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39-516: Asuras are also listed here as protectors of Dharma in the same sense as demigods are referred as "asuratvam" (holy) in Rigvedic "Hymn to all gods" where devas are related to "asuras" (thus, protectors of Dharma). Related word " ahura " in Zoroastrianism also means "god". The name aṣṭasenā (अष्टसेना) is composed of two Sanskrit terms. Aṣṭa (अष्ट) means eight , with connections to

78-581: A 20-armed Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa . The artists of Angkor also depicted the Battle of Lanka between the Rakshasas under the command of Ravana and the Vanaras or monkeys under the command of Rama and Sugriva . The 12th-century Angkor Wat contains a dramatic bas-relief of the Battle of Lanka between Ravana's Rakshasas and Rama 's monkeys. Ravana is depicted with ten heads and twenty arms, mounted on

117-636: A chariot drawn by creatures that appear to be a mixture of horse, lion, and bird. Vibhishana is shown standing behind and aligned with Rama and his brother Lakshmana . Kumbhakarna , mounted on a similar chariot, is shown fighting Sugriva . This battle is also depicted in a less refined bas-relief at the 12th-century temple of Preah Khan . Rakshasa have long been a race of villains in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. They appear as animal-headed humanoids (generally with tiger or monkey heads) with their hands inverted (palms of its hands are where

156-545: A dialogue between the Buddha and a group of rakshasa daughters, who swear to uphold and protect the Lotus Sutra . They also teach magical dhāraṇīs to protect followers who also uphold the sutra. Five rakshasha are part of Mahakala 's retinue. They are Kala and Kali, husband and wife, and their offspring Putra, Bhatri and Bharya. The Lankavatara Sutra mentions the island of Sri Lanka as land of Rakshasas. Their king

195-460: A fourth addition to the usual three evil paths that make up the animal realm, ghost realm and hell realm. In schools that recognize the desire realm as consisting of five realms, the asura realm tends to be included among the deva realm. In Tibetan Buddhism , the addition of the asuras in the six-world bhavacakra was created in Tibet at the authority of Je Tsongkhapa . The Ekottara Āgama and

234-493: A hawk, flying high above and looking down on others, and yet outwardly displaying justice, worship, wisdom, and faith — this is raising up the lowest order of good and walking the way of the Asuras. The asuras are said to experience a much more pleasurable life than humans, but they are plagued by envy for the devas, whom they can see just as animals perceive humans. The asuras of some inferior realms however, are malevolent (such as

273-673: A liquor so strong that Śakra forbade the other gods to drink it. Weakened by their drunkenness, the asuras could not resist when Śakra had the whole lot of them thrown over the edge of Trāyastriṃśa into what would become the Asura-world at the base of Sumeru. A tree grows there called Cittapātali; when the asuras saw it blossom, they saw that it was different from the Pāricchattaka (Sanskrit: Pāriyātra) tree which had grown in their old home, and they knew that they were dispossessed. They now meditated on war. In armor and weapons, they climbed up

312-666: A race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism and Folk Islam . They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as disrupting Vedic sacrifices or eating humans. The term is also used to describe asuras , a class of power-seeking beings that oppose the benevolent devas . They are often depicted as antagonists in Hindu scriptures, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism . The female form of rakshasa

351-637: Is rakshasi . Brahmā, in a form composed of the quality of foulness, produced hunger, of whom anger was born: and the god put forth in darkness beings emaciate with hunger, of hideous aspects, and with long beards. Those beings hastened to the deity. Such of them as exclaimed, “Oh preserve us!” were thence called Rākṣasas. Those created beings, overwhelmed by hunger, attempted to seize the waters. Those among them who said—“we shall protect these waters”, are remembered as Rākṣasas. Rakshasas were most often depicted as shape-shifting, fierce-looking, enormous monstrous-looking creatures, with two fangs protruding from

390-561: Is Sena, a goddess, commonly known as Deva-Sena, the personified armament of the gods. There were plenty of legions in India serving various kings and lords, but all military forces as a whole could be figuratively named an army, i.e. "Sena" - the Shakti through which the god of war imposed his will. The Eight Legions have their origins in ancient India as gods who belong to several domains. Many of these gods are among those spirits who are found in

429-526: Is a demigod or titan of the Kāmadhātu . They are described as having three heads with three faces each and either four or six arms. The Buddhist asuras have a few myths distinctive from the asuras of Hinduism, which are only found in Buddhist texts. In its Buddhist context, the word is sometimes translated " titan ", " demigod ", or " antigod ". Buddhaghosa explains that their name derives from

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468-607: Is another list of eight beings, the Hachibukikishū (Japanese; 八部鬼衆), who belong to an overlapping, but distinct category. The Chinese title of Jin Yong 's novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is a reference to the Eight Legions. His original plan was to map each major character to one race, but this proved impossible as the novel progressed. Asura (Buddhism) An asura ( Sanskrit and Pali : असुर) in Buddhism

507-415: Is better to translate as "army" due to the fact that enormous Kuru and Pāṇḍava troops that gathered on the battlefield were called "kurupāṇḍava-sena" (one can't label two huge military forces fighting each other as just one legion), and more than that, all wars in India are patronized by the god of war Kārtikeya who probably plays both sides in any conflict if adversary combatants worship devas. His wife's name

546-465: Is one of the realms one can be reborn into within the six realms . Rebirth here is a result of experiencing the fruits of wholesome karma while engaging in unwholesome karma. The placement of the asura realm in Buddhist cosmology varies among traditions. Sometimes the asura realm is recognized as one of happiness, existing beneath the worlds of the devas and humans. In other schemes, it is viewed as

585-483: Is shown anchoring the line of Asuras. A bas-relief at the 12th-century temple of Angkor Wat depicts the figures churning the ocean. It includes Ravana anchoring the line of Asuras that are pulling on the serpent's head. Scholars have speculated that one of the figures in the line of Devas is Ravana's brother Vibhishana . They pull on a serpent's tail to churn the Ocean of Milk. Another bas-relief at Angkor Wat shows

624-603: Is the Rakshasa called Ravana, who invites Buddha to Sri Lanka for delivering the sermon in the land. There are other Rakhasas from the land, such as Wibisana, who is believed to be the brother of Ravana in Sri Lankan Buddhist mythology . In The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava, recorded by Yeshe Tsogyal , Padmasambhava receives the nickname of "Rakshasa" during one of his wrathful conquests to subdue Buddhist heretics . Jain accounts vary from

663-450: The Hindu accounts of Rakshasa. According to Jain literature , Rakshasa was a kingdom of civilized and vegetarian people belonging to the race of Vidyadhara , who were devotees of Tirthankara . Kejawèn -influenced Indonesian Muslims view the Rakshasas as the result of people whose soul is replaced by the spirit of a devil ( shayāṭīn ). The devils are envious of humans and thus attempt to possess their body and minds. If they succeed,

702-674: The Mahabharata, Ghatotkacha was summoned by Bhima to fight on the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War . Invoking his magical powers, he wrought great havoc in the Kaurava army. In particular, after the death of Jayadratha , when the battle continued on past sunset, his powers were at their most effective (at night). After performing many heroic deeds on the battlefield and fighting numerous duels with other great warriors (including

741-573: The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra and the Daśabhūmika Sūtra . According to this tradition, these asuras live 84,000 yojanas beneath the ocean floor on the northern side of Mount Sumeru , which are divided into four layers. According to the Lotus Sutra , the four leaders of the asuras took refuge in the Buddha after hearing his sermon. The asuras were said to be in possession of a war drum called Ālambara , which sounded like

780-504: The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra explain that asuras are divided among the realms of ghosts and animals. In the former case, they are powerful, high-ranking demons reminiscent of gods such as Māra . In the latter case, they are like fearsome beasts that live 84000 yojanas beneath the ocean floor. The leaders of the asuras are called asurendra ( Pāli : Asurinda , Chinese : 阿修羅王; Pinyin : Āxiūluó-wáng ; Romaji : Ashura-ō ), literally meaning "Asura-lord". There are several of these, as

819-646: The Shakta divine weapon. A temple in Manali , Himachal Pradesh , honors Ghatotkacha; it is located near the Hidimba Devi Temple . Rakshasa heroes fought on both sides in the Kurukshetra war. Many Rakshasas appear in various Buddhist Scriptures. In Chinese tradition rakshasa are known as luosha ( 羅刹 / 罗刹 ). In Japan, they are known as rasetsu ( 羅刹 ). Chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra includes

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858-521: The Asuras are broken into different tribes or factions. Among them are the bow-wielding Dānaveghasa Asuras, and the terrible-faced Kālakañjakas . In Pali texts, names that are found include Vepacitti , Rāhu (believed to be synonymous with Verocana ), Pahārāda , Sambara , Bali , Sucitti , and Namucī . According to Buddhaghosa , the three primary leaders were Vepacitti, Rāhu and Pahārāda. Mahayana literature tends to recognize four primary leaders, whose biographies are explained in detail in both

897-789: The Heights," which aired on December 20, 1974. Rakshasa appears in the Unicorn: Warriors Eternal episode "Darkness Before Dawn". He is a humanoid tiger similar to the D&;D depiction. This version is a fierce but benevolent guardian of the jungle who allies with Merlin against the Evil. In the film World War Z , Rakshasa were mentioned in reference to the zombies in India. In Indonesian and Malaysian variants of Malay which have significant Sanskrit influence, raksasa now means "giant", "gigantic", "huge and strong";

936-524: The Latin octo and the Persian hašt (هشت). Senā (सेना) means legion , but can be rendered army , general , warrior and the like. Yet for the sake of accuracy contrary to the custom, each legion has a unique standard/banner and is composed just of several thousand foot soldiers. For that size of a military unit there is a fitting Sanskrit term "Dhvajinī", i.e. "body of troops bearing a standard". "Sena"

975-490: The Rakshasa Alamvusha, the elephant-riding King Bhagadatta , and Aswatthaman , the son of Drona ), Ghatotkacha encountered the human hero Karna . At this point in the battle, the Kaurava leader Duryodhana had appealed to his best fighter, Karna , to kill Ghatotkacha, as the entire Kaurava army was near annihilation due to his ceaseless strikes from the air. Karna possessed a divine weapon, Shakti , granted by

1014-596: The Rakshasas could represent exaggerated, supernatural depictions of demonized forest-dwellers who were outside the caste society. In books 3-6 of the Rāmāyaṇa , the rākṣasas are the main antagonists of the narrative. The protagonist Rāma slays many rākṣasas throughout the epic, including Tāṭakā , Mārīca , and Rāvaṇa . In the epic, the rākṣasas are portrayed as mainly demonic beings who are aggressive and sexual. They can assume any form they wish, which Rāvaṇa uses to good effect to trick and kidnap Sītā, Rāma's wife, which drives

1053-437: The backs of the hands would be on a human). They are masters of necromancy, enchantment and illusion (which they mostly use to disguise themselves) and are very hard to kill, especially due to their partial immunity to magical effects. They ravenously prey upon humans as food and dress themselves in fine clothing. This version of the rakshasa was heavily inspired by an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker entitled "Horror in

1092-466: The corruptor Mara) and can be referred to as demons. They are alternatively called rakshasas . They are sometimes referred to as pūrvadeva (Pāli: pubbadeva ), meaning "ancient gods." The Asuras formerly lived in the Trāyastriṃśa world on the peak of Sumeru with the other gods of that world. When Śakra became the ruler of that world, the asuras celebrated by drinking a lot of Gandapāna wine,

1131-595: The form of any creature. The female equivalent of rakshasa is rakshasi. 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

1170-421: The god Indra. It could be used only once and Karna had been saving it to use on his arch-enemy Arjuna , the best Pandava fighter. Unable to refuse Duryodhana, Karna used the Shakti against Ghatotkacha, killing him. This is considered to be the turning point of the war. After his death, the Pandava counselor Krishna smiled, as he considered the Pandava prince Arjuna to be saved from certain death, as Karna had used

1209-591: The ground they had gained. Despite their many wars, there was eventually a partial concord between the Trāyastriṃśa gods and the asuras. This came about because Śakra fell in love with Sujā (also known as Shachi ), daughter of the Asura chief Vemacitrin . Vemacitrin had given Sujā the right to choose her own husband at an assembly of the Asuras, and she chose Śakra, who had attended disguised as an aged Asura. Vemacitrin thus became Śakra's father-in-law. The asura realm

Eight Legions - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-506: The human adapts to the new soul and gains their qualities, turning the person into a Rakshasa. The artists of Angkor in Cambodia frequently depicted Ravana in stone sculpture and bas-relief . The " Nāga bridge" at the entrance to the 12th-century city of Angkor Thom is lined with large stone statues of Devas and Asuras engaged in churning the Ocean of Milk . The ten-headed Ravana

1287-505: The lower heavens of Cāturmahārājakāyika and the Asura realm, and as such largely consist of nature spirits. While the list of figures within this category vary, the most common are as follows: At Kōfuku-ji in Nara , Japan, there is a famous group of statues that represent the Eight Legions. Some of these figures differ from the common list. Their names in Japanese are as follows: There

1326-676: The myth of their defeat at the hands of the god Śakra . According to the story, the asuras were dispossessed of their state in Trāyastriṃśa because they became drunk and were thrown down Mount Sumeru . After this incident, they vowed never to drink sura again. While all the gods of the Kāmadhātu are subject to passions to some degree, the asuras above all are addicted to them, especially wrath, pride, envy, insincerity, falseness, boasting, and bellicosity. The Great Calm-Observation by Zhiyi says: Always desiring to be superior to others, having no patience for inferiors and belittling strangers; like

1365-537: The peal of thunder. It was created from the claw of a giant crab named Kulīradaha. It has since been repurposed by Śakra. Mahayana texts also mention a stringed instrument belonging to the asuras rendered in Chinese as Āxiūluó Qín ( Chinese : 阿修羅琴; Pinyin : Āxiūluó Qín ), literally meaning "asura harp". Rakshasa Rākshasa ( Sanskrit : राक्षस , IAST : rākṣasa , pronounced [raːkʂɐsɐ] ; Pali : rakkhasa ; lit. "preservers") are

1404-446: 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 their treatment of unnamed rank-and-file Rakshasas, the epics tell the stories of certain members of these beings who rose to prominence, sometimes as heroes but more often as villains. Thapar suggests that

1443-560: The rest of the narrative. The rākṣasas reside in the forests south of the Gangetic plain and in the island fortress of Laṅkā , both far away from the lands of Kosala and the home of Rāma. In Laṅkā, the capital of Rāvaṇa, the rākṣasas live in a complex society comparable to the humans of Ayodhyā , where some rākṣasas such as Vibhīṣaṇa are moral beings. The Pandava hero Bhima was the nemesis of forest-dwelling Rakshasas who dined on human travellers and terrorized human settlements. In

1482-454: The steep slopes of Sumeru "like ants." Śakra set out to meet them, but was forced to retreat because of their numbers. Passing through the forest where the garuḍas live on his flying chariot, Śakra saw that his passage was destroying the nests of the garuḍas and ordered his charioteer Mātali to turn back. When the pursuing asuras saw Śakra turn about, they felt certain that he must be coming back with an even larger army, and they fled, ceding all

1521-525: The top of the mouth and having sharp, claw-like fingernails. They were shown as being mean, growling 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 cupped hands or from human skulls (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

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