Kabandha
Kabandha was a fearsome dānava (an asura of the lineage of Danu). He lived in the forests south of Daṇḍakāraṇya. He had no head. His face was set in his belly. His mouth was huge, with sharp teeth, and his arms reached out a yojana (a long distance) on each side.
He was handsome once. A ṛshi gave him a śāpa (a curse) that changed his body, and later Indra’s vajra (thunderbolt) crushed his head and thighs into his body. Brahmā had said he would be freed when Rāma cut off his arms and cremated him. After he was freed, Kabandha told Rāma to seek Sugrīva at Ṛshyamūka mountain. This advice set Rāma on the path to an alliance with Sugrīva and to victory over Rāvaṇa.
Original form and the śāpa
In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kabandha was first a dānava with a handsome and noble form. In an earlier life he met the ṛshi Sthūlaśiras and frightened him. Sthūlaśiras gave him a śāpa. It gave him a body without a proper head, with his face set in his belly. The śāpa also made his arms grow very long, a yojana on each side, so that he could seize anything within reach.
Indra’s blow
Indra struck Kabandha with the vajra. The blow was so strong that it crushed his head down into his body and his thighs up into his body. This made him a trunk with no head and no legs.
Kabandha asked to be released. But Brahmā had already given him a long life as a vara (a boon). Brahmā declared that his crushed form would last until Rāma cut off his arms and cremated him.
Meeting Rāma and Lakshmaṇa
Rāma and Lakshmaṇa had cremated Jaṭāyu and were walking south through the forests. In the Krauñca forest they met Kabandha. His two huge arms shot out and seized both brothers at once, one arm for each. They could not break free of his iron grip.
Rāma spoke to Kabandha. Kabandha asked who they were, and they told him. Kabandha knew that those who would free him had come. He told them what to do: cut off his arms and cremate his body.
Liberation
Rāma and Lakshmaṇa drew their swords and cut off Kabandha’s huge arms. They dug a pit, laid his body in it and burned it with fire. From the funeral fire Kabandha rose in his own form, divine and beautiful. He shone, wore divine ornaments, and was free of the śāpa at last. He praised Rāma and got ready to give him the counsel he had waited so long to give.
The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa account of his origin
The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, in its Araṇya Kāṇḍa, gives a different origin for Kabandha. In this account he was first a gandharva in Indra’s court. He mocked the music of the great ṛshi Durvāsa, laughing at or criticising his singing and playing in front of the assembly of the devas. Durvāsa was quick to anger and at once gave him a śāpa. He lost his form and became the headless creature with his face in his belly. After that, Indra’s vajra struck Kabandha so hard that his head was driven into his body. This is the crushed form that Rāma and Lakshmaṇa met.
In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma’s freeing of Kabandha undoes what Durvāsa’s śāpa had done.
Counsel to seek Sugrīva
Kabandha, now free and shining, told Rāma what to do. Rāma should go south to Lake Pampā and Mount Ṛshyamūka. There lived the monkey king Sugrīva, in exile, driven from his kingdom by his elder brother Vālin. Sugrīva had large forces of monkeys spread in every direction, and he could help Rāma search every part of the world for Sītā.
Kabandha told Rāma to make friends with Sugrīva and to make a solemn pact of alliance with him. Together they would find Sītā and destroy Rāvaṇa. This was the counsel that gave Rāma a direction and a plan.
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa, Chapters 69–72
- Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya Kāṇḍa