Komban Pt. II: Origin and Childhood Years

• Just minutes after the king and queen of Ponnivala set out on a long, long pilgrimage, they encounter a female boar lying on their path. This happens not very far from their palace gate.
  

• The queen is stressed and tired from all the journey’s preparations. So she simply kicks this sleeping animal, asking it to wake up and move.
  

• This kick angers the sow. She tells the queen she has been insulted by this insensitive touch of her foot! But the king quickly asks his wife to ignore the complaint and keep on walking.
  

• As the couple leave the scene that big black female boar turns around and utters a terrible curse: “I shall pray and ask the gods for a son. His great tusks will one day serve to spear the two sons that, in time, shall be born to you!”
  

• And, indeed, the great goddess does grant the angry female boar her wish. She will soon become pregnant with Komban!
  

• Can Komban’s tusks spear the two heroes that will later be born to the queen? Let us see!
  

• Just about the time that the queen gives birth to twin sons, Komban is born in a small forest hideaway the mother boar calls home.
  

• Much later, the king and queen start a long walk back to Ponnivala after years of exile. They now have three children. On the way they come across that mother boar’s hide-out. Komban, still just a baby, is at her side!
  

• Over the next ten years Komban grows into a huge beast! He is much bigger than any human. He frequently sleeps in the forest, in various hiding places.
  

• Furthermore a mysterious forest princess named Viratangal, decides to befriend him. She feeds him a huge mound of rice each day. No wonder he has grown so big!
  

• But Komban still doesn't like to be disturbed, even by the princess. One day she finds her pet in the forest, asleep. He lets out a huge gust of air and a big snort, scaring both her and her maid.
  

• Finally Komban realizes the time for his trouble-making has come. He first goes to the forest goddess, Kali, for her blessings. And Komban meets the forest princess there.
  

• Komban pays respects to Kali, but he does it backwards, circling the temple in the inauspicous direction: counterclockwise! This means there will be trouble!
  

• The forest princess gives Komban her blessings, but also tells him to go and bid goodbye to his mother before he sets off to cause trouble!
  

• Komban goes to his old family home to find his mother. He has become huge now, and his mother and siblings look like dwarfs beside him!
  

• Komban’s mother bids a sad farewell to her son. She fears for what might happen to him if those hunters from Ponnivala happen to find his forest hideaway!
  

[Continue to Part III==>]

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