View source for Religion:Kumbhanda

{{Short description|Spirits in Buddhist mythology}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}

[[File:鳩槃荼.jpg|thumb|263x263px|A male kumbhāṇḍa (left) and female Kumbhāṇḍakā (right).]]
{{Buddhist term
|fontsize=100%
|title=Kumbhāṇḍa
|pi=कुम्भण्ड
|pi-Latn=Kumbhaṇḍa
|sa=कुम्भाण्ड
|sa-Latn=Kumbhāṇḍa
|zh=鳩槃荼 or 鳩盤拏 
|zh-Latn=Jiūpántú or Jiūpánná
|ja=鳩槃荼
|ja-Latn=kubanda
|ko=구반다
|ko-Latn=gubanda
|tl=Kumbhanda
|th=กุมภัณฑ์
|th-Latn-hhh
|bo=<big><big>གྲུལ་བུམ་<br>[[Social:Wylie transliteration|Wylie]]: grul bum<br>[[Social:THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription|THL]]: drulbum</big></big>
|vi=Cưu-bàn-đồ
}}
A '''{{IAST|kumbhāṇḍa}}''' ([[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]) or '''{{IAST|kumbhaṇḍa}}''' (Pāli) is one of a group of dwarfish, misshapen spirits among the lesser deities of Buddhist mythology.

{{IAST|Kumbhāṇḍa}} was a dialectal form for "gourd", so they may get their name from being thought to resemble gourds in some way, e.g. in having big stomachs.  But {{IAST|kumbhāṇḍa}} can also be interpreted as "pot-egg"; since "egg" ({{IAST|aṇḍa}}) was a common euphemism for "testicle", the {{IAST|kumbhāṇḍas}} were imagined having testicles "as big as pots". 

The terms {{IAST|kumbhāṇḍa}} and [[Religion:Yaksha|{{IAST|yakṣa}}]] are sometimes used for the same person; {{IAST|yakṣa}} in these cases is the more general term, including a variety of lower deities.

The {{IAST|kumbhāṇḍas}} are classed among the [[Religion:Four Heavenly Kings|Cāturmahārājika]] deities, and are subject to the Great King Virūḍhaka, Guardian of the South. One of their chiefs is called Kumbhīra.

According to the ''Dà zhìdù lùn'', greedy officers are reborn as kumbhāṇḍhas.


[[Category:Buddhist deities]]


{{Sourceattribution|Kumbhanda}}