In mythology, Kumbhakarna was the younger brother of Ravana. He is said to be huge but intelligent and good at heart. He even tried to tell Ravana what he was doing was wrong. Here is the story of how Kumbhakarna ended up having to sleep for six months.

Indra who was the leader of devas was jealous of Kumbhakarna who was very intelligent and brave. He wanted to take revenge on Kumbhakarna.

The three brothers Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana performed yagna and yaga to please the lord Brahma. Lord Brahma appeared in front of them and asked them what they wanted. When it Kumbhakarna’s turn, he asked for ‘Nidrasana’ which is a sleeping bed instead of ‘Indrasana’, which is the throne of Indra.

When Kumbhakarna said NidrAsana instead of IndrAsana, he was shocked at what he said. He contemplated what he said and wanted to cover his mistake. However, it was too late. By the time, Kumbhakarna realized his mistake, Brahma already said ‘asthu’. This meant the boon was granted. Kumbhakarna who didn’t want this mistake to cost him his boon, even asked Brahma not to consider this wish. But, Brahma told him that there was no way to undo the grant.

According to mythology, it was well known that Indra was very jealous of Kumbhakarna. It is said that Indra who was waiting for a chance to take revenge of Kumbhakarna had already made a prior request from Devi Saraswati to make Kumbhakarna say ‘NidrAsana’ instead of ‘IndrAsana’.

As Kumbhakarna was granted a sleeping bed from the Lord Brahma, it is said according to mythology that once that happened, Kumbhakarna slept for 6 months and stayed awake for the next 6 months. In the six months he was awake, he ate whatever he could find to make sure his hunger is fed for the next six months.

Image Credit: Gita Press Gorakhpur / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Source: https://archive.org/details/ValmikiRamayanIGitaPressGorakhpur

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kumbhakarna_wake_up_from_sleep.jpg