(appeared in "Everybody Loves Clown" episode)
A rakshasa (Sanskrit: रा॑क्षसः, rā́kṣasaḥ; alternately, raksasa or rakshas) is a demon or unrighteous spirit in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Rakshasas are also called man-eaters ("Nri-chakshas," "Kravyads") or cannibals. A female rakshasa is called a rakshasi, and a female rakshasa in human form is a manushya-rakshasi. According to the Ramayana, rakshasas were created from Brahma's foot; other sources claim they are descended from Pulastya, or from Khasa, or from Nirriti and Nirrita. Legend has it that many rakshasas were particularly wicked humans in previous incarnations. Rakshasas are notorious for disturbing sacrifices, desecrating graves, harassing priests, possessing human beings, and so on. Their fingernails are venomous, and they feed on human flesh and spoiled food. They are shapechangers, illusionists, and magicians.


In the world of the Mahabharata, rakshasas are a frequently encountered and populous race of supernatural humanoids who tend generally toward evil. Powerful warriors, they resort easily to the use of magic and illusion when unsuccessful with conventional weapons. As shapechangers, they can assume various physical forms, and it is not always clear whether they have a true or natural form. As illusionists, they are capable of creating appearances which are real to those who believe in them or who fail to dispel them. Rakshasas are cannibals, and frequently make their gleeful appearance when the slaughter on the battlefield is at its worst. Occasionally they serve as rank-and-file soldiers in the service of one or the other warlord. Aside from its treatment of unnamed rank-and-file rakshasas, the epic tells the stories of certain members of the race who rose to prominence, some of them as heroes, most of them as villains.