Typically, in storytelling, the main characters, the hero and the villain, are male, and the victim is female: a damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by the hero, from the machinations of the villain. But, from time to time, one does see gender shifts in the nature of hero and villain. While traditionally, we find the male Indra defeating the male Vritra, or the male Shiva defeating the male Andhaka, or the male Vishnu defeating the males Madhu and Kaitabha, we do come across in medieval literature, Durga and Kali, who defeat male villains, such as Mahishasura and Raktabija.

The idea of a female form performing the role of a villain is rather popular in medieval times. The earliest such instance of a female villain comes in the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, we learn how Ram kills the rakshasi Tadaka, who disrupts the yagya of the rishis in the forest. Later, in the forest, Laxman mutilates Surpanakha for being overly sexual.