In the Ramayana, not every rakshasa demon is a villain
Rakshasas are the shape-shifting fiends of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain storytelling, masters of illusion who can fly, vanish and change size at will. Yet the great epics are less black and white than their reputation: Lanka's rakshasas have a complex society, and some, like Vibhishana, are moral beings.
The Sanskrit word means demon or fiend, and rakshasas appear in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Indonesian folk Islam. They live on Earth but have supernatural powers, usually turned to mischief such as wrecking Vedic sacrifices. The term also overlaps with asuras, power-hungry beings who oppose the benevolent devas. A female rakshasa is a rakshasi. One origin story says that Brahma, in a dark mood, produced hunger and then gaunt, bearded creatures; those who cried out asking to be preserved, or vowed to protect the waters, took the name rakshasa, a pun on the root meaning to guard.
Artists showed them as huge, fanged and clawed, sometimes with fiery red eyes and hair, able to sniff out humans. Their greatest weapon was maya, the power of illusion, which let them take the shape of any creature. In the epics they were a numerous people, skilled warriors and magicians who fought for both good and evil causes and sometimes served as foot soldiers for rival warlords.
In books three to six of the Ramayana they are the chief opponents. Rama defeats several, among them Tataka, Marica and finally Ravana, who uses his shape-shifting to trick and abduct Rama's wife Sita, setting the rest of the story in motion. The demons inhabit woodland below the Gangetic plain as well as Lanka, an island stronghold, both remote from Rama's home kingdom of Kosala.
The Mahabharata sets several rakshasas against the Pandava hero Bhima, and rakshasa champions fight on both sides of the Kurukshetra war. Bhima kills Hidimba after the demon plans to eat the sleeping Pandavas, but Hidimba's sister Hidimbi falls for Bhima and warns him first. The historian Romila Thapar suggests rakshasas may be exaggerated, supernatural portraits of forest peoples who lived outside caste society and were demonised for it.
Source: Rakshasa
