Gandharvas
A class of being who first finds reference in the Rig-Veda, gandharvas were later transformed into extremely comely beings who were the experts in music and dance. Gandharvas are supposed to have invented the art of the drama too. They were supposed to be better at these skills than the apsaras and acknowledge only Shiva as their superior. They usually reside in the sky and have great powers of healing. They are fond of the divine wine, soma, and also of wooing women. Gandharvas occasionally take up residence in thickly forested or remote mountains on earth. They spend their time in long al fresco picnics, cultivating astonishing gardens with curative herbs and remarkable blossoms, apart from music and dance of course.

They are immensely protective of their gardens and they are also unfortunately quick to take offence and are capable of frightening violence for such a cultured people. The ancestor of the Pandavas, Vichitravira, died in a futile brawl with a prickly gandharva. The Elves of J.R.R. Tolkien would be Gandharva-like in quality. Whenever a musician is found who combines great creativity with a tormented psyche, the traditional wisdom in India is that he is a fallen gandharva. Beethoven for instance has been so identified by many gurus. The king of the Gandharvas is Chitrasena and he makes guest appearances in many stories.

Their style of marriage is much admired in rule bound India for it involves a man and woman freely choosing to marry each other with no ceremony other than a simple exchange of garlands. That is an option for love that India has traditionally frowned upon, but secretly admired and longed for.

Kinnaras
They are similar to Gandharvas but peculiar in that they have the body of men and the head of a horse. They are therefore a sort of reverse centaur. They are rarely seen on earth, preferring to inhabit the paradise of Kubera, the Yaksha god. Kinnaras are musicians and singers but they have a special faculty in chanting the sacred hymns. Their classification has always been a puzzle and the name Kinnara itself means 'What men?'

Rakshasas
They are the living nightmares of Indian Mythology, symbolic of all evil and depraved tastes. Not all of them are so, but most of them are very bad news indeed. They are totally anti-social in nature, inhabiting cemeteries, wild animal infested forests, barren wastes, and caves. They oppose sacrifices like the danavas, are robbers and bandits and have a peculiar trait in that they eat humans. Some of them are literally addicted to human flesh and drinking their blood. India does not have a Devil, but all evil behaviors are personified in rakshasas. Even the great Ravana warned Sita that if she did not marry him he would have her cooked for a feast.

They can intermarry with humans and others and produce children, but the rakshasa genes are always predominant. This translates into an ability to fly, perform feats of illusion that bewilder opponents and being able to inflate their ferociously strong bodies into gigantic shapes. Their strength begins to increase at twilight and grows in the hours of darkness. They are shape-changers too, a useful trait as their natural forms are almost invariably deformed and hideously ugly. Rakshasa women are careful to assume alluring shapes when they approach men, and they usually succeed. Bhima was the first Pandava to get married and his wife was Hidimbi the rakshasi. His son was the great hero Ghatochkacha. Ravana was the son of a rakshsi and the great sage Pulastya. In consequence he was actually a brahmana and it was one of the standing reproaches against his behavior, that he chose to let the rakshasa side predominate and not the brahmana. Vibhishana, Ravana's brother was an exemplar of virtue and he was rewarded with immortality.

- Rohit Arya

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