कुम्भक

{ kumbhakḥ, kumbhaka }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

KUMBHAKA I   A warrior of Skanda. [Śalya Parva, Chapter 45, Verse 75] .
KUMBHAKA II   (Nikumbhaka). A very reputed sage. If he visited any place at dusk he left it only after a thousand years. He visited Kāśī once when King Divodāsa was ruling the state after having killed the Rākṣasa called Kṣemaka, who had lived like a king there. Kumbhaka lived in a forest in Kāśī with his disciples. Prosperity reigned supreme within a radius of three Yojanas from where the sage lived. Neither wild beasts nor famine infested the area. Once a fierce famine broke out in Kāśī, and the failure of rain caused great havoc. Finding it impossible to feed the cows their keepers went with their live-stock every morning to Kumbhaka's place where summer had not yet even peeped in, and after feeding their cows there, they returned home in the evening. But, one evening they led back with them the cows used by the sage for his Pūjās. When the sun set, as usual the sage sat before the sacred fire for Pūjā. But, the cow had not come. With his divine vision he found out the reason for the absence of the cow. He cursed that the region where the keepers of the cows lived be turned into a desert, and the kingdom of Kāśī became a desert place, whereupon king Divodāsa went to the banks of the Gomatī and founded a new kingdom there. [Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa Chapter 2] .

हिन्दी (hindi) WN

See : कुंभक

A Sanskrit English Dictionary

कुम्भक  m.  m. ifc. a pot, [Kathās.]
a measure (of grain, &c.), [Jyot.]
the prominence on the upper part of an elephant's forehead, [MBh. xii, 4280]
कुम्भक  mn.  mn. stopping the breath by shutting the mouth and closing the nostrils with the fingers of the right hand (a religious exercise), [BhP.]; [Vedântas.]; [Sarvad.] &c.
कुम्भक  m.  m. the base of a column, [Buddh.]
N. of an attendant of स्कन्द, [MBh. ix, 2577]

The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary

कुम्भकः [kumbhakḥ]   1 The base of a column (used especially in this sense frequently in inscription).
A religious exercise (in Yoga phil.), stopping the breath by closing the mouth and both nostrils with the fingers of the right hand; प्राणापानौ संनिरुन्ध्यात्पूरकुम्भकरेचकैः [Bhāg.7.15.32.]

Shabda-Sagara

कुम्भक  m.  ( -कः) Stopping the breath by shutting the mouth and close- ing both nostrils with the fingers of the right hand.
E. कन् added to the last.

ROOTS:

कन्