About
Raka — Daughter of Sumali, Wife of Vishrava, and Mother of Khara and Dushana
Raka · Rakaa · daughter of Sumali
Raka is a rakshasi and the eldest daughter of the demon chieftain Sumali and his wife Ketumati. She is one of four daughters of Sumali given in marriage to the sage Vishrava, and is identified in the Valmiki Ramayana and its related tradition as the mother of the twin rakshasas Khara and Dushana — two of the most prominent demon warriors of the Aranya Kanda — as well as of Trishiras. Her significance in the genealogy of the Ramayana is chiefly through her sons, who ruled the Dandaka forest region and were slain by Rama following the disfigurement of Shurpanakha. The Wikipedia list of Ramayana characters identifies Raka explicitly as a sister of Kaikashi and as the mother of Khara and Dushana.
✦ The Name
The name Raka in Sanskrit denotes the full moon, and is a common Sanskrit feminine name. As a personal name in the Ramayana genealogy it functions as a straightforward designation without further recorded etymological significance in the primary sources. Her name should not be confused with that of another Raka who is identified in the Ramayana as one of Sumali's sisters rather than daughters in certain passages; the present figure is consistently identified as Sumali's daughter and Kaikashi's elder sister.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Sumali — rakshasa chieftain, son of Sukesa and the gandharvi Daitya-vati, exiled from Lanka by Vishnu, and the architect of the plan to bind the rakshasa lineage with the brahmarshi line of Pulastya.
- Mother: Ketumati — a gandharvi, daughter of the gandharva Narmada.
- Siblings: Nine brothers — Prahasta, Akampana, Vikata, Kalikamukha, Dhumraksha, Danda, Suparsva, Sanhradi, and Bhaskarna — and three sisters — Pushpotkata, Kaikashi, and Kumbhinasi. The Wikipedia list of Ramayana characters records Raka as the eldest of the four sisters, as her name appears first in the sequence.
- Husband: Vishrava — the brahmarshi son of Pulastya and father of Kubera, Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, and Shurpanakha by other wives.
- Sons: Khara — a twin rakshasa warrior and ruler of the Dandaka forest and the Danda Kingdom (in the region corresponding approximately to the Nashik district), killed by Rama; Dushana — twin brother of Khara, also a ruler of the Dandaka forest, killed by Rama; Trishiras — a rakshasa warrior, sibling of Khara and Dushana, killed by Rama in the same engagement.
✦ Her Sons in the Ramayana
Raka's narrative significance derives entirely from her sons' role in the Aranya Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana. Khara and Dushana, twin rakshasas and cousins of Ravana, were appointed by Ravana as the military governors of the Dandaka forest region on the Indian mainland — the frontier zone of rakshasa power north of Lanka. When Shurpanakha, Ravana's sister, was disfigured by Lakshmana after her assault on Sita, she first appealed to her cousins Khara and Dushana rather than directly to Ravana. Khara responded by sending an advance force of fourteen rakshasa warriors against Rama, all of whom were destroyed. He then led a full army of fourteen thousand against Rama. Rama killed the entire force along with Khara, Dushana, and Trishiras. Only Akampana — a brother of Raka through Sumali — survived and fled to Lanka, where his account of the destruction inflamed Ravana and contributed to the chain of events leading to Sita's abduction.
✦ Textual Variants
A variant tradition recorded in the Brahmanda Purana and the Vayu Purana assigns Khara and Dushana not to Raka but to Pushpotkata, another daughter of Sumali and wife of Vishrava. The Wisdomlib compilation of the Vishrava entry from the Puranic Index specifically states that Pushpotkata's sons were Mahodara, Prahasta, Mahaparsva, and Khara, and her daughter was Kumbhinasi, while Raka's children are not enumerated separately in that source. The Vayu Purana entry additionally assigns Trishiras, Dushana, and Vidyujjihva to a wife named Vaka, with a daughter named Asalika. These variant distributions of the children among Vishrava's several wives reflect inconsistencies within the Puranic sources. The mainstream account of the Valmiki Ramayana and its secondary literature treats Khara and Dushana as cousins of Ravana through Kaikashi's sisters, which is consistent with their being children of Raka or Pushpotkata; the Wikipedia character list follows the convention of assigning them to Raka.
✦ References
Primary Sources
- Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda — records the campaign of Khara and Dushana against Rama following Shurpanakha's disfigurement; identifies Khara as a cousin of Ravana through Kaikashi's sister.
- Valmiki Ramayana, Uttara Kanda — provides the genealogical account of Sumali's family and the marriage of his daughters to Vishrava.
- Brahmanda Purana, III.8 — assigns Khara among the sons of Pushpotkata rather than Raka, representing a variant of the distribution of Vishrava's children.
- Vayu Purana, Chapter 70 — assigns Trishiras, Dushana, and Vidyujjihva to a wife named Vaka, diverging from the mainstream assignment.
Modern Reference Works
- Wikipedia, "List of characters in Ramayana" — identifies Raka as a daughter of Sumali, sister of Kaikashi, and mother of Khara and Dushana.
- Wisdomlib, "Vishrava: 9 definitions" — collates Puranic sources on Vishrava's wives and assigns Khara to Pushpotkata in the Brahmanda and Vayu Puranas.
- Wikipedia, "Shurpanakha" — records Akampana as Sumali's son and Kaikesi's brother and situates the Khara-Dushana episode within the Aranya Kanda sequence.