Talk:Rakshasa

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 id: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" + [1] - numerously referred to as rakshasa.
• The Mahabharata[2]--Redtigerxyz ^Talk 17:32, 24 June 2016 (UTC)

rakshasha

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. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.192.102 (talk) 20:46, 7 April 2017 (UTC)