RG VEDA

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, they 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". Over time, five of the Six Stars gather as Yasha-ō and Ashura, the first two stars, are joined by Sōma, Ryu-ō and Karura-ō, the other three. 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 "Four Generals" (Shitennō) (one was killed by Yasha-ō earlier), warriors who swore to protect Taishakuten. The Six Stars are shocked to discover that the sixth Star, Kendappa-ō, their friend and ally, is among them as Jikokuten, the previously unknown general. By the meeting of all the Six Stars, Ashura's dark nature is brought to the surface. He kills his mother, the traitorous Shashi, takes the seal on her forehead and merges it with his sword Shura-tō, to awaken the true Ashura; the god of flame, blood and war, whose aim is to destroy heaven, earth, and hell.
The true Ashura proceeds to complete his awakening by killing the remaining Six Stars (some of them were killed earlier). He kills the stars one by one, absorbing their power, until only Yasha-ō is left. Surprisingly, Taishakuten stands against him. 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 the true Ashura's awakening. However, it is not Taishakuten who stops Ashura, but Ashura himself. As he is about to give Yasha-ō the finishing blow, Ashura in the last moment stabs himself instead. He is then enveloped in a cocoon and enters into a deep sleep. Ashura is awakened hundreds of years later when Kujaku sacrifices his own life, on Yasha-ō's promise that he will not let Ashura become the God of Destruction again.

Ashura (阿修羅^?)

• Voiced by: Kazue Ikura (Japanese), Rachel Lillis (English)

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 will 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 a punishment for his father's sin, 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. He has appeared in both all-male and all-female CLAMP illustrations, and when animated, is generally voiced by slightly boyish sounding females to preserve the gender ambiguity.

Ashura is also a crossover character in another CLAMP 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-ō (夜叉王, Yasha-Ō^?)

• Voiced by: Show Hayami (Japanese), Scottie Ray (English)

Head of the Yasha clan and one of the strongest warriors in Tenkai, Yasha-ō serves as the bushinshō of the north. Wanting to fulfil the prophecy of his friend Kuy-ō the stargazer, he woke Ashura and became his protector even though she had also predicted that Ashura would kill him and knowing that this act of rebellion would anger Taishakuten. As a result of his not giving Ashura over to Taishakuten, his entire clan was declared renegade and slaughtered by Bishamonten.

When Yasha-ō was still a child, Ashura-ō (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-ō then told him to become strong so in future he will be able to protect the person that he treasures above all others. His real name is Yama, having taken the name of Yasha-ō when he became the leader of his tribe. He has a younger brother named Rasetsu who was later killed by Koumoku-ten.

Another incarnation of Yasha-ō also appears in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as the king of the Yama clan who war with the Shura clan. He fell in love with King Ashura but was killed by a deadly disease. One of Sakura's feathers resurrected him until Ashura found the courage to return it to her.