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Alambusha, AKA Shalakantaka, was a Rakshasa (demon) who fought on the Kaurava side in the Mahabharata war. As described in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, he was the one who killed Arjuna's son Iravan, and as described in the Drona Parva, he was eventually killed by Bhima's Rakshasa son Ghatotkacha.

But I'm interested in Alambusha's lineage. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that Alumbusha is Rishyasringa's son. As I discuss in this question, Rishyasringa was the sage who performed the Putrakameshti Yagna for Dasharatha, which resulted in the birth of Rama and his brothers. And Rishyasringa was married to Dasharatha's daughter Shanta (who was raised by Romapada king of Anga).

So how is it that a son of the sage Rishyasringa and a grandson of Dasharatha was a Rakshasa? Did Rishyasringa have a Rakshasa son because of some kind of curse? Or did he marry a Rakshasi (demoness) after he married Shanta, similar to how the sage Vishravas married the demoness Kaikeshi (mother of Ravana) after he married Ilavida (mother of Kubera)?

TheLittleNaruto
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Keshav Srinivasan
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    ...grandson of Dasharatha was a Rakshasa: how does Alambusha become grandson of Dasharatha? Are you implying he was born to Shanta? – Say No To Censorship Feb 22 '16 at 13:13
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    @sv. Well, the only wife of Rishyasringa I know of is Shanta, so then either Alambusha is the son of Rishyasringa and Shanta, in which case he may have incurred some cuse, or Rishyasringa may have married a demoness after he married Shanta. – Keshav Srinivasan Feb 22 '16 at 13:17
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Can u pls be kind enough to cite the reference where it is mentioned that Shanta was daughter of Dasharatha and not Romapada. – YDS Nov 30 '17 at 18:17
  • @YDS Yes, see my answer here: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/551/36 – Keshav Srinivasan Nov 30 '17 at 21:37
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    @KeshavSrinivasan I saw on a site that the reason he wanted to help Kauravs was that he wanted to avenge the death of his brother Bakasur whom Bheem killed. That adds another question to the story how did Rishyashringa had two demon sons? – Dr. Vineet Aggarwal Jan 03 '18 at 09:23
  • FYI, according to vedanta defintion, rakshasa is one who finds joy in hurting others. So, rakshasa loosely translates to sadist, not demon. Also, seeing rakshasa as a humanoid doesn't have basis on scriptures. See how Hanuman describes Ravana first time they meet. So, being rakshasa(or asura for that matter) doesn't have much to do with lineage. – Cyriac Antony Feb 04 '20 at 10:11
  • @CyriacAntony FYI, the Vedanta school, at least all the traditional members of the Vedanta school, believes that there is an actual supernatural race of demons called Rakshasas. Vibhishana was a good Rakshasa, Prahlada was a good Asura. Now it is true that these supernatural races tend to have specific mental qualities, but those races still exist. See the Devatadhikarana of the Brahma Sutras, the defining text of the Vedanta school. – Keshav Srinivasan Feb 04 '20 at 13:13
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Oh, I didn't know that. I was told this by someone who belong to Advaita vedanta (i suppose). – Cyriac Antony Feb 08 '20 at 05:22
  • @CyriacAntony There are two kinds of people who believe who believe in Advaita. There are traditional Advaitins, who belong to the four Shankaracharya Mutts and have orthodox beliefs. And then there is the so-called neo-Vedanta movement, which has a variety of unorthodox beliefs like rejecting the caste system, dismissing scriptural stories as fictional or allegorical, etc. I suspect you talked to the latter sort of Advaitin, though neo-Vedanta is a pejorative term so they wouldn’t self-identify as that. – Keshav Srinivasan Feb 08 '20 at 14:05

2 Answers2

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Alambush was an asur/demon brother of Bakasur. Bakasur, as we all know, was killed by Bheem. So to avenge his brother's death Almabush joined the Kauravas side. He even killed Arjun's son Iravan after a fierce mayavi/magical battle. He was later killed by Ghatotkach, Bheem's son. His other brothers were Putna and Aghasur. Rishyasringa was a boy born with the horns of a deer in Hindu religious history. His mother was a celestial paramour, Urvashi. His wife was Dashratha's daughter, Shanta.

For more information refer to https://mahabharata.fandom.com/wiki/Alambusha

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    Please do not use wikis as a source, as they are tertiary sources. Just keep this in mind the next time that you answer a question. But you did explain well. – TheMatrix Jul 09 '20 at 16:14
  • Thanks for your valuable advise. I am new to this site. Can you tell me how to accept an answer? –  Jul 09 '20 at 18:26
  • What exactly do you mean? – TheMatrix Jul 09 '20 at 19:01
  • Isn't there an option to accept someone's answer, if we suppose that he/she responded to my question and I like his answer. –  Jul 10 '20 at 04:27
  • Yes, there is, but I am not familiar with posting questions. I am sorry – TheMatrix Jul 10 '20 at 16:37
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Two possibilities 1 - either their are 2 alambush's (characters with the same name) just like their are multiple people called "bhima" "karna" "susharma" "jarasandh" "vinda" "anuvinda" in mahabharat, as if their is a king of Magadh called Jarasandh their is also a son of Gandhari and Dhritarashtra with the same name:

""Vaisampayana said, 'Their names, O king, according to the order of birth, are Duryodhana, Yuyutsu, Bhimavega, Bhimavala, Balaki, Balavardhana, Ugrayudha; Bhima, Karna, Kanakaya, Dridhayudha, Dridhavarman, Dridhakshatra, Somakitri, Anudara; Dridhasandha, Jarasandha" source

2nd possibility - he was just the son of Rishyasringa, it is not uncommon for brahmins to have rakshas children, sage vishrava gave birth to ravan, kumbhkarn etc.

Tadka was a yaksha lady she became a rakshasa due to a curse.

Answer; the reasons why alamvush the son of a brahmin became a demon is not known or explained as Mahabharat has too many characters so authors like Vyas, Vaishampayan, Souti even Ganesh can not explain every single thing their are too many characters it is beyond even their limits to give details for each character. And Alamvusha only had prominence in kurukshetra a chapter of Mahabharat that had too many people fighting at once.

Parakhrami Dand
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