Week 6 Storytelling: To Wake a Sleeping Giant

You don’t know how well you have been sleeping until one disturbs your sleep and you wake up for the first time.

I, Kumbhakarna, was sleeping in one of the greatest slumbers I had ever even imagined when the smell of food filled my nostrils. Groaning, I tossed one arm over my nose and turned my head. Whoever was going to receive that meal was one lucky man, because it smelled wonderful. But I just wanted to continue sleeping.

It seemed like only moments until I was in a state of slumber again, and I was at peace. I kept hearing a noise next to my ear, though. Some small noise that sounded like that of a mouse squeaking. No matter, I could sleep through such a thing.

Yet again, I was brought out of my slumber when I felt some weight against my chest. I tried to brush whatever it was off, but it merely continued. And that was when I’d had enough, so I sat up with a large huff.

As soon as I had sat up, food was brought before me. Ah, so I was the lucky man who would be eating this fine meal. What had I done for karma to take such favor with me? However, as Suka began speaking to me and telling me all that was happening in Lanka and everywhere around us, I realized that I would not be as blessed as I had thought.

Suka kept speaking about some man named Rama, and how he and Ravana were about to go to war. So this is why they had woken me? To be frank, Ravana sounded like the stupid one in this ordeal, so why couldn’t I just go back to sleep and let my brother deal with this himself.

But, I was already awake. So I figured I had to actually do something about it. So I left my large mansion and went to wash my face in the lake, cleaning six months of grime from my body, and bringing myself to alertness.

After washing, I went to visit my brother. Oh, how I hated crossing Lanka. It was such a small kingdom, and I am such a big man. Could they not have made it easier for me to move in this place during my time asleep?

No matter.

I frankly told my brother about how stupid he was acting. He had stolen another man’s wife. What sane man did such a thing and did not expect to have revenge taken against them? Although I already had my answer, Ravana of course.

I wasn’t going to help him, because this was futile. This was my brother’s war and I did not want any part of it. I instead wanted to spend my day one day being awake eating and having my fill of the beautiful women of Lanka. However, something changed my mind. The way that Ravana kept speaking of this woman the he had taken from that Rama. Was my brother really so in love with this woman?

He even denied my advice to take on Rama’s form to trick her. Did he really care that she loved him this much? I couldn’t help but to sigh. If he felt this serious about such a woman, then perhaps I could oblige him. To have my brother so deeply in love in front of me, how could I deny him now? Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

Image Information: Waking Up Kumbhakarna; Web Source: Wikimedia Commons.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Kumbhakarna is the brother of Ravana who sleeps for six months for every day in which he is awake. He is a massive man, a giant. He is woken up just as Ravana is about to go to war with Rama so that he may aid Ravana in the war. Kumbhakarna originally refuses because he believes that Ravana is not in the right for taking Sita. However, Ravana convinces him to change his mind, and Kumbhakarna fights for him.

I wanted to tell the story of Kumbhakarna being awoken and choosing to fight for Ravana from a first person’s narrative. I wanted to be able to show more detail in him being awoken, and what must have gone through his mind when Ravana requested that he join the war. I just wanted to expand on that part of the story, and show exactly what had made him change his mind and decide to aid Ravana’s fight against Rama.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 
• Image source: Wikimedia Commons