In the stories of the Indian sub-continent, rakshasas are night-wandering demons who haunt burning grounds and cemeteries, feed on human flesh and are generally hostile to mankind. They disrupt sacrifices, animate corpses, and harass human beings in all kinds of ways. Some of them are endowed with magical powers, and many of them can change shape at will. They thrive in darkness, their strength and abilities increasing significantly during the night and diminishing in daylight.

In the Ramayana, the king of the rakshasas is Ravana; he carries off the princess Sita, wife of Ram, prince of the kingdom of Ayodhya and the hero of the epic.