RG Veda

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This article is about the manga series. For the collection of Vedic hymns, see Rigveda.
RG Veda
聖伝-RG VEDA-
(Seiden: Rigu Vēda)
Genre Fantasy, drama, adventure
Manga
Author Clamp
Publisher Flag of Japan Shinshokan
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Flag of Japan Wings
Original run 1990 – 1996
Volumes 10
OVA
Director Hiroyuki Ebata
Takamasa Ikegami
Studio Animate
Episodes 2
Released 1991

RG Veda (聖伝-RG VEDA- Seiden: Rigu Vēda?) is an epic manga created by Clamp, consisting of ten graphic novels in all. It was first published in Japan in 1989 as Clamp's debut manga. The story features elements of Vedic mythology; the title itself imitates Rigveda, the name of one of the four Vedas.[citation needed] The series is known for its extravagant and richly detailed art. It was popular enough to inspire a 2 episode anime OVA (which can be found on DVD).

The RG Veda graphic novels have been translated and released in many different languages. Tokyopop has released English versions in the United States.

[edit] Plot

Three hundred years ago, the god of thunder, Taishakuten, rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor, killing both him and the guardian god Ashura-ō. With the help of Ashura-ō's wife Shashi, he usurped the throne and began his cruel reign as the new Emperor. However, a prophecy was made by the stargazer Kuyou, first to Ashura-ō and then to Yasha-ō:

"Six stars will fall to this plane. The dark stars that will defy the Heavens. And you shall undertake a journey. One that begins when you find the child of a vanished race. I cannot discern the child's alignment. I only know that it is he alone who can turn the wheels of Tenkai's destiny. For it is by Heavenly Mandate that through this child, the Six Stars shall begin to gather. And then someone shall appear from the shadows. Even my powers cannot clearly make out his figure, but he knows the future and can manipulate both evil and heavenly stars. A roaring flame shall raze the wicked. Six stars will overpower all others. And inevitably, the will be the schism that splits the Heavens."

Following this prophecy, the Guardian Warrior of the northland, Yasha-ō, awakens the genderless child of Ashura-ō, Ashura, who has slept the last three hundred years under a magical seal. Believing the prophecy to mean that the "Six Stars" together can overthrow Taishakuten, he and Ashura set out to find the "Six Stars". They are joined over time by Sōma, Ryu-ō and Karura-ō, three of the Six Stars of prophecy, of which Yasha-ō and Ashura are as well. A mysterious character who appears and disappears quite regularly, Kujaku, gives them helpful advice, but his nature and intentions are unclear.

The gentle and childlike Ashura (who is usually referred to as "he" out of convenience, though some translations use a female pronoun) soon reveals a deadly alter-ego, a youth who delights in death and destruction, but this side remains for the longest time more or less suppressed, also by Ashura's affection for Yasha-ō.

Seeking to bring Taishakuten's reign to an end, the Six Stars finally enter Zenmi-jō, Taishakuten's palace. They are met there by the three remaining (one was killed by Yasha-ō before) "Four Generals" (Shitennō) who are sworn to protect Taishakuten and discover to their shock that the sixth Star, Kendappa-ō, who is a friend to almost all of them and has helped them in the past, is among them as Jikokuten, the last and previously unknown of the four generals. By the meeting of all the Six Stars, Ashura's dark nature is brought to the surface. He kills his mother, the traitorous Shashi, and by placing the seal on her forehead in his sword Shura-tō, awakens as the true Ashura, the god of flame, blood and war, whose aim it is to destroy heaven, earth, and hell.

He proceeds to complete his awakening by killing those of the Six Stars who did not already die by others' hands. Their power then becomes his, until only Yasha-ō is left. Surprisingly, Taishakuten stands against him, and it turns out that his cruel reign was really a plot by him and the deceased Ashura-ō to prevent the gathering of the Six Stars and so the true Ashura's awakening. However, it is not Taishakuten who finally stops Ashura, but on the move to kill Yasha-ō, Ashura in the last moment stabs himself instead. He is then enveloped in a cocoon and again falls asleep, to awake only hundreds of years later by Kujaku's sacrifice of his own life, on Yasha-ō's promise that he will not let Ashura become the God of Destruction again.

[edit] Characters

Ashura (阿修羅?)
The protagonist of the series and the last living member of the Ashura clan, Ashura was born after Taishakuten had killed his father and seized the throne. His mother, Shashi, at the same time gave birth to Taishakuten's son Ten-ō, and tried to kill Ashura, whom she believed must stand in her way to rule Heaven at Taishakuten's side. However, Ashura's powers protected him and enclosed him in a cocoon where he slept undisturbed for three hundred years, until Yasha-ō awoke him.
Upon being freed from his cocoon, Ashura first appears as a baby, but grows rapidly to a child of maybe eight years. At first outgoing and friendly, he soon becomes aware of his cruel destiny, as Taishakuten has almost everyone with whom he has associated killed. Feeling guilty for their deaths, he vows to become strong enough to defeat Taishakuten himself.
However, Ashura has another side: He is, in fact, the "true Ashura", the merciless god of war whose wish is the total destruction of Heaven, Earth and Hell. This side was suppressed by several seals, one of which is the distribution of his true power among the Six Stars, but is freed upon their meeting. Only his love for Yasha-ō, his adoptive father, finally triumphs over his lust for destruction.
As his father's punishment, Ashura was born genderless so he cannot continue the royal line of Ashura, which Ashura-ō so desperately wished to preserve that he tried to defy destiny. Languages which do not have a gender-neutral pronoun usually refer to him by either the male or the female pronoun; the choice of either is often a source of much contention.
Ashura is also a crossover character in Clamp's manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, where he appears under the name Ashura-ō as the king of Shura Country, hosting Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona during their stay in this world. His clan is at constant war with the Yasha clan over possession of a mysterious castle in the sky, which is said to fulfill its master's wish. It turns out that he was in love with Yasha-ō, who returned his feelings, and wished to resurrect him from the dead. He dies as the castle, unable to fulfill this impossible wish, crashes down around him.
Yasha-ou (夜叉王 Yasha-Ō?)
Head of the Yasha clan and one of the strongest warriors in Tenkai, Yasha became Ashura's protector even though he knew that this act of rebellion would anger Taishakuten.
As a result of his not turning over Ashura to Taishakuten, his entire clan was considered renegade and was slaughtered.
When Yasha was younger, Ashura-ou (knowing that Yasha was the one who would awaken Ashura) asked him what he would do if the most important person in the world to him was fated to bring him disaster. Yasha replied that he would "protect him". Ashura-ou then told him to become strong so as to protect the one thing that he would value above all others in the future.
Taishakuten (帝釈天?)
Taishakuten is the villain in the manga RG Veda. In Hindo Mythology and religion Taishakuten is a deity is known in Sanskrit as Indra, Sakradevanam Indra, or Shakra Devanam Indra.
Taishakuten defends both deities and humans against all that is evil. Able to revive those slain in battle, Taishakuten has attributes of both a creator and a sun god.
Ryuu-ou (龍王 Ryū-Ō?)
Kendappa-ou (乾闥婆王 Kendappa-Ō?)
Karura-ou (迦楼羅王 Karura-Ō?)
Souma (蘇摩 Sōma?)
Kujaku (孔雀?)
Karyoubinga (迦陵頻伽 Karyōbinga?)
Shashi (舎脂?)
Kaara (迦羅?)
Tennou (天王 Tennō?)
Kuyou (九曜 Kuyō?)
Hanranya (般羅若?)
Bishamonten (毘沙門天?)
Kisshouten (吉祥天 Kisshōten?)
Ashura-ou (阿修羅王 Ashura-Ō?)
Ashura-ō is first introduced as the god of war and guardian of Heaven under the former Emperor, who died defending his lord against Taishakuten and is revered as a hero. However, it turns out at the end of the manga that he had, in fact, engineered Taishakuten's rebellion himself: Knowing through Kuy-oh's prophecy and his own visions of his future son's true nature as the "true Ashura", he nonetheless wished for his son to be born. To change destiny and prevent Ashura's awakening, he asked for Taishakuten's help, which Taishakuten promised in return for his body. Ashura-ō married Shashi so she, one of the priestesses bearing one of Ashura's seals on her forehead, would be his mother, whom Ashura presumably would not wish to kill. He had Taishakuten seize the throne and rule cruelly, to prevent the Six Stars from gathering. As a last safeguard, should Ashura still awaken, he asked Taishakuten to kill him and eat his body, so he might become strong enough to kill Ashura.
  • Ashura-ou in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Ashura-ō is the king of the cold world of Celes. At the beginning of the manga, he is sealed in a magical sleep by Fay D. Flourite, who then proceeds to flee from him through different worlds. It is later revealed that he collected Fay from imprisonment in another world and raised him. However, the Ashuras' nature in RG Veda is mirrored in Tsubasa: Ashura-ō, too, has another side, and regularly goes on killing sprees among his subjects. He took Fay in to draw his curse to kill everyone stronger than him upon himself, however, Fay's curses were both activated (the first due to Sakura, and the second after Ashura-ō's death). Ashura-ō was stabbed by Kurogane and died in Fay's arms.
Sentei (先帝?)
Sonseiten (尊星王?)
Kumaraten (倶摩羅天?)
Zouchouten (増長天 Zōchōten?)
Koumokuten (広目天 Kōmokuten?)
Rasetsu (羅刹?)
Shara (沙羅?)
Gigei (技藝?)
Aizen Myō-ō (愛染明王?)

[edit] External links

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