Kubera

About Kubera

Kubera is the pot-bellied, three-legged dwarf king of the Yakshas — the nature spirits who guard treasures buried in the earth. His left eye is yellow, said to have burst when he glanced at Parvati during a 200,000-year penance to Shiva at Varanasi, earning him the name Ekapingala. He rides a man (Nara-vahana) and clutches a mongoose that spits jewels — a symbol of his power over the Nagas who hoard underground gold. The Ramayana tells how Ravana, his half-brother, seized his kingdom of Lanka and his flying chariot Pushpaka; Kubera then built a new city, Alaka, near Mount Kailash. As guardian of the north, he is worshipped facing that direction on Dhanteras, and at Tirupati devotees drop coins into the Hundi to repay the gold he lent Venkateshwara for his wedding.