Ravan’s Family – Kumbhakarna

Statue of Kumbhakarna in Kumbhakarna Gardens, Penukonda, Andhra Pradesh, India

Kumbhakarna literally means a person with ears as large as a pot (kumbha – pot, karna – ears. He was the younger brother of Ravana, in Ramayana. He has always been depicted as big and huge, both in size and in his appetite! Kumbhakarna was a child’s delight to read, or see in movies or hear about. The imagery is so vivid, that anybody who is found sleeping soundly, or is sleepy, is at times referred to as Kumbhakarna.

But do you know why he used to sleep so much?

Like Ravana, Kumbhakarna, too decided to do penance to Lord Brahma, to seek blessings. Satisfied, Lord Brahma, appeared to Kumbhakarna, and granted him a boon. Kumbhakarna had planned to ask for “Indra-asana”, meaning the ‘seat of Indra’. But just when the words were to come out of his mouth, the power of speech, in this case, Goddess Saraswati played a trick on him and tilted his tongue a bit, and “Indra-asana”, became “Nidra-asana” meaning, ‘bed to sleep’! Some versions say that Kumbhakarna was planning to ask for “Nirdevatavam” meaning ‘annihilation of devas’ but ended up asking “Nidravatvam”, i.e. ‘sleep’. Lord Brahma immediately granted the boon, by saying – tathastu – so be it!

But Kumbhakarna, realised the folly and said that he did not want eternal sleep, and reasoned with Lord Brahma, as to why would anybody do penance for sleeping his full life, and die at the end of a life of sleep? After listening to his arguments, Lord Brahma felt sorry for him, but he could not take back the boon already given to him. So he struck a compromise of sorts and said that he would henceforth sleep for six months and then wake up and eat for six months, before going back to sleep again.

This way, he ended up sleeping for six months, but waking him from near-dead sleep was an ordeal, so all sorts of noise was made, armies and animals were made to move all over his huge body, hoping that at some point he would wake up. Due to all strength energy being unutilised for such long periods, on waking up, he could smash a full army single handed. He was also a glutton when it came to food and six months of not eating anything would starve him to no end, so on waking up, he would need barrels and tons of food to satiate his six-month hunger.

This is the story behind, Kumbhakarna’s long duration of sleep!

Janus – the two headed God

Janus was a Roman god and is portrayed with two heads, one looking forward and the other looking back. In due course he became the symbol of New Year, with one head looking at the year gone by and the other looking at the New Year.

Janus is also from where the first month of the year, January, gets its name.

Janus, in ancient Rome was known as the god of the gates, whose one face saw the people who came into the house and other looked at those who were in it. Janus symbolized transition, from past to future. Janus was in the middle in every divide, be it of civilizations, age or seasons or coming-of-age.

New Year Resolutions

It’s once again that time of the year, when we make New Year resolutions, especially to break them within a few days and tell one and all, how we took the resolutions and broke it too. Each tries to outdo, in the number of days s/he took to break the resolution, the lesser the self-styled winner! Now I know what Bob Dylan meant when he wrote “The Times they are a-Changin”!

But let’s see how the practice of making New Year resolutions started. The tradition of making New Year resolutions began way back by the ancient Babylonians. They felt that it was a good idea to start the New Year by returning items borrowed from each other. It gave one an opportunity to turn into a new leaf and begin the year with a clear conscious. This gave rise to the modern day practice of making New Year Resolutions.

No, I did not make any resolution, as I think it’s a bad habit to break resolutions, but not making a resolution, is not one!

·         I don’t need to kick the habit of smoking or drinking; rather I have friends who would want me to resolve to take up drinking, at least party-drinking some say!

·         I don’t need to reduce weight, so there’s nothing to resolve there.

·         I go for morning walks, quite regularly, so what do I resolve for, to be irregular?

·         I don’t borrow anything from anybody, except from Banks, and they know how to get it back from me. Their headache, not mine!

After all the good habits that I have, the following are the resolutions my wife wants me to take, and she gave me a list. ME, can you beat that?

¹        Resolve to talk less – and then do what?

¹        Resolve to see my inadequacy as one, rather than make a virtue out of it – I wonder what she means by this??

¹        Resolve to worry less and take life easily – Gosh, and I haven’t even told her that the world might come to an end in 2012.

¹        Resolve to do some household chore – I think she meant some more! Whoever tried to satisfy a woman is a failure, ask me!

¹        Resolve to go for a vacation sometime – 52 weekends of malls, movies, hotels, restaurants, rest, chill out (at home), phew! is not enough? Repeat the above comment about satisfying women!

¹        Resolve to be more social and meet people – you mean at their homes? Invade people’s privacy?

¹        Resolve to be a bit religious – a bit? Now that’s a bitter pill!

With so many changes that she wants out of me, I might turn into a ‘new’ and ‘improved’ version of the nice old me! I wonder why I feel like a detergent soap! But then she also said that she loved me the way I was! What a contradiction!

I am truly flummoxed and have no clue if I should continue with my old good habit of not taking any resolutions, or should I try out my wife’s list? Anybody out there, willing to help me?

My wife’s friends and well-wishers are not eligible for sending in their suggestions!!

The Year that was….

Its curtains for 2010, and when I look back at the achievements of the year, I don’t know which glasses to see through – the positive or the negative glasses. To avoid the confusion, I decided to put on my bifocals!

The good things about the year were that we did well in sports. India has started collecting medals and we have started showing up in the medals tally! India has come out of the shadows of being a single-sport (read Cricket) nation, and has started flexing muscles, literally, in other sports too. We seem to have done well in the international arena, where we are standing tall and all by ourselves. We have done away with the crutches of the developed nations and are a nation to reckon with and the visits by the premiers of six developed nations, is a testimony to that.

The list of bad things can go on, what with the second half being the year of scam-stars and fraudsters. When the sportsmen brought us laurels, the officials made sure, that the country hangs its head in utter shame. When technology was trying to show its potential, the serpent of corruption raised its venomous hood. When the system was trying to shelter its war-widows, the powers-that-be tried to take it away from them, in a crass display of cheap greed. Mangroves are making way for airports; Social workers are made to suffer humiliation by a few wanton justice-keepers, politicians are stooping to cheap gimmickry called funeral-politics, brazen outburst, and what have you.

As a nation we are today a combination of manav and danav. Some are epitomes of humanity and we can still some living examples of them, but unfortunately we can also see the danav’s in their full nakedness. It is said this is prakriti, nature, a blend of both. Life is all about striking a balance. But as a law-abiding citizen, the layman seems to be having law against it, and the upholders of law, seem to have made a slave out of the blind-folded lady. So what should the mere mortals like you and me do? Wait for Lord Vishnu to don the Kalki avatar or be one himself/herself? What if Lord Vishnu is in his cosmic slumber?

Rise O ordinary Indian! Speak your mind, and take action for yourself. Vishnu will come when he has to, but you do your bit. Vote for the right candidate, speak out in forums, stop paying bribes, teach true values to our children, raise your voice against child-labour, stop female infanticide and vulgar displays of misplaced honour……. The list can go on. But that’s not the point.

The point is with so much to do, how much is each one of us willing to do? How far are we willing to traverse naked-foot that extra mile? It is said – that god helps them who help themselves, and that is the truth behind the delay in Vishnu’s Kalki avatar. We have not done enough for Him to feel that we have done our bit. If as a nation we resolve to do our bit, we might not even need Kalki, the danav’s, asura’s, and the rakshasha’s of our nation will meet their end anyways. This is the time for the might of the mortal. So wake up O Indian and take your rightful place in the limelight. Don’t let any botched hand take away this right of yours. If we do our bit, I am sure as the noted lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi has said – ‘Woh subaah kabhi to aayegi, ….’

With this optimism, which is the hallmark of every Indian, I wish all my readers a very happy New Year and may 2011, bring the much needed dawn in the resurgent India!

This has been my 100th article in this Blog, and I would like to thank each and every one of you who have been following my Blog! Have a great 2011!

Do you know why Brahmins are Poor?

Well there is an interesting myth regarding why Brahmins are poor.

First another myth from Brihatdharma Purana. According to this myth, Goddess Lakshmi was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and she used to worship Shiva everyday and as a ritual used to offer one thousand lotuses during the worship. During one such day, she realised there were two lotuses less, and it was already too late to go looking for the lotuses. It was then that she remembered that once Lord Vishnu had described her breasts as blooming lotuses. She immediately decided to offer them for her worship. Lakshmi cut off one of her breasts and when she was about to cut off the second one, Lord Shiva appeared and stopped her. Satisfied with her worship, Shiva then changed the breast into a the Bael (wood apple) fruit and sent it down to earth to grow outside every temple of Shiva’s. 

Though Bael fruit and its leaves are offered to Lord Shiva, it is supposed to be the house of Goddess Lakshmi. Now let’s get back to the original question, as to why are Brahmin’s poor?

Once Lord Vishnu asked Lakshmi that she visited everybody and changed their fortunes, but why did she never visit the Brahmins, especially when they were responsible for the upkeep of temples, the abode of gods on earth, and were also knowledgeable and followed all religious rituals and practices and also helped other people to follow them?

To this, Lakshmi replied, that she was upset about the fact that the Brahmins, kept tearing off leaves from her home (i.e. the Bael tree) and offering them to Shiva. When they didn’t take care of her home, then why should she enter the homes of Brahmins? 

I guess, Vishnu had no answer to this, and we have probably got the answer to first question!