Talk:Rakshasa
Noah: Rumor has it that they can disguise themselves as human, although their backwards-facing hands will always give them away. Nasty dudes. Very powerful.
tcm: whomever changed this to the other thing about ogres and such, could you let me know, please? i found no pre-1000 AD evidence for any of that stuff. also, don't enter things about post-1000 AD textual evidence because there's no way our characters would know any of that.
Kerry: tcm, it was me. Have you perhaps heard of the Ramayana, or the Mahabharata? I have read a fair bit of both, and both are dated well before 1000 AD. Parts about the Vishnu cult being an interpolation are very germane, as this may or may not have happened by 1000AD. Before you go around writing things about citing non-period texts you should conisder well your own spate of recent postings, and tell me if you can provide a period text that says Rakshasas are tiger spirits, as that is in no way stated or implied in any Sanskrit text I have read. In fact, what is the text you are getting all of your info from? When was it written? Ditto for your spelling Rakshasha. Sanskrit transliteration is well codified, and that last symbol does not have a value sh.
tcm: i got it from an online copy of the Mahabharata (which, yes, i have heard of, thanks for asking). "I cannot, like a snake incapable of putting up with the tread of a human being upon its body, bear to see him thus careering at the head of battle, before my eyes, O tiger of Vrishni's race" (p. 399, http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07170.htm ; the italics are mine).
this was the proof i was going to use, except that i seem to have misread the quote in my first (and second and third) reading. around this quote there is also mentionings of Rakshasas. so, apparently i'm wrong. i misread the quote in that i mixed up the name Vrishni with the name Rishi. The seer Rishi Kashyapa is the ancestor of the Rakshasas. i apologize for saying you weren't using pre-1000AD texts. it just seemed that that thing about "Vishnu cult interpolations" was a modern interpretation of both text and history.
however, what else have i posted that you think doesn't conform to these guidelines? everything i've posted has come from the game, or from pre-1000AD texts. i've even asked Hal about my texts, just to make sure. however, if i have failed to follow my own guidelines, please let me know. i'll change it.
