Characters
- Brahma - Great-Grandfather of Kubera
- The ultimate god in Hinduism
- Kubera - Lord of Wealth
- Heti - first rakshasa
- Sukesa - Rakshasa born son of Parvati and Shiva
- Malyavan, Sumali, Mali - Evil sons of Sukesa
- Vishnu - the preserver
- Kaikesi - daughter of Sumali
- Vishrava - Father of Kubera
- Dashagriva - Ravana
Setting
- Lanka
- Alakapuri - where Kubera retreats to
Plot
- Kubera wants to be a lokapala (guardian of the world)
- Brahma makes Kubera the Lord of Wealth and gifts him Pushpaka
- Pushpaka is a chariot made by Vishvakarma
- Described differently in many stories
- Can be a flying temple, chariot, etc
- Said to shine very brightly
- Origin of Lanka is discussed
- Vayu and Vasuki were testing who was more powerful, and Vayu (wind god) blew hard enough that the top of a mountain blew into the sea, forming Lanka
- Mountain top blown away belonged to Mount Meru
- Mount Meru has still not been identified by scholars
- In mythology, Mount Meru is the center of the universe
- Mount Meru is supposedly approximately 1,000,000 km high according to mythology
- Possibly Mount Kailash?
- Brahma accidentally created rakshasas while reciting the Vedas because Brahma got hungry and his hunger created two children, one being a rakshasa
- Heti, the first rakshasa, had a grandchild who was ditched and recovered by Shiva and Parvati
- The city of Lanka was created for Shiva and Parvati by Vishvakarma as a wedding gift
- Parvati and Shiva named adopted son Sukesa, who was gifted wealth by Shiva
- Sukesa had three sons who became evil and took over Lanka
- Mali, Sumali, and Malyavan attack the gods, and Vishnu respons by killing Mali and forcing Malyavan and Sumali to leave Lanka
- Vishnu uses Sudarshan Chakra - weapon made by Vishvakarma
- Kubera moves into Lanka and becomes king
- Sumali takes note of Kubera's wealth and becomes jealous
- Sumali forces Kaikesi to marry Vishrava
- Have four kids - Shurpanakha, Vibhishana, Kumbhakarna, and Dashagriva
- Dashagriva cuts heads off and gains boons from Brahma, he wishes to become invincible but he is not invincible against humans
- Sumali tells Dashagriva to take over Lanka from Kubera
- Dashagriva agrees, pushes Kubera to Alakapuri
- Dashagriva invades Alakapuri, fights Kubera's Angeyastra (fire sword) with a Varunastra (water sword)
- After defeating Kubera, Dashagriva steals Pushpaka
- Dashagriva now has complete power over Lanka with his army of rakshasas
- Rama invades Lanka by building a stone bridge to Lanka and killing Dashagriva
- Vibhishana is named king of Lanka
- Rama takes Sita home to Ayodhya
- Pushpaka is returned to Kubera
 |
| Kubera, the God of Wealth, in an image from Pexels |
Bibliography
Kubera: The Lord of Wealth published by Amar Chitra Katha Vol. 839
No comments:
Post a Comment