TY - JOUR T1 - RAKSHASAS AND ASURAS IN HINDU EPIC TALES TT - When the Aryans came to India, they found the Hindus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BCE) to be more AU - Banerjee, Madhubanti PY - 2015 DA - August DO - 10.18769/ijasos.90709 JF - IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences JO - IJASOS PB - OCERINT International Organization Center of Academic Research WT - DergiPark SN - 2411-183X SP - 147 EP - 152 VL - 1 IS - 2 LA - en AB - When the Aryans came to India, they found the Hindus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BCE) to be more advanced than any they had ever encountered before. After many battles, the Aryans finally settled down in the northern part of India, forcing the non-Aryans to move from the north to the south. The fact that the non-Aryans had dark skin and a different facial structure from the Aryans gave rise to the characters called rakshasas and asuras. By analyzing relevant parts of the Hindu mythology, I will trace in this paper the role of social and political factors that have been instrumental in creating such stories.Keywords: Aryans, non-Aryan, Hindus Valley Civilization, mythology. KW - Aryans KW - non-Aryan KW - Hindus Valley Civilization KW - mythology CR - Ballantyne, Tony. (2002). Orientalism and Race. New York: Palgrave. CR - Bronner, Yigal. (2011). “A Text with a Thesis: The Ramayana from Appayya Diksita’s Receptive End.” In South Asian Texts in History: Critical Engagements with Sheldon Pollock, edited by Yigal Bronner, Whitney Cox, and Lawrence McCrea. Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, Inc. CR - Goldman, Robert. (2011). “Expert Nation: An Epic of Antiquity in the World of Modernity.” In South Asian Texts in History: Critical Engagements with Sheldon Pollock, edited by Yigal Bronner, Whitney Cox, and Lawrence McCrea. Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, Inc. CR - Hopkins, Washburn E. (1915). Epic Mythology. Strassburg: Verlag Von Karl J. Trubner. CR - Michaels, Axel. (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. CR - Prime, Ranchor. (1997). Ramayana: A Journey. London: Collins and Brown Ltd. CR - Vaidya, C. V. (1906). The Riddle of the Ramayana. Bombay. CR - Valmiki. (2005). Ramayana: Ayodhya. New York: New York University Press, JJC Foundation, 2005. CR - Valmiki. (1920). Ramayana. Bombay: Gujarati Press. CR - Valmiki. (1983). Ramayana: Sundarakandam. Madras: The President. CR - Vyas, Shantikumar N. (1967). India in the Ramayana Age. Delhi: Atma Ram & Sons. UR - https://doi.org/10.18769/ijasos.90709 L1 - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/89501 ER -