Demons

Sanatana Dharma's conception of "demons" is a little if not too different from the Christian one. Christianity associates the fate of bad souls with Satan, but if you ask why Lucifer then harms souls that served him all their lives (why are they not happy in hell then?), Christians have difficulties to answer this properly. Yama as a Vedic god is only a judge of the deceased without any connotations that he might serve the evil one (Satan).

The Christian conception is to denote anything that differs from the "prescribed" monolithic explanation of the Bible as something "satanic". In this sense, tantra (as sexual spirituality) is purely seen as a demonic form of devotion from the Christian point of view; however, I said that Sanatana Dharma's conception differs also a little from the Christian one because both concepts look principally equally at the Final Architecture (goal) for this planet and its people.

The word "demon" or "daemon" was not thusly one-sided in the ancient past as it is today. Plato, too, writes about "demons" without associating them to something bad. Demons are known in Islam, too. The term "jinn" originally meant anything that could be "hidden" - something "secret", "remote", or "invisible". In Islam, bad "jinns" are called shaya-ti-n (not really "demons") and Iblis (Satan) is their leader.

Andhaka

Andhaka was the third son of Lord Shiva, but Shiva killed him. Andhaka was born of Shiva's tear, but Andhaka angered Shiva with his (sexual) lust to Parvati.

Bhuta

This is a homonym; on the one hand, it means five elements: Akasha (ether), Vayu (wind), Agni (fire), Prithvi (earth), Ap (water). On the other hand, Bhuta is a kind of a bad soul of a human being who died tragically, either by suicide or by execution.

Kali

1) Kali is an angry form of Shakti (Shiva's consort). Here the statement that Kali is a demon is only correct if the word "demon" is understood in its ancient touch. Her fierce depictions are only based upon Her need to fight against desires of one's ego. She is misunderstood by Europeans and Americans and Her "demonic" attributes are artificially given to Her by people from other cultures. She is not a demon and She does not belong to this section. However, people from other cultures see this form of Goddess as "demonic" and She is included here only with purpose to invalidate this prejudice. Her possible deformation also comes from India from a cult of thugees, which were originally Muslims, but some scholars say that British colonists blew up the whole story with purpose to excuse their military operations.

2) Kali is a homonym (Kali: Goddess; Kali: real demon), thus "Kali" is also the demon of Kali Yuga. However, the word "homonym" is not quite accurate here, as Sanskrit differentiates both words (Kali - the Goddess KAALII, and Kali - the demon KALI) with accent (double vowels like you see in the word KAALII imply that the vowel "A" requires an accent like the English word "are"). In case English does not differentiate both words with their natural accent, then we can say that Kali (Goddess) and Kali (demon) are homonyms.

Koka and Vikoka

These twins are Kali's (Goddess Kali has nothing to do with these twins) generals who instigate wars and evil things.

Panis

Panis represents a class of demons.

Pishacha

These are carnivorous demons; their origin is not clear.

Rakshasas

A race of evil mythological beings (man-eaters), but living in solitary places. Rakshasas are mentioned in a number of Puranic books and the Mahabharata too.

Vetala

This demon is a kind of a vampire. "Vetala" are spirits that live in dead bodies.

Vinayakas

Vinayakas are a group of four troublesome demons who create obstacles, but we can easily cope with them.

In the Puranic literature of a much later period, the group of four Vinayakas was merged into one deity named Vinayaka whom Rudra (Shiva) appointed as the "Leader of the Ganas".

Vipracitti

Chief of the Danavas (analogical to Greek Titans) - a powerful race of giants almost always at war with gods. Kasyapa’s (Kasyapa was the grandson of Lord Brahma) wife Danu (a daughter of Daksha) had many sons and the word "Danavas" is derived from her name.

Virabhadra

Virabhadra is a patron of occult practices. He has temples, too. One of such temples is, for example, in Mylapore (a southern part of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu). Shiva created him to help Him fight with Daksha.

Conclusion

In the Hindu mythology, there are many demons. People governed by such evil entities are demons too, or even people who diverted from the good order in spite of being born in a Brahmin family.

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