Raktabīja

Within the Markandeya Purana / Devi Mahatmya tradition Raktabīja appears as one of the powerful asura-warriors sent by the asura kings Shumbha and Nishumbha to oppose the Devi. According to the account summarized in the supplied sources, he obtained a boon from Śiva by which any drop of blood from his body that fell on the battlefield would give rise to another Raktabīja. He is introduced in the sequence of foes (after figures such as Dhumralochana, Chanda, and Munda) whose combined threat the goddess must dismantle to restore the devas to their rightful place in Svarga.

Sources provide limited direct physical description beyond identifying him as an asura and a formidable warrior. The narrative emphasizes that when wounded he bleeds so profusely that each drop can spawn another Raktabīja; the spawned beings are described as identical to one another in strength, form, and weapons. The texts otherwise do not supply specific anthropometric details, clothing, or unique markings for Raktabīja himself.

Raktabīja's defining supernatural ability is the boon-mediated property of his blood: any drop that falls to the earth generates a new, fully-armed Raktabīja, and those duplicates share his strength, form, and weapons. In combat this produces a self-perpetuating multiplicative threat—wounding him without preventing blood from reaching the ground increases the number of opponents. The narrative records that this made him a specially dangerous offensive asset in the asura host until the goddess coordinated a tactic to prevent the blood from seeding new beings.