Talk:Rakshasa

fiction citations
There is at least one important citation missing from the mention or use of Rakshasa in fiction: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. The 'human' characters (who use the names of Hindu gods) are able to transfer their souls from body to body through technology, but there is another race (?) or species on the planet that survive as unbodied spirits, and they are called Rakshasas. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.54.95.58 (talk) 15:32, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

too much fancruft
needs to be split --Dangerous-Boy 23:00, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

artwork
Mongoose publisher is a pen and paper RPG publisher, is it appropriate to have this artwork on an article on Hindu mythology? Obonicus 08:16, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

cannibalism
The article states many rakshasa were cannibals, but shouldn't this be "man-eaters"? I doubt that they are feeding among themselves, but they are eating humans, which does not qualify them as cannibals. Greetings, --88.77.210.102 (talk) 23:47, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Meanings in other languages
In Indonesian, Raksasa in common usage simply means "giant". From a quick Googling, it's the same in Malay/Malaysian (the sister language of Indonesian). I added a note to this effect, but I'm not sure how to source it without referencing the Indonesian Wikipedia. Probably it needs references added from Malaysian and Indonesian dictionaries (which I don't have handy, and I can't find an authoritative one online).

At the top of the page it translates the word to Malay as raksasa. I didn't modify this - I can't say whether the mythological meaning of raksasa is widely understood in Malaysia. (Nor Indonesia - I speak Indonesian and have spent 2.5 years there, but have never come across the mythological use of the work. Many Indonesians have a passing familiarity with the legends, though.)

Note that:
 * Giant (mythology) is interlanguage linked with Raksasa
 * Rakshasa is interlanguage linked with id:Raksasa (mitologi Hindu dan Buddha). (You can probably guess that "mitologi Hindu dan Buddha" means "Hindu and Buddhist mythology".) --Chriswaterguy talk 00:00, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Use in Japan
The word 羅刹 'rasetsu' (in the form 羅刹鬼 'rasetsuki') is used as the name of the oni in the legend of Mitsuishi Shrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwate_Prefecture#Name). I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence but would it be relevant to this article? 210.158.71.78 (talk) 04:19, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Rakshasa Hardware Backdoor
In disambiguation it should be added a link with a page that is about the innovative hardware backdoor/infection called Rakshasa created as a PoC by security researcher Jonathan Brossard and presented at the Defcon (but still not released to the public). 87.5.199.128 (talk) 07:06, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

KAMSA : HE WAS THE BROTHER OF DEVAKI ,KRISHNA'S MOTHER. HE GOT INFORMATION THAT HIS DEATH WILL BE BY HIS SISTER'S SON. SO HE KILLED ALL THE CHILDREN OF HIS SISTER DEVAKI.BUT VASUDEVA THE HUSBAND OF DEVAKI HAD PLANNED AND SAVED A CHILD IN HIS FRIEND HOUSE. THAT CHILD IS "KRISHNA". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.213.255.57 (talk) 06:07, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

Ravana as Rakshasas
In the article it is repeatedly mentioned that the king Ravana as a Rakshasas. The fact is Ravana was never a  Rakshasa but a Brahmin. People out of ignorance called him a Rakshasa. Though in some scriptures Ravana is called a person of "Rakshasa charcter" or simply "evil character" because he kidnapped someone else's wife. But it does not make him a Rakshasas. Rakshasas are demonic beings and maneaters. I am deleting content saying Ravana as a Rakshasa Rotor37 (talk) 03:06, 24 June 2016 (UTC)
 * (First posted on Talk:Rama) This strange assertion that Ravana was never a Rakshasa goes against all known scholarshipand is WP:OR. Survey of some encylopedias (opening definitions of Ravana):


 * Puranic encyclopedia by Vettam Mani p. 645: "The Raksasa King of Lanka who had ten heads"
 * Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions p. 909: "... wealthy, demonic (raksasa) king"
 * The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism by James G. Lochtefeld p. 568: "Ravana is the ten headed demon king of Lanka"
 * Encyclopedia of Hinduism by Constance A. Jones and James D. Ryan p. 394: "the demon king Ravana"
 * Epic Mythology By Edward Washburn Hopkins pp. 39-41: Describes Ravana in Rakshasa section.Translations of the epics:
 * Critical edition of Ramayana Glossary p. 547: "the ten-headed overlord of the raksasas" + - numerously referred to as rakshasa.
 * The Mahabharata-- Redtigerxyz Talk 17:32, 24 June 2016 (UTC)

Historical Origins
Rakshashas are always depicted as beings who are different from the indigenous population (Indo-Aryan Peoples). They may have been Africans who migrated from Africa and were evolving into Native Americans (Recent African origin of modern humans). This is different from the Out of Africa theory which proposes origins of human kind in Africa. The Out of India Theory proposes a different origin for Indo-Aryans and Afro-Asiatic people.

rakshahsa symbols
Any suggestions for formalizing rakshasha religion and symbols. There is already a sizeable rakshahsha group in Suriname who advocate equality, race mixing and religion mixing. Symbols suggested are coming together of lines or symbols of some kind (dfferent colors) and merging together in some shape (maybe some dynamic like twisting) with rakshahsa at the top. Recruits can come from Sai bbai an Bahai groups. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.192.102 (talk) 20:46, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

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Merge
Asura should be merged into this article because both the terms effectively refer to the same mythical characters. Capankajsmilyo(Talk 03:50, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * The Asura article says that Asura and Rakshasha are interchangeable, but no reference is provided and I'm not sure how true that is. I think it's more that appellations for supernatural creatures who aren't gods and are potentially dangerous are very inconsistent in Sanskrit & Prakrit literature. There does seem to be some strata over time- the Asuras play a role in the Vedas but aren't much heard from later, while the Rakshasa seem primarily to be from the epics and later. Asuras have a connection with Indo-Iranian mythology, but not clear that Rakshasa do. The Rakshasas seem to be mostly characterized as blood thirsty psuedo-demonic tricksters (though some are heroic), whereas the Asuras are very similar to the Devas other than being in competition with them, which is why in Buddhist mythology they are the 'titans' or 'demigods'. Many categories like this are used very loosely, so whether an individual is an Asura vs. Rakshasa vs. Yaksha vs. deva can be unclear, but there are still distinctions between those categories with their own linguistic and mythic pedigree. --Spasemunki (talk) 12:11, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

ABSOLUTELY NOT. DO NOT MERGE THE ARTICLES. Contact any scholar of Sanskrit language, literature, culture, mythology, and they will tell you absolutely not to merge the articles. The confusion results from the inconsistent English translations of the words, sometimes rendering both rakshasa and asura as "demon." I've never commented on a Talk Page before, because I've never seen such a bad merge idea proposed before. DO NOT MERGE ASURA AND RAKSHASA. Laurakgibbs (talk) 14:25, 23 May 2020 (UTC) Laurakgibbs (Ph.D., Comparative Literature) 14:23, 23 May 2020 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laurakgibbs (talk • contribs) 14:23, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

Asura
Actually word Asura derived from Assur means Assyrian because proto indo Iranian people lived in their kingdoms or they know very well to them because to lived in their neighborhood like Hittites and Elamites Rakshas is pure indian word Ravan was rakshas not asura but hiranyakashipu was Asura not rakshas so both subject are different. Atul Rigved (talk) 14:45, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Preservers?
Can anyone explain how a class literally named preservers can be harmful or evil demigods? EIther preservers is mistranslation or there is a paradox somewhere. Not sure which. Sooku (talk) 00:02, 13 September 2022 (UTC)

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 * Bhimsen and Ghatotkach.jpg