The story of kabandhudu

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

After Ravana abducts Sita, Sri Rama and Lakshmana go out in search of Sita in the dense forest of Dandakaaranya. At one point they see a strange creature under a tree. This creature neither has a head nor legs. While they remain bewildered long arms reach them and grab both of them. Then they realize that this creature (a Raakshasa) has its head in the torso with a single eye and the legs are also tucked inside the torso.

Lakshmana realizes that his end is not too far and advises Sri Rama to take care of himself and makes some parting statements. Then the Raakshasa speaks up and states that he is going to eat both of them immediately.

Sensing the danger, Sri Rama immediately instructs Lakshmana to cut the arm of the Rakshasa, in which he got captivated. Both of them with a single stroke cut the arms of that Rakshasa. Seeing this Kabandhudu is shell shocked.

Then the Raakshasa asks them who they are. Lakshmana gives a very quick introduction about themselves (This is one interesting thing in Raamayana. Many characters provide information which is just adequate for that situation. For example in this case Lakshmana doesnt talk about Kaikeyi or Bharatha or losing the kingdom etc). Then the Rakshasa mentions that his name is Kabandhudu and provides more details about him.

“Once upon a time I used to be an extremely handsome person. I was a Kaamaroopi too (he could get the avatar of any creature he wishes). I used to change myself into a horrifying Raakshasa and used to scare all the rishis and munis in the forest. Once a rushi  got upset with my stupid act and cursed me, “You would remain with this same Raakshasa avatar and would not be able to change back.” I got scared and pleaded with the Rushi for a saapa vimochanam (reversal of the curse). “Long time later Sri Rama and Lakshmana would come into this forest and they would cut your arms. That’s when you would regain your original avatar”.

After that I started doing Tapasya for Brahma. I got a boon from Brahma that I would lead a very long life. With this boon I became over confident and waged a war on Indra. Indra used his Vajraayudham and hit hard on my head and my head got tucked into my torso. He hit on my legs and they got tucked into my torso. I was devastated with that and requested him to kill me. He said that Brahma’s words cannot go wrong and left me like that. Then I asked him how I would be able to feed myself without legs to move around. Then he gave me extremely long arms with which I can scout for animals miles away with my arms and eat them. I have been surviving for a very long time and have been waiting for you. Please kill me and perform last rites for my body so that I can regain my original form. With the current form I wont be able to help you much, but once I regain my original form I will certainly be of some help to you in searching for your beloved wife.”

Once Sri Rama and Lakshamana killed him and performed the last rites, Kabandhudu regained his original form and he was the one who suggested that they travel towards Rushya mookha parvatam and make friends with King Sugreeva. He said that Sugreeva will certainly be instrumental in their search for Sita.

Our strengths can become over weakness if they are misutilized. This story very clearly shows how Kabandhudu misused his Kaamaroopi powers to land himself in trouble.

Inspite of that once he got a boon from Brahma instead of utilizing it properly, he went after Indra and landed in a much bigger trouble. With more power comes more responsibility.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.