January 1- Sarga 60 (Shlokas 71-98) and sarga 61 of Yuddha Kanda.
Responding to Kumbhakarna who was perplexed to be woken up like this, the rakshasa chief Yupaksha stepped forward.
नदैत्यदानावेभ्यो वा भयमस्ति नः क्वचित् "Oh lord! There is no danger from either demons or rakshasas for us. In fact, the danger has come from a human!"
वानरैः पर्वताकारैर्लङ्केयं परिवारिता । सीताहरणसन्तप्ताद् रामान्नस्तुमुलं भयम् ॥"Oh lord, vanara giants looking like mountains have attacked Lanka. Having been provoked by the abduction of his wife Sita, Sri Rama has come and caused extreme uproarious danger to us all!"
एकेन वानरेणायं पूर्वं दग्धा महापुरी कुमारो निहतश्चाक्षः सानुयात्रः सकुञ्जरः "You know that such a vanara once already attacked Lanka and burnt it down, killing Aksha Kumara along with his contingent and elephant. "
स्वयं रक्षोधिपश्चापि पौलस्त्यो देवकण्टकः व्रजेति सम्युगे मुक्तो रामेणादित्यवर्चसा - "Lord, even our supreme king, the tormentor of all gods and the glorious descendant of Pulastya, Ravana, was defeated by Sri Rama who is radiant as the blazing sun and our king was then allowed to retreat from battle."
कृतः स इह रामेण विमुक्तो प्राणसम्शयात् - "Indeed, if Sri Rama wanted, he would have killed Ravana."
***
Kumbhakarna is extremely provoked on hearing all this. He wants to go at once and annihilate this enemy together with all his vanara forces. But the rakshasa chiefs counsel him that in fact, he should first report to King Ravana and then act on the king's instruction.
Then the rakshasas rush to Ravana and inform him that their mission to wake up Kumbhakarna has borne fruit. Ravana is delighted and much relieved. He asks them to bring Kumbhakarna to the court with all due courtesies.
When Ravana's request is conveyed to him, Kumbhakarna gets up from his bed, washes his face, and has a bath (imagine the amount of water needed.)
He then dresses up with his crown and ornaments. Then he eats a large meal of his favourite items and drinks huge amounts of liquor. The effect makes him inebriated, super-confident, and raring to go.
कुम्भकर्णो बभौ रुष्टः कालान्तकयमोपमः ।
भ्रातुः भवनं गच्छन् रक्षोबलसमन्वितः ।
कुम्भकर्णः पदान्यासैरकम्पयत मेदिनीम् ॥
जगाम तत्राञ्जलिमालया वृतः शतक्रतुर्गेहमिव स्वयम्भुवः ॥
"Kumbhakarna was now full of battle-ready fury and resembled the God of death, Yama himself, as he proceeded grandly on the royal way to his brother's palace. As he walked, his steps shook up the earth. He was constantly cheered and celebrated by rakshasas all around him and the sight resembled that of the lord of gods, Indra, proceeding ceremonially to meet Lord Brahma in Brahmaloka."
The vanaras now could see an incredibly huge and frightening monster of a rakshasa walking in Lanka. They were terrified out of their wits. Some started running helter-skelter, some fainted, some were screaming incoherently, and many rushed towards Sri Rama.
***
ततो रामो महातेजा किरीटिनं महाकायं कुम्भकर्णं ददर्श ह क्रममाणमिवाकाशं पुरा नारायणं यथा
"Then the greatly luminous Sri Rama saw that Kumbhakarna, monstrous in size, sporting a crown, and striding the earth while covering the sky like Mahavishnu Narayana had once done as Trivikrama."
विद्रुतां वाहिनीं दृष्ट्वा वर्धमानं च राक्षसम् ।
सविस्मितमिदं रामो विभीषणमुवाच ह ॥
कोऽसौ पर्वतसङ्काशः किरीटी हरिलोचनः लङ्कायां दृश्यते वीर सविद्युदिव तोयदः
पृथिव्यां केतुभूतोऽसौ न मयैवं विधं भूतं दृष्टपूर्वं कदाचन
"Sri Rama, seeing how the vanaras were fleeing in terror, and beholding this monstrous rakshasa, was simply astonished. He asked Vibhishana, "Oh brave one, who is this indeed, looking like a mountain and wearing a crown too!? He has dark eyes and looks like a huge cloud with lightning streaking it. He seems to be Ketu engulfing the earth, and I have never seen a creature like this before.""
Vibhishana then responded to Sri Rama, the supreme hero who could accomplish anything with minimum effort, thus:
"Oh lord! This one who has defeated Yama and Indra once is the son of Vishravas, Kumbhakarna. There is no other rakshasa like him. He has defeated all gods and celestials and others repeatedly. With his blazing eyes that terrorize, once he held his trident and confronted the gods. They were defeated and thought he was the god of dissolution himself. He is by birth the most powerful rakshasa and also, he has imbibed the power of all other rakshasas also.
"In fact he was always so hungry since birth that he simply devoured all creatures constantly.
"All creatures went and asked for protection from Indra. Indra confronted Kumbhakarna, riding on his Airavata, and struck him with his Vajra. A livid Kumbhakarna roared menacingly and simply plucked one of Airavata's tusks and with it struck Indra down. Indra ran to Lord Brahma himself for help.
"Lord Brahma heard all the misdeeds of Kumbhakarna who was a terror and tormentor of rishis, humans, gods, women, and everyone else. Kumbhakarna constantly killed and ate creatures indiscriminately. This was surely a threat to all the worlds. Lord Brahma summoned all rakshasas including Kumbhakarna. He was stern.
Lord Brahma was himself shaken to see Kumbhakarna. But he pulled himself together and pronounced:
ध्रुवं लोकविनाशाय पौलस्त्येनासि निर्मितः ।
तस्मात् त्वमद्यप्रभृति मृतकल्पः शयिष्यसे ॥
"Oh rakshasa, it appears you have been sired by Paulastya (Vishravas) specifically for the extermination of all worlds! This cannot be, So I am now cursing you this instant to sleep forever like a corpse."
Ravana, the elder brother of Kumbhakarna, was there and at once used his intelligence to appeal to Lord Brahma.
"Oh lord! This denies a creation in your own world the right to exist as a living organism! Indeed even trees that apparently lose all their life wake up at least once a year to foliage, flower and fruit. Therefore kindly modify your pronouncement and decide for yourself what should be Kumbhakarna's waking and sleeping cycle. Please, oh lord!"
Lord Brahma was considerate. "Ok, I shall modify it thus. "
शयिता ह्येष षण्मासमेकाहं जागरिष्यति "Kumbhakarna will sleep for six months at a stretch, and wake up for just one day, so that he can eat all he wants before going back to his sleep again at the end of the day for the next six months."
OK! That was the reason why Kumbhakarna was not seen by either Hanuman or anyone else from Sri Rama's army thus far!
सोऽसौ व्यसनमापन्नः कुम्भकर्णमबोधयत् ।
त्वत्पराक्रमभीतश्च राजा सम्प्रति रावणः ॥
"Oh Lord Sri Rama! It is clear now that Ravana has been defeated and frightened by you, and in his distress he has now woken up the sleeping monster Kumbhakarna for battle. "
"Oh lord, Kumbhakarna is getting ready to unleash his orgy of terror gobbling up the vanaras. His very sight has scattered their wits and you can imagine what will happen when he comes into the battle."
Vibhishana now comes up with a brilliant suggestion. "Oh Sri Rama! Let us tell the vanaras that this is not a real warrior but only some kind of a war machine that has been readied by the rakshasas for battle."
Sri Rama takes up the idea and informs the vanara commander Nila to get all the vanara forces back into action with this intimation and form them into vyuhas to attack Lanka immediately at all its gates.
***
Accordingly, all the vanara heroes including Gavaksha, Sharabha, Hanuman, and Angada, rallied their forces and readied themselves with their weapons of boulders, trees and huge mountain rocks and whatever else would be useful. The vanara army was thus ready as before, looking menacing like an array of huge clouds ready to unleash their fury.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
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