Another name for Nikumbha, a sage. If he arrived at a place at dusk, he would stay there for a thousand years. He once reached Kashi when Divodasa had killed the earlier rakshasa king Kshemaka and was ruling the kingdom. Kumbhaka reached a forest there with his disciples and stayed there. The 3 yojana area around his hermitage became very prosperous, and was free of wild animals and disease. Once there was a drought and famine in Kashi and the cowherds found it difficult to find places for their cows to graze. They reached Kumbhaka’s hermitage and were surprised to see it thriving. They began to bring their cows there daily. One day, as they were taking their cows back, they also took Kumbhaka’s sacrificial cow with them. When kumbhaka sat down for his agnihotra at sunset, he found his cow missing. He used his divine sight to find out what happened, and cursed that the cowherds dwellings would become uninhabitable. Soon Kashi became a desolate place. Divodasa shifted to a place on the banks of the Gomati and established a new kingdom there as per Brahmandapurana Chapter 2.

An attendant of Skanda as per Mahabharata Shalyaparva Chapter 44 verse 75.

As per the Uttararamayana, Kumbhakarna and his wife Vajrajwala had 2 sons – Kumbha and Nikumbha. They were ferocious warriors. Kumbha defeated the vanara army many times. Though many of Sugriva’s ministers tried to defeat him, they were unsuccessful. Angad also became weary of fighting him. Then Sugriva battled with Kumbha. Sugriva threw Kumbha into the Lavana ocean, and it was said that the ocean went up as high as the Vindhyas. When Kumbha emerged enraged, Sugriva killed him with his bare hands as per Ramayana Yudhakanda Sarga 76.

A son of Prahlad. His brothers were Nikumbha and Virochana.

The wife of Kusha, son of Rama. Once Kusha lost a hand ornament while swimming in the Sarayu. He was angry and about to fire arrows on Sarayu when a snake named Kumuda appeared and returned his ornament and gave him a maiden named Kumudwati as per Anandaramayana.

The wife of a king named Vimarshana. They are mentioned in the Shivapurana in the context of the importance of chaturdashi. Vimarshana was the king of Kirata and used to make the lives of his subjects miserable. His wife once pleaded with him to stop his evil acts. Vimarshana told her not to worry and revealed that he had been a dog in his previous birth. Once, while roaming around hungry, the dog had reached a Shiva temple in Pampapura. It was chaturdashi day and several pilgrims had flocked to the temple. The dog stood watching the idol. Suddenly a voice exhorted the crowd to kill the dog. It panicked and ran around the temple 3 times. But in the end, the crowd killed it. However, since the dog had run three times around the Shiva temple, it earned good karma andwas reborn as a king.

The king said that he was full of devotion for Shiva, but some nature from his previous lives made him commit the evil acts. Kumudwati then had a desire to know about her own previous lives. The king said that she had been a female dove in her previous birth. She once took a piece of meat and flew to a temple of Parvati. Another dove saw her and attacked her. She flew around the temple three times but was finally caught and killed. Since she had circled the temple, she was reborn as a queen.

The king also told her what her next births would be  – the king Shrinjaya’s daughter, then the daughter of the king of Magadha, then the daughter of Dasharna, then Yayati’s daughter, then as Vasumati, the daughter of the king of Vidarbha after which she would attain salvation. Vimarshana said that he would be her husband in those lives too as the king of Sindhu, the king of Saurashtra, the king of Gandhara, the king of Avanti, the king of Aanrta, the king of Pandya respectively. They would both then attain salvation thanks to circling a temple as per Shivapurana Chaturdashamahatmya.

A region in Shakadweepa as per Bhishmaparva Chapter 11 verse 25.

A disciple in Vyasa’s dynasty who specialised in Adharvaveda. Vyasa’s disciple was Jaimini. Jaimini’s son was Sumantu. Sumantu taught Adharvaveda to his disciple Kabandha, who split it into two and gave it to Devadarsha and Padhya. Devadarsha’s disciples were Medha, Brahmabali, Shaulkayani, Pippalada and Padhya’s disciples were Kumudadi, Jabali and Shaunaka as per Vishnupurana Ansh 3 Chapter 6.

A prominent snake as per Mahabharata Adiparva Chapter 35 verse 15.

One of the 4 attendants given to Skanda by Brahma. The others are Nandisena, Ghandakarna, Lohitaksha. As per Mahabharata Shalyaparva Chapter 45 verse 24, they were quick, strong and pleasing to the eye.