Ramayana - Pages 51 and 52

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• Audio

Add. MS 15297(1)

ff.63v (text) and 64r (picture)

Ravana had another brother, the giant Kumbhakarna, who was so terrible that Brahma put him under a curse to spend most of his life asleep. Ravana has sent an army of his demons to wake the monster. First they make the most enormous noise, and when that fails they hit him with weapons and hammers. Herds of horses, camels and elephants are driven over him, and a thousand demons run up and down his body. The artist Sahib Din depicts this episode with donkeys braying, elephants trumpeting and women singing. Great heaps of meat including dead monkeys and pitchers of fat and blood have been placed near the giant ready to satisfy his ravenous hunger when he awakes. He does finally awake but, after a tremendous struggle, is killed by Rama, as are more of Ravana's sons in their turn.