The battle raged for days. Ravana was losing his most valuable generals. He decided it was time to wake Kumbakarna.

Kumbakarna was Ravana’s brother. His unique feature was that he was a giant. Long ago he had created such turmoil in the universe by eating so many people that the demigods had cursed him to sleep 364 days a year, only waking to eat one day.

Kumbakarna slept in an underground cavern that was eight miles long to accommodate his huge form. Troops of demons entered the cavern, having to tolerate hurricanes of bad breath coming from the demon’s open snoring mouth. They brought buckets of blood to feed him, and made loud noises and galloped horses, camels, elephants, and donkeys around his chest. It was no easy task to awaken the sleeping giant.