Rakshasa (rākṣasa)

Rakshasas are night-roaming beings of great strength and shifting shape, strongest after dark, and traditionally hostile to sacrifice and settlement. The Mahabharata is more generous with them than most texts: Hidimbi falls in love with Bhima and their son Ghatotkacha becomes one of the war's great heroes, dying to save the Pandava army. Bakasura and Kirmira occupy the older, simpler role of monsters to be killed, and the night raid on the sleeping camp is described in explicitly rakshasa terms.