This epic provides with loads of learning that as I mull over, I can see myself wanting to implement it. Three different situations and all of them in the battlefield, made me to introspect. Not in the way people fought in the battlefield but in the way they looked at the another person, be it someone from their army or the opponent’s army. Read on to see what this blog post is focusing on 🙂

Kumbakarna enters the battlefield at the behest of Ravana. He enters into a fight with Sugreeva. Kumbakarna breaks a peak of a mountain and throws it on Sugreeva. This renders Sugreeva unconscious. Kumbakarna assumes that Sugreeva is dead and that this is the end of Rama. He lifts Sugreeva, carries him in the crook of his arm and goes to Lanka. Hanuman watching all this, starts to think. He was tempted to fight with Kumbakarna and free Sugreeva. He then thought that if he does that,

– Sugreeva will be freed and the monkey army would be ecstatic or

– When Sugreeva awakens from his unconscious state, he will do what is beneficial to both himself and the monkey army or

– If he (Hanuman) goes and fights Kumbakarna, he will be able to save and bring back Sugreeva BUT that would dilute his (Sugreeva’s) fame.

and he decides to go with last option..

In the meantime, Sugreeva regains consciousness and ponders over how he could save himself, so that the monkey army will be benefitted. And……. he attacks Kumbakarna…….. Kumbakarna throws Sugreeva on the ground. The next instant, Sugreeva jumps high up and flies fast from Lanka towards Rama’s camp.

I can only imagine that bewildered look on Kumbakarna’s face when this happened 🙂 

It is indeed interesting to see how our mind is capable of coming up with multiple solutions, to solve a problem, even at moments of crises. The decision that we take at that point in time, just seems right. It is only later do we know, that the decision taken was either the most appropriate or the most inappropriate. When we see someone rendered helpless, our tendency could be to rush to their support. We may also perhaps think that our support is critical for them, to come out of the situation that they are in. We don’t generally rush in to help a stranger solve his / her problem. We do this with people familiar to us. But then..

 – Do they really need our support?

 – By rushing to help them, are we in a way hindering their capability, their sense of pride in independently handling the situation?

– When we rush to help people, do we take away their sense of achievement that they will get in handling the situation themselves?

When Kumbakarna returns to the field, Lakshmana encounters him. Kumbakarna praises Lakshmana for having the courage to face him in the battle. Lakshmana in turn acknowledges Kumbakarna’s strength, while fighting sometime earlier with Lord Indra and now in the battlefield.He tells Kumbakarna that Rama is near the battlefield.

Kumbakarna rushes towards the side where Rama is. Rama also rushes towards Kumbakarna and calls him the most powerful of the asuras. Kumbakarna in turn calls Rama as the Lion of the Ishvaku dynasty (the dynasty to which Rama belongs).

When I read Kumbakarna, Rama /  Lakshmana praising each other’s strengths, despite they being opponents of one another, I was in awe. In many situations in real life, rarely do we hear opponents praising one another. The way Lakshmana and Kumbakarna or Rama and Kumbakarna praised one another, it seemed as though the words of appreciation were an acknowledgement of facts and reality. It also appeared as though each one of them knew that they were fighting for a cause, in which case people become ‘smaller than life’ 🙂

 – If the cause is larger than life, does the ego take a backseat?

 – Is it easier to acknowledge the opponent’s strength, when we know our own strength?

 – And when we acknowledge our own strength and acknowledge the fact of the opponent’s strength, the confidence that we have in ourselves increases exponentially? 

– Acknowledging the opponent’s strength within ourselves is one thing, but what is it that makes one to acknowledge the opponent’s strengths explicitly? It calls for a lot of courage and maturity, to acknowledge the opponent’s strength explicitly.  Acknowledging the opponents strength may actually remove the sense of fear that we may have, of failing against them. 

What comes next is a situation that apparently is NOT in Valmiki Ramayana but has been written in the Kamba Ramayana. Vibheeshana shares with Rama and Sugreeva, that Kumbakarna expressed his displeasure on Ravana keeping Sita as a hostage.  But realising that his words will not fall on Ravana’s ears, he had decided to come to the battlefield before Rama and face death.

Sugreeva on hearing this suggests that they talk to Kumbakarna and get him to their side and fight against Ravana. Vibheeshana takes up this suggestion and goes to talk to Kumbakarna. He tells Kumbakarna to join their camp and save himself as there is no use in fighting for Ravana and wasting a precious life.

Kumbakarna replies saying that Ravana has brought him up and has given him the responsibility of fighting the battle; and hence he would not join Rama’s camp just to live a wealthy life. He also asks that when a king does not take advice and continues to do wrong; he could be changed to do the right things; wouldn’t that be wise to do so? And if changing him is not possible, then thinking of fighting against him and amassing wealth, is it the right thing to do? He also says that when one is  been given shelter, food and clothes by someone, it is only fair to die for them when needed. He then requests Vibheeshana not to take pity on him and to just leave.

I recall reading in the same book, of how Rama knew that Vibheeshana while wanting justice and the need for Lanka to be ruled by a just and fair ruler, also had the desire to be the king of Lanka. When I read what Kumbakarna said to Vibheeshana (in the previous para, and made bold and italicized) , I felt that he was indirectly talking about Vibheeshana’s movement to Rama’s camp; and also his need to fight against Ravana, winning the battle and amassing wealth. 

Who was right??

 – Vibheeshana in not only telling Ravana that abducting Sita was wrong,  but also moving to Rama’s camp?

 – Kumbakarna in not only telling  Ravana that abducting Sita was wrong, but staying with Ravana and fighting for him,  because he was brought up by Ravana?

In my view, each one is right from their own perspective. Their reasons for doing what they did seems so justified. 

We see this kind of conflict in our own lives. When we feel that an immediate family member / close friend has done a wrong, some of us cut our relationship with them and move away mentally and sometimes physically too (being right is more important than keeping the relationship) . On the other hand, some of us may tell them that what they did is wrong but will choose to stay by them. Why? because they have done good to us / helped us / stood by us during our challenging times (relationship is far more important than being right). 

Whether one is moving away from the person who has done a wrong, or staying with the person who did the wrong because of a sense of gratitude, each person has a purpose for it. Is there a right or wrong to it? Can we stand seeing the situation from where we are, and call someone right and someone else wrong? We see what we want to see and based on what we see we arrive at our own conclusions. 

There is a lot I have heard about Vibheeshana’s movement to Rama’s camp because he wanted to be with the side of ‘rightness’. This is the first time I have heard or rather read about Kumbakarna’s reason to stay with Ravana. I am left with the question, “Isn’t he also right?”