What is the meaning behind your username?

[Angrboda]

I changed my name to rasetsu, but haven't explained its meaning to people here yet. I use the name elsewhere already, and have been for over a year.

Rasetsu is the Japanese word for what in Buddhist and Hindu mythology is known as a Rakshasa, a shapeshifter and otherworldly being. 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 shapeshifters, illusionists, and magicians. They are akin to the Asura and Apsara in power and ancientness. (See below the image for descriptions of Asura, Apsara, and Deva.)

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Deva (देव in Devanagari script) is the Sanskrit word for deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural being. The devas in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers.[1] Devas are also the maintainers of the realms as ordained by the Trimurti. They are often warring with their equally powerful counterparts, the Asuras.

In Hinduism, the asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are non-suras, a different group of power-seeking deities besides the suras [the deva], sometimes considered naturalists, or nature-beings, in constant battle with the devas.

English translations of the word "Apsara" include "nymph," "celestial nymph," and "celestial maiden."

Apsaras are beautiful, supernatural female beings. They are youthful and elegant, and superb in the art of dancing. They are often the wives of the Gandharvas, the court musicians of Indra. They dance to the music made by the Gandharvas, usually in the palaces of the gods, entertain and sometimes seduce gods and men. As ethereal beings who inhabit the skies, and are often depicted taking flight, or at service of a god, they may be compared to angels.

Apsaras are said to be able to change their shape at will, and rule over the fortunes of gaming and gambling. Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha and Tilottama are the most famous among them. Apsaras are sometimes compared to the muses of ancient Greece, with each of the 26 Apsaras at Indra's court representing a distinct aspect of the performing arts. They are associated with fertility rites.

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A Rakshasa, is said to be a mythological humanoid being or unrighteous spirit in Hinduism. Rakshasas are also called man-eaters ("Nri-chakshas", "Kravyads"). A female rakshasa is called a Rakshasi, and a female Rakshasa in human form is a Manushya-Rakshasi. Often Asura [a group of power-seeking deities] and Rakshasa are interchangeably used.

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In the world of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Rakshasas were a populous race of supernatural humanoids. There were both good and evil rakshasas, and as warriors they fought alongside the armies of both good and evil. They were powerful warriors, expert magicians and illusionists. As shape-changers, they could assume various physical forms, and it was not always clear whether they had a true or natural form. As illusionists, they were capable of creating appearances which were real to those who believed in them or who failed to dispel them. Some of the rakshasas were said to be man-eaters, and made their gleeful appearance when the slaughter on the battlefield was 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.

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