Rakshasa

A rakshasa (Sanskrit: राक्षस, rākṣasa) is a humanoid being in Hindu mythology. Rakshasas are also called "man-eaters" (nri-chakshas, kravyads). A female rakshasa is known as a Rakshasi. The terms Asura and Rakshasa are sometimes used interchangeably.

Rakshasas were believed to have been created from the breath of Brahma when he was asleep at the end of the Satya Yuga. As soon as they were created, they were so filled with bloodlust that they started eating Brahma himself. Brahma shouted "Rakshama!" (Sanskrit for "Protect me!") and Vishnu came to his aid, banishing to Earth all Rakshasas (named after Brahma's cry for help).

Their literary origins can be traced to Vedic sources through Hymn 87 of the tenth mandala of the Rigveda. They are classified amongst the Yatudhanas, mythological beings that consume raw flesh.

Rakshasas were most often depicted as ugly, fierce-looking and enormous creatures, with two fangs protruding from the top of the mouth and having sharp, claw-like fingernails. They are shown as being mean, growling like beasts, and as insatiable man-eaters that could smell the scent of human flesh. Some of the more ferocious ones were shown with flaming red eyes and hair, drinking blood with their palms or from a human skull (similar to representations of vampires in later Western mythology). Generally they could fly, vanish, and had Maya (magical powers of illusion), which enabled them to change size at will and assume the form of any creature.

In the world of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Rakshasas were a populous race. There were both good and evil rakshasas, and as warriors they fought alongside the armies of both good and evil. They were powerful warriors, expert magicians and illusionists. As shape-changers, they could assume different physical forms. As illusionists, they were capable of creating appearances which were real to those who believed in them or who failed to dispel them. Some of the rakshasas were said to be man-eaters, and made their gleeful appearance when the slaughter on a battlefield was at its worst. Occasionally they served as rank-and-file soldiers in the service of one or another warlord.

Aside from its treatment of unnamed rank-and-file Rakshasas, the epics tell the stories of certain members of the "race" who rose to prominence, some of them as heroes, most of them as villains.

The prominent Rakshasas in Ramayana include: Ravana, Vibhishana, Kumbakarna, Kabandha, Tataka, Shurpanakha, Maricha, Subahu, Khara, Prahasta, Akshayakumara, Atikaya and Indrajit.

The prominent Rakshasas in Mahabharata include: Hidimba, Hidimbi, Ghatotkacha, Anjanaparvan, Bakasura, Kirmira, Jatasura, and Alambusha.