The Buddhist Cosmos by Punnadhammo Mahathero

Author:Punnadhammo Mahathero [Mahathero, Punnadhammo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-18T05:00:00+00:00

3:4:5 KUMBHAṆḌAS

The kumbhaṇḍas are a class of very odd looking beings. The name means “pot-testicles” because their testicles (aṇḍa lit. “eggs”) are as large as a water-pot (kumbha).483 They are also said to have large bellies (ibid.). They are subject to King Virūḷhaka, the Great King of the south. He is said to enjoy their songs and dances (DN 32). An army of kumbhaṇḍas forms the third line of defence of Tāvatiṃsa (Jāt 31). The kumbhaṇḍas are difficult to fit into any broader category. One passage identifies them as dānava-rakkhasā which are two kinds of yakkha,484 while another calls them kumbhaṇḍa-devatā (DN-a 19).

Existence as a kumbhaṇḍa cannot be called a fortunate rebirth. The kumbhaṇḍas occur in a passage listing various demonic beings whose power is no match for Sakka’s, putting them in company with pisācās, rakkhasas and paṃsupisācas, all more or less demonic beings (Jāt 347). We are told of a corrupt magistrate who was reborn as a kumbhaṇḍa. His testicles were so large that when he walked, he had to throw them over his shoulders, and when he sat down, he used them as a seat (SN 19:10).

There are almost no stories specifically about kumbhaṇḍas; there were the kumbhaṇḍa-rakkhasas who guarded Vessavaṇa’s magical mangoes,485 and little else. We have no names of individual kumbhaṇḍas, unless we count King Virūlhaka486 as such. They also seem to have some association with King Vessavaṇa. Besides the troupe who guarded his mango tree, he is also said to have killed many thousands of them with his glance, scattering them like chaff, although he refrained from this murderous behaviour after becoming a sotāpanna (Vin-a Pār 3).

The kumbhaṇḍas presumably reproduce sexually as there is a mention of female kumbhaṇḍas called kumbhaṇḍī and young ones called kumbhaṇḍapotaka (boys) and kumbhaṇḍapotikā (girls) (DN 32).

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