Kabandha
Also called Kabanda, Kabandiia, Visvavasu.
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Kabandha is a headless, spider-limbed demon crushed into monstrous shape by a god's blow, ultimately slain and released by Rama.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Indian folklore
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Face on torso
why
a single vast eye and a fanged mouth set into his chest or belly
- Headless body
why
Kabandha appears in the Ramayana as a Rakshasa of grotesque form, described across sources as a hairy, mountain-sized being with no head or neck, a single vast eye and a fanged mouth set into his chest or belly, and enormously long arms that serve him in place of legs.
- Single large eye
why
described across sources as a hairy, mountain-sized being with no head or neck, a single vast eye and a fanged mouth set into his chest or belly, and enormously long arms that serve him in place of legs.
- Cursed into monstrous form
why
The story most consistently told is that Kabandha's monstrous transformation came from a confrontation with the god Indra: in one telling he quarrelled with or challenged Indra directly, while another attributes his deformity to a sage's curse, but both converge on the same result, that a blow from Indra drove his head and legs into his own body, leaving him swollen and misshapen with his single eye and huge mouth exposed on his torso and his arms grown to extraordinary length.
Offensive powers
- Superhuman strength
why
In this form Kabandha is said to have later encountered Rama and his brother Lakshmana as they searched the forest for the abducted Sita, seizing the two men in his massive arms; the brothers cut off his arms in the struggle, and accounts describe Rama finally destroying the demon's monstrous body outright.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Circle carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Kabandha."
- John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Shadow carries
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Kabandha."
- John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Wise Old Man carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Kabandha."
- John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Hero meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Kabandha."
- John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, s.v. "Kabandha."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kabandha."