulsīdās tells the waking in half a line — 'by many devices he was woken' — and pours his heart into what the giant said. His Kumbhakarṇa hears what Rāvaṇa has done and cries out: you carried off the Mother of the universe, and now you hope for good to come of it? He counsels his brother to give up pride and worship Lord Rāma, embraces and blesses Vibhīṣaṇa as the ornament of their family, and goes to battle longing for one sight of the Lord's lotus eyes — and at his fall, his light merges into Lord Rāma himself.
What this story teaches
A true friend tells you the truth
All of Laṅkā flattered the king; only the giant, just woken and rubbing his eyes, dared to say 'what you did was wrong.' Telling someone the truth kindly — especially someone powerful — is one of the bravest things there is.
Listening too late is like not listening
Kumbhakarṇa, Vibhīṣaṇa and Queen Mandodarī all gave Rāvaṇa the same good advice, and he refused it every time — until the day it could no longer help him. Good counsel is a gift: it works best when you take it early.
Strength cannot fix a wrong choice
Kumbhakarṇa was the strongest warrior in all Laṅkā, and even he could not make his brother's wrong deed turn out right. No amount of muscle can do the job of a good decision — that part must be done by the heart.
Words to know
- Kumbhakarṇa · 'pot-ears' — Rāvaṇa's giant younger brother, famous for his months-long sleep and his honest heart
- Laṅkā · Rāvaṇa's golden island city, where Mother Sītā was held captive
- vānara · the brave forest people of Lord Rāma's army, who built the bridge to Laṅkā
- Vibhīṣaṇa · Rāvaṇa's youngest brother, who chose Lord Rāma's side because it was right
- Mandodarī · Rāvaṇa's wise queen, who also begged him to return Mother Sītā
- dharma · doing what is right — even when it is hard, and even when kings are angry
A true episode from the great war, told in both Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa — Yuddha Kāṇḍa — and Rāmcaritmānas — Laṅkā Kāṇḍa. The famous waking — the mountains of food, the conches and kettledrums, the maces and the water in the ears, and the thousand elephants walking over the sleeping giant — is Sage Vālmīki's. The devotional heart of the episode — 'you carried off the Mother of the universe and hope for good?', the counsel to worship Lord Rāma, the blessing of Vibhīṣaṇa as the jewel of the family, and the giant's light merging into the Lord at his fall — is Gosvāmī Tulsīdās's.