Otherworldly beings

Chapter 1
Beasts and Otherworldly beings

Yaksha

Yakshas(pl Yaksas) A race of otherworldy beings who according to most sources inhabit the upper Himalayan regions. They have been known to travel in other locations as well and I feel that they are connected to both Jin as in Islam and various fairy creatures mentioned in European mythology. They are cousins to Racksasas(see Bellow)and share some physical characteristics with them They are the main servants of Kubera the wealth God. They are extremely tall being on the average twice the height of a man. Reddish in color and have long arms and short legs. They have pointed ears which are shaped like arrow heads. Small stumps or horns which come out of the top of their heads are also seen in Artwork but not mentioned in any shastra I know of. They have thick bushy long black hair on their heads. They are not furry like Racksasas. They have many mystic powers and they are described as being able to fly in the air. As servants of Kubera they are known to grant wishes of mortals who do them favors or who they desire to help. When Dhruva fought against them they created many optical illusions by their mystic powers which are similar to the ones which are used by Racksasas.
The Yaksa race usually takes the back drop as far as epic narratives only being mentioned with any regularity in lists of beings in attentence at famous events.
There are only 3 incidents which involve Yaksas that are of major importance, 2 of them being in Mahabharata and 1 from Bhagavat Purana.
In Mahabharata there is Maniman the Yaksha general who was the top commander of Kubera. The pandavas are in exhile and Bhima climbs a mountain top in order to see the palace of Kubera. When he arrives he announces his presence by blowing on a conch shell. The Yaksha commander Maniman leads a large army of Yakshas out of the gate. Bhima slays all the Yakshas including Maniman with his club. Kubera Exits the palace angry but then remembers how Maniman had offended the sage Agastya who cursed him and his army to be slain. Kubera bows to Bhima and thanks him for ridding him of that Karma. I will mention that the Tatvavadis say Shankaracarya was none other than the Yaksha general Maniman and that Madhvacarya their preceptor was none other than Bhimsena and he defeated him once again but this time with philosophy.
The next incident which involves Yaksas is the Story of Shikundi. Their was a king of Kashi who had 3 Daughters Amba Ambika and Ambalika. As warrior custom they held a Swayambara ceremony in which the women get to choose who they want to marry and if anyone objects they fight over the woman. It’s a way for only the strongest and bravest to get married and therefore get the right to produce children. Bhisma a powerful warrior had a younger brother Vichitraveria who was destined to be king of the world and who he wanted to marry the 3 princess. Bhisma arrived and stole the 3 girls defeating all the warriors including Shalva who Amba wanted to marry. Amba told Bhisma who she realy loved and so he let her return but Shalva would have nothing to do with her. Amba wanted revenge and after a few failed attempts she did Tapasya (severe austerity) in order to please Lord Shiva. When Shiva was pleased he granted her the boon by saying in her next birth she would be the cause of the death of Bhisma. At this time she entered the fire so she could take her next birth. At the same time Drupada the king of Panchala wanted a son so he did severe austerity to lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before him and said that soon he would have a daughter who would become a brave and powerful son. Drupada had a daughter named her Shikundi and raised her as a son. She kept her hair short and looked and acted just like a man. She would dress in armor and train in weapons. Because Shiva had said Shikundi would become a man Drupada agreed to marry her to the daughter of another king. The king hearing of it was so excited because of the power and affluence of Drupada he sent his daughter there immediately. The daughter reported to her father that the supposed son of Drupada was in fact a girl. The king sent an army on the way to fight Drupada. Shikandi felt ashamed and ran to a cave and wanted to commit suicide however a Yaksha entered the cave and saw the crying Shikandi. When he discovered the situation he agreed to change genders with Shikandi and so he became a woman and she became a man.
The Next Incident involves Dhruva maharaj who was a powerful king and ruler of the earth. His younger cousin was killed by some Yakshas. So Dhruva attacked them and killed several thousand before they surrendered
The Yaksha Race have never in known memory had the ambition to rule the world and have never amassed any army to fight against the gods. It has never been seen that they have joined in any Asura campaign nor do they fight for the Gods. They serve kubera and act as his guards but do not get involved in any battles between the gods and demons
Yakshas get along good with Racksasas Ghandarvas and Nagas and have neutral reactions towards humans some times being friendly and some times being hostile depending on the situation. They are respectful towards Devas


Racksasha

The word Racksasa(s)((plural)) has its root in the word Racksha which means protect. Many times the word Racksasa is translated to mean no quarter. In battle people used to beg for there life and it is said that Racksasas never give quarter to anyone even if they beg for their life. This is where it is said the name comes from.
Racksasas are evil spirits who are quite dirty nasty and selfish. They are also very large and strong and have a particular skill with black arts. I feel they have a cultural connection to Ogres or any other large man eating monster in western and Chinese Mythology, perhaps a slight cultural tie to Vampires as well. Racksasas favorite food is human flesh and blood. They used to have a kingdom on a island in the southern sea called Lanka. They used to be more civilized also, more refined one can say, but there leader Ravana got too strong and too ruthless and he offended the Gods and Vishnu in the form of Sri Ramachandra and the Racksasa kingdom was crushed. Since then they have kind of become savage living in forests and the dark places of the universe. A few who have some brains have managed to try and take control over planets by subversive means and infiltrate positions of authority. As a race they have the keenest interest on dark rituals the drinking of blood and eating of human flesh.
They are some what neutral in the battle between the Gods and the demons. This neutrality is based on there own selfishness, since they think they are the most important things in the universe they don’t meddle in the affairs of either side, unless they are extremely ambitious like Ravana. I was one time in a bad spot because of a love situation and one Racksasa chieftain managed to teleport me to his court. It was a dark cave with a raging fire in the middle. There was some sort of orgy or party going on with many of the participants playing on drums and long horns which almost reached there toes. The king was large covered in gold with pitch black skin and fire red hair. His ears were shaped like knife blades and curved almost to his eyebrows and his toothy grin went from ear to ear. He offered me quite a bit of services, spying, diseases, torture, ex. (Racksasas are expert in feeding on base emotions and trying to gain a profit from it) in exchange for me doing some favors in the future, which were to be specified later. I gave the whole mater about 3 seconds of thought and left.
The Historys are full of Racksasas and they often times play the key role in many narratives
Ravana, Kumbakarna , Indrajita, Bakasura, Hidimva, Hidimvi and Ghatotkacha are amongst some of the most famous of them.
We find in the Treta yuga the Racksasas were of a more civilized mentality and lived and owned great citys which were full of technological wonders and which rivaled swarga in majesty. But after the death of Ravana and the apparent loss of there universal kingdom they lost there civilized mentality and in later works we see them roaming the forest hunting down humans and doing various other things. They seem to have degenerated into a tribal culture. In Mahabharata war we find Racksasa generals like Ghatotkacha and Alumvusha who were rivals and brought there personal armys. This seems to be the last great mustering of the Racksasas and was more of a civil war between clans than a unified dynasty.
Racksasas are experts in black magic and tantra and can conjure very powerful illusions. On average they are at least twice the height of a human and have black skin with thick rust colored fur.
Racksasas grow to full maturity within a few days from birth. The reason for this is that in ancient days the Racksasa women would often times cast their children aside because of their lusty nature and a lack of wanting to take care of them. So Uma granted a benediction that the Racksasa race would grow to full maturity in a short amount of time.
They get along with Yakshas are Neutral towards Ghandarvas and Nagas Have almost no respect for humans considering them as food and are envious of Devas


Ghandarva

Ghandarvas are a race of celestial beings who are expert singers and musicians. They have their own planet called Ghandarvaloka which can be called their homeworld.
They are also famous for flying horses which are often times employed by the gods.
The Ghandarvas are seen in courts of any interplanetary leader such both gods and demons and are also very fond of the court of Kubera and of the Himalayan mountains.
There are also deva Ghandarvas who live primarily in the kingdom of Indra and serve him. There are 7 Ghandarva kings who have thousands of servants. Along with singing they are known to fight and do the orders of the gods.
It however has never been seen that Ghandarvas will fight for the Asuras and I think that they only sing for them on contract.
Some Ghandarvas have wings and some don’t. but all of them fly or use flying horses to get places. They love speed and the air most of all
Ghandarvas are masters of mystic powers and also have a lot of Deva weapons and have developed 3 astras of there own. They favor the bow for battle and use it while flying in the sky which can have some deadly effect.
The Ghandarvas occur a lot in Shastra and are always singing or praising some event. I can be deduced that even when they are not used to fight Ghandarvas are taken to battles by the gods so that they can make songs or ballads about the heroic deeds of the combatants
Ghandarvas are very handsome and on average slightly taller than humans being 7-9 feet tall perhaps (counting people as 6 feet average) Their eyes glow they have very long arms and typically have long flowing hair. They like to wear flower garlands and flowers in their hair which is typically braided. They love jewelry also. They are not particulary beefy as far as muscles go but are very toned and strong in that sense.
Ghandarvas are friends with Yakshas and Neutral towards Nagas and Rackshasas they have a bit of a arrogant attitude with Humans and will usually try and prove they are more powerful in some way or the other, they are the most prone to getting cursed by Risis for this reason. They have a great deal of respect for Devas.

Indraduta

This is a name which I came up for a race of being which I feel needs a mention, they don’t have any name given in shastra but are mentioned all the time. It’s the army of Indra

Indraduta’s are the souls of great warriors who fought in battle and did many religious ceremonys. When they die if Indra thinks that they are qualified he places them in his personal army and they fight in his wars. They are given many celestial abilitys and weapons.

Nagas

Nagas (Naga)( singular) are celestial serpents who live in the lower worlds, they have appear in many storys of Shastra and take many different roles.
It is general knowledge that they live in the lower realms and are associated with Assuras. It has been described that on their main planet there are many powerful cheiftans who have thousands of hoods and at the top of these hoods are celestial gems and that those gems give off radiance and the whole planet serves as a source of light for the lower realms instead of the sunlight which is restricted.
Vasuki is counted as the king of the Nagas. His older brother Sesha was the king however he renounced that kingship and devoted himself to asceticism and became a devotee of Vishnu and serves as his bed.
Mahabharata mentions how they would have all been killed in a great snake sacrifice of Janemejaya however they were saved when a Bhramin Ashtika who was a cousin of vasuki on his mothers side spoke on there behalf and saved their lives
The Nagas seem to make a lot of trouble due to jealousy and are always trying to get more than there means. In one story their mother Kadru enslaves her own sister Vinata with the aid of tha nagas and they force Garuda to take them everywhere. Being tired of the menial service Garuda asks if there is one special task which will satisfy them and he can be set free. The nagas then reveal there mind and say that the gods are reveared for there immortality and how they posses nectar and the serpents tell Garuda that if he can steal the nectar of immortality from the gods then they can be on an equal level. In another story they steal the earings from a bhramin.
It is said that the reason that snakes bite people is because of envy.
The Nagas have the unique ability to have 3 forms.
In one form they have a serpent body which according to age and status has a number of heads. For example Iravana the son of Arjuna by a Naga queen who was a sister of vasuki had 10 heads in his serpent form. Ancient naga kings are reported to have thousands of heads. Nagas can spit venom and also breath fire.
In the second form they resemble a mix between a human and a serpent. The top half looks like a human and the lower half looks like a serpent. The wives of the Kaliya serpent seem to have taken on this aspect when they prayed to Krsna.
The third form fully resembles a human being although somewhat celestial and otherworldly looking. Iravan fought for most of the battle looking this way but would switch between all 3 of them
The Nagas are very cold blooded and will probably kill anyone to get exactly what they want. They make no alliances with any race and never in history have formed any army which they used to invade or take over any other race or being. Iravan the son of Arjuna is the only Naga in any shastra I have seen with a army and he was half human. He formed a division of Naga cavalry who had horses which would change colors and which could also fly for short spurts of time. As far as battle strength the nagas seem to be superhuman. Iravan had 12 javelins sticking in him and he pulled them out and threw them at his opponents beheading them. The only way he could be killed was by a racksasa king named Alumvusha. They more often tend to use political maneuvers and subtlety to take over there opponents. Nagas are as apt to kill and subdue another naga what to speak of another race of beings and have no particular favor or dislike with any race. They in essence envy anyone stronger no matter what race they belong too.


Other races

Of the less spoken of and less known races some form of description should be given.

Kinnaras
are celestials who sing similar to Ghandarvas however they resemble Centars of the Greek origin, in as much as they have a horse portion on the lower half and a human on the upper half. They are noted for living within the Asram of Kashyapa muni and the palace of Indra in Swarga. Whenever there is some major event they always show up also. Like the swayambara of Drupadi and the Rajasurya Yajna. There numbers are not known but they seem to be a very rare breed of being and are not mentioned in any great extent

Kimpurushas
Kimpurushas like Kinnaras are not mentioned too often and when they are mentioned it is attendance at some widely attended celestial event. They resemble a sphinx. They have the lower portion of a lion and upper of a man. One important mention made in Mahabharata was that Rukmi the brother of the famous Rukmini took the king of the Kimpurushas as his Guru in arms. This is a rare event and little light is shown aside for the fact that Kimpusushas must have been somewhat accomplished at arms if a king would seek one of them as a martial guru.

Siddhas
Siddhas are actually not so much a race of being but a class of being. Siddhaloka is a planet which is full of beings who are masters of mystic powers. It is described that many yogis and powerful ascetics live in that domain. Anyone performing the proper type austeriy and vow and gaining a mastery of mystic arts can live in that place. There is no talk of what exactly the race is which lives there but I would have to assume it is full of human risis who have attained some merit after life times of severe penance

Charanas
are beings who live in the celestial worlds and which are professional riciters of prayers to the gods and other beings.

Vasus
are actually another name for the Gods. Anil is a name for Vayudeva. All the Vasus are actually such noteable personalitys as Indra Vayu and Agni just to name a few

Rudras
are all manifestations of Shiva there are 11 in total and Shiva himself is considered the topmost of them