In Hindu mythology, a man-eating, shape-changing demon often cast as a villain in epics is a rakshasa.
Rakshasas are a class of powerful supernatural beings found especially in Hindu traditions, and also in Buddhist, Jain, and Indonesian folklore. They are commonly portrayed as fierce, monstrous figures with fangs and claws, but their defining traits are not limited to appearance: many use illusion, magic, flight, invisibility, and transformation.
The Ramayana presents rakshasas as major antagonists. Rama battles figures such as Ravana, Maricha, and Tataka, although the tradition does not treat every rakshasa as uniformly evil. Vibhishana, Ravana’s brother, supports Rama, illustrating that rakshasa is a type of being rather than the name of one single villain.
A common mix-up is asura. The terms can overlap in some retellings, but asura is a broader category of powerful beings opposed to the devas. Rakshasa more specifically evokes the shape-shifting, often man-eating demon of epic and folklore.