KUMBHAKARNA'S DISEASE

KUMBHAKARNA:

Kumbhakarna is an important character in Ramayana. He is the younger brother of Ravan, the demon king. That is he belonged to the asura clan. He was a giant with greater height and weight which made him the strongest warrior of the epic. Kumbhakarna was a great devotee of God Brahma.

BOON TURNED OUT TO BE BANE:

Kumbhakarna was the greatest devotee of God Brahma. He was on a severe penance worshipping Lord Brahma. As a result lord, Brahma granted him a boon to ask anything he wanted. So Kumbhakarna made this an opportunity to defeat devas and asked for the position of Indra the leader of devas as a boon,  which panicked the Devas. They wanted to stop this and requested Maa Saraswathi to help them. And Maa Saraswathi to help the Deva's tied the tongue of Kumbhakarna when he was about to ask the boon. As a result of which he mispronounced the words. He intended to ask for Indrasana which was mispronounced to be Nidrasana. And he wanted to ask for Nirdevatam which was mispronounced as Nidravatam.

MISTAKEN BOON:

Indrasana means Indra's seat.

Nidrasana means a bed to sleep in.

Nirdevatam means the destruction of Devas

Nidravatam means a long sleep. 

Though it was mispronounced words. Brahmadev granted the boon which he heard.

RESULT OF THE BOON:

As a result of which Kumbhakarna started to sleep for months. It was too difficult to wake him up. Next, he felt so hungry that he ate whatever he got. He was hungry all the time and then his height and weight increased tremendously. The boon completely changed the lifestyle of Kumbhakarna after which he spent his entire life eating and sleeping. 

Though some of us are like this... LOL... 

Sleeping for months is quite weird. So let us have a look at a modern disease that matches Kumbhakarna's symptoms. 

MODERN DISEASE IN KUMBHAKARNA:

The symptoms which Kumbhakarna showed up was similar to two modern diseases. They are:

1. Hypothalamic Obesity 

2. Kleine Levin Syndrome 

HYPOTHALAMIC OBESITY :

Hypothalamic obesity is a neuro disorder. Hypothalamus is a part of the human brain that controls hunger, sleep, and hormonal secretions. In the case of hypothalamic obesity, the hypothalamus is affected which causes various changes. So the Symptoms of this disease are Polyphagia which is Excessive eating from excess hunger or increased appetite. Next is Somnolence which is uncontrollable sleep like a Strong desire for sleep and feeling drowsy. And then Sham Rage it is behavioral changes like biting, clawing violent behavior, and finally, a hormonal imbalance which results in increased height and weight. So symptoms of hypothalamic obesity exactly match with Kumbhakarna.

KLEINE LEVIN SYNDROME :

Similar to hypothalamic obesity there is another disorder called Kleine Levin Syndrome. It is a rare disease that is caused by hypothalamic injury or by genetic factors. The exact causative factor of the disease is not yet found. This mostly affects adults. So the symptoms of this disorder include extreme hunger, uncontrollable sleep, and hormonal imbalance. Even this disorder matches with Kumbhakarna.

As a result of the boon, Kumbhakarna was affected by Hypothalamic obesity and Kleine Levin syndrome. 

And yes!! This is said to be the disease faced by Kumbhakarna. 

Have a look at our Youtube Channel Mythical Science:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaXYKUDVCaN23A2YJvK5J2A?sub_confirmation=1

The English video link of this content is:

https://youtu.be/qTm45m8TMKg

The Tamil video link of this content is :

https://youtu.be/NoXvErgnoXQ