A warrior of स्कन्द . [mh-9-45-75 ] Mahābhārata • Śalya parva .

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. A very reputed sage. If he visited any place at dusk he left it only after a thousand years. He visited काशी once when King दिवोदास was ruling the state after having killed the राक्षस called क्षेमक , who had lived like a king there. कुम्भक lived in a forest in काशी with his disciples. Prosperity reigned supreme within a radius of three योजनस् from where the sage lived. Neither wild beasts nor famine infested the area

Once a fierce famine broke out in काशी , 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 कुम्भक '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 पूजास् . When the sun set, as usual the sage sat before the sacred fire for पूजा . 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 काशी became a desert place, whereupon king दिवोदास went to the banks of the गोमती and founded a new kingdom there. (Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa Chapter 2) .