Nagraj

Nagraj
Nagraj in Promotional art NAGRAJ Raj Comics
Publication information
First appearance	Issue No 14 "Nagraj" (1986)
In-story information
Alter ego	Mr. Raj, Public Relation Officer Of Bharti Communications.
Team affiliations	P.O.E.M.,Sheetnags, Neernags, Snakes of Nagdweep
Notable aliases	Snakeman, Greenman, Green Death, Venomous Gunpowder, Nag-Samrat
Abilities	Ageless, Superhuman Strength, Super Regenerative healing factor, Sixth Sense, Infrared sensing, Expert Martial artist, Unique Hypnotism, Snake-bite, Snake-spit, Venomous breath, Skin shedding, Snakes in his body, Shape shifting, Psychic powers, Explosive snakes, etc.

Template:IndicTextRight Nagraj ("Snake-King") (नागराज in Devanagari script) is an Indian comic book character from Raj Comics who arguably can be termed as the longest living Indian action comic Superhero. Created in the late 1980s by Sanjay Gupta, Nagraj has changed a lot in his life of more than 25 years both in terms of looks as well as stories. Despite the fact that comic culture had once almost vanished in India, his fan base still increased and is expected to increase tremendously after his first animated movie is released.

Overview

The debut issue of Nagraj was written by renowned writer Parshuram Sharma and drawn by Pratap Mulick. Mulick successfully drew the character for about 50 issues till 1995. Since 1995, the illustration work of Nagraj has been taken over by artist and writer Anupam Sinha. Today whatever Nagraj is, is because of these legends of the Indian comic industry Pratap Mullick and Anupam Sinha.

The character of Nagraj is believed to be inspired by mythological Ichchhadhaari Naags (shape shifting snakes), historical Vishmanushya (venomous human). His stories serve a rich blend of mythology, fantasy, magic and science fiction. Many of Nagraj's fans believe that over time Nagraj's comics have developed a Snake Mythology of its own which is unique to the popular Indian beliefs about snakes prevalent among the masses.

Nagraj was originally conceived as an enemy of international terrorism. Interestingly, in his debut, Nagraj was unleashed as an international terror weapon by the evil scientist Professor Nagmani. Nagraj in this first mission was tasked to steal a golden statue of a Goddess from a temple protected by tribal devotes, snakes and by a mysterious more than 300 years old Sadhu named Baba Gorakhnath. Nagraj succeeded in his task but upon confrontation with Gorakhnath and his mystic Black Mongoose Shikangi was defeated. Gorakhnath read his mind and found out that Professor Nagmani had implanted a mind controlling device in form of a capsule in Nagraj's head to keep him under his control. Gorakhnath operated and removed the capsule from Nagraj's head, setting Nagraj free of Professor Nagmani's control. Nagraj then became Baba Goraknath's disciple and vowed to eliminate crime and terror from the Earth. Since then Nagraj has thrice toured the World and defeated many villains and terrorists.

Presently Nagraj lives as Raj in a fictional Metropolitan City Mahanagar as an employee in a TV Channel secretly owned by himself.

Fictional Character Biography

In ancient times when Gods still visited earth without any restrictions, there existed a Kingdom known as Takshaknagar ruled by King Takshakraj and his Queen Lalita. The ruling couple had no worries except for one;They had no child. The absence of a prince or princess made Nagpasha the only potential heir to the throne. Nagpasha was the younger identical brother of the King, knowing that he was the only potential heir to the throne Nagpasha started living a lavish worryfree life.

As time passed the Queen started getting depressed over the absence of her own child. The King realized the cause of Queen's depression and got upset too. The couple used to pray to their family deity Deva Kaljayi for his blessings. Deva Kaljayi too knew of their grievances, so one day he blessed them to have a good great child. His blessings came true as the Queen became pregnant soon and the whole Kingdom rejoiced except for Nagpasha. The birth of this child meant loss of the throne to him, so he decided to kill the child before he was born.

One day when the Queen was going to pray Deva Kaljayi, Nagpasha replaced the curtained plate of her offerings for the god, with one containing a dead mongoose. The Snake God got angry and knocked her unconscious by his venomous breath. The King sought forgiveness from the Devta and pleaded with him to cure his wife which the devta refused, following which the desperate King tried to commit suicide. Not able to withstand a devotee's death, Deva Kaljayi showed him a way to save the Queen's life. He gave a crystal to the King and told him to treat it with the Queen's medicine. The crystal would divert all the poison from the Queen's body to the child's body, however due to the ill effects of the poison the Queen would lose her fertility.

The Kingdom was highly grieved and so was the King. Nagpasha was overjoyed that now he alone was left as the heir. When the child was born everyone believed him dead cause his whole body was blue and showed no signs of life. As per Hindu rituals the new born baby was thrown into the river. (Don't get confused why he wasn't cremated. In Hindu mythology, it is believed that Yogi of high caliber can leave their body in form of soul and as a soul can perform tasks like switching between bodies or travel between different worlds. It is a Hindu ritual that when a child is born dead or dies in his infancy his body is flown into the river so that if some soul wishes to use the body it can take over it. For the same reason when adults die their body are destroyed by fire because adults do have a social life and their body is likely to be misused.)

Nagpasha rejoiced and straight away went, intoxicated, to Deva Kaljayi (the deity also protected the grand royal treasure in form of a giant two headed snake) and asked him to hand over the royal treasures to him, telling him that now he was the sole successor to the throne so the treasure belonged to him. Deva Kaljayi refused and told him that the "real successor" to the throne was alive and when the time comes the treasure will be handed over to him. Enraged Nagpasha raised his sword against the deity only to be thrown away by a mere flick of the giant snake's tail. Nagpasha fell upon two bowls, one contained the highly toxic venom (halahal,the greatest form of venom as believed by Hindus) which destroyed his face and got mixed with his blood, other contained Amrit, which made him immortal. Simultaneous effect of both made Nagpasha an immortal venomous man. At that time Nagpasha couldn't tolerate the changes in his body and fainted.

When the King was informed of the happenings by Deva Kaljayi he realized that his son was not dead, he also realized the potential dangers to his life. So he ordered his faithful astrologer Vedacharya who had great knowledge of Tilism to ensafe the treasure in a Tilism which could be only broken by his son. Vedacharya made the tilism with the cooperation of Deva Kaljayi to ensure that none but the King's son is able to break the tilism not even immortal Nagpasha. When Nagpasha came to his senses he realized that he had lost the treasure. Enraged, he murdered the King and the Queen.

The child flowing away on the river in his state of suspended animation got struck some where in bushes. There he lay for a long time.

Meanwhile the snake deity Deva Kaljayi appeared in the dreams of King Maniraj and his wife Queen Manika, rulers of ageless Ichchhadhaari naags living secretly on an invisible to human eye island in Indian Ocean,called Nagdweep.He told them the location of the baby and asked them to cure him. They did so and found out the baby, they also discovered that he was far more venomous than even the greatest snake on the island which was Mahatma Kaaldoot indicating that he had divine venom of the God. Initially the rajvaid was unsure that whether he will be able to cure the child, but since Deva Kaljayi himself asked the king for his treatment he was assured that treatment will work. According to the rules, no one was permitted to bring an outsider to the island so the King decided to keep his presence a secret.

Many years passed and the treatment started showing results, though still in the same state of suspended animation, the color of the baby had gradually changed to green. The King gave the news to the Queen and they decided to adopt the child because they had no child of their own. Their decision was heard by Vishandhar an evil Tantrik who wanted to become the ruler of the Island but was afraid of Mahatma Kaaldoot. He attacked the secret area where the baby was kept and escaped with him, fearing the wrath of the God he decided not to kill the baby and so he kept him back into the same bushes in the river from where the baby was discovered. His plan failed as the Queen soon got pregnant and gave birth to a daughter who was named Visarpi.

Vishandhar never knew that the baby whom he left astray was cured enough to regain his senses, first his face then whole body became normal humanlike and he started crying. A priest of the nearby temple located him and gifted him to Professor Nagmani who was wandering in nearby forest searching for snakes. For unknown reasons the priest narrated a fake story that the child belonged to a raped woman who was a devotee of the Snake God and the child was blessed by an ichchhadhari naag, he asked Nagmani to bring up the child in such a way that he becomes capable of avenging his mother.

Nagmani realized that the priest was lying but he took the child with him. The blood tests of the child showed that the child had minute microscopic snakes in his blood filling in for White blood cells. The child had extraordinary healing powers and was extremely venomous. He raised the baby who went on to become Nagraj.

Plot summary

Nagraj was presented to the world as a creation of Professor Nagmani. He was meant to be the Ultimate Killing Machine, and his original plan was to hire out Nagraj, to the highest bidder amongst villains and terrorist groups worldwide.

Professor Nagmani used him for his other experimental projects and leasing him for international terrorism. Nagmani always claimed that Nagraj's powers were evolved by feeding him bits of snake poison till his blood became poison itself. He claimed that his venom was a result of snake bites from 1000 different species of snakes (This echoes the Indian legends of Poison-Men or Women, specifically raised to kill by their kiss) and his other powers evolved when he was treated with ashes of a dead ichchhadhaari snake. In reality the fact was that Nagraj was much more poisonous than any species of snakes cause his venom was celestial.

Based largely on the Hindu myth of the shape shifting snake, Nagraj derives most of his powers from microscopic snakes that live in his bloodstream (in lieu of white blood cells) and has a number of powers like superhuman strength, poisonous breath vish-foonkaar and bite, instant healing powers and of course, snakes who come out of his wrists separately or make interesting shapes like ropes, parachutes and many other depending on his imagination. His venom is believed to be far more stronger than Potassium Cyanide resulting in melting of any living being's body if he happens to bite them or vice-versa.

For his first mission, he was sold for a sum of $1 million, and the object was to recover an ancient statue. Nagraj succeeds but then is foiled by the Sage "Baba Gorakhnath", who frees him from the Mind Control of "Professor Nagamani". Waking up to a newer world amid the calmness of Gorakhnath, Nagraj takes a vow to quell terrorism from the world and moves towards achieving this goal.

In his initial issues Nagraj's powers were too limited, at times he was even knocked out by powerful human opponents falling unconscious temporarily, his strength too looked quite human as he used to marvel at his opponent's strength like when someone picked up a car. Over the years Nagraj became powerful enough not only to pick up falling cars singlehandedly but also achieved feats like throwing things into outer space quite effortlessly.

It is notable, and perhaps ironic, that Nagraj has now been transformed into a mythical-magical creature facing fantastical creatures as his enemies, with elements of sorcery/magic and even time and space travel. Many cite this as a reason for the continuous, meteoric rise in popularity of Nagraj Comics. However, purists still claim that they prefer the more realistic, more practical stories that Nagraj began with.

Vital statistics

• Age : Immortal (40 years in Suspended Animation and 25 years of growth ie. 65 years after birth )
• Height : 6 ft 2 in
• Weight : 89 kg
• Eyes : Blue
• Hair : Black

Powers and abilities

Nagraj is arguably the most powerful Superhero in Raj Universe, and is among the most powerful Icchadhari Naagas of his time. Time and again, he has even shown the potential of challenging the Supreme Snake-Gods like Sheshnaag, Vasukidev, Kaaljayi and has defeated the likes of Kaaldoot, Trifana, Mahavyaal and Sheetnaag Kumar, who are ranked among the mightiest snakes in their species.

• Nagraj's primary power is his ability to contain millions of snakes in microscopic size inside his body, making his body a host for a variety of snakes. He can order them to come out of his body and attack his opponents, and also instruct them to form simple structures such as ropes, lasso,webs, gloves,pipes etc. as well as complex structures such as a parachute, boat,gliders and many others.

• Aside from ordinary snakes, he also has a wide variety of mystical snakes like Jagmag Sarp (snakes with bodies which shines brightly in dark places), Naagfani Sarp (snakes with stretchable, spike-covered bodies, which can pierce through anything and elongate themselves as well), Dhwansak Sarp (Explosive snakes which explodes as soon as their body come in contact with anything), Maanas Sarp (Psionic snakes which enables Nagraj to split his astral psyche from his body), Udan Sarp (Winged snakes which can fly) among others. These sarp also multiply rapidly, thus making them limitless in numbers.

• He also hosts several Icchadhari Sarp in his body, like Sheetnaag Kumar (The Prince of Sheetnaags, who has the ability of ice manipulation) , Saudangi (An Egyptian snake who is a master of Tantra-Kala, or Sorcery), Naagu (A Manidhhari Snake, whose 'Mani' grants him amazing powers like shapeshifting, illusion-casting, energy-based attacks etc.) and the Vilakshana Naags. This sarps can come out of his body at will and aid him in battles.

• Nagraj's body holds the most dangerous venom, the Halaahal, and thus his bite is fatal to almost every human being and Naags in this world. Anyone whom he bites, or vice versa, melts down to nothing in a few seconds. His breath also consists some amount of this very venom, thus enabling Nagraj to concentrate all this venom into his one breath, which he calls Vish-Funkaar, which results in a quick death for anyone who inhales it. He can also spit this venom on others, which he uses in his Vish-Funkaar, which is equally dangerous and fatal. This venom is combined in his blood itself, thus anyone who tastes die almost suddenly.

• All of Nagraj's physical attributes have reached super-human level, and his strength, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes, and speed are far beyond the peak human-level.

• He also has accelerated healing factor, which heals any wounds almost in no time, thanks to the millions of the snakes in his body who aid in the healing. Thus guns, swords, blades etc. are useless against him.

• All of his primary senses have enhanced to super-human level, which makes his eyesight and hearing far better than any human. He can also sense vibrations in the environment, thus making him navigate and combat even without using his eyesight. He also has a Sixth-Sense, which he uses if his other five senses are not of much help. Being a highly poisonous Human-Snake (He doesn't agree to be a snake-man), poisons and drugs have absolutely no effect on him, thus making him immune to them.

• Being an Icchadhari, he has shape-shifting abilities and can shape-shift into any creature or person he desires. He can also use this power to grow wings, claws, fins on his body for better navigation and combat. Thanks to his shape-shifting abilities, he can grow his size and proportional strength to even higher levels. Although he lost many of his shape-shifting powers during the events of the issue "Icchadhari", still he retains his ability to turn into a snake at will. He can also use his Icchadhari shakti to break free his atoms, rendering himself invisible and intangible to dodge attacks and pass through barriers, though he can only remain in this form for 3 seconds. His Icchadhari shakti also protects his head from any assaults and attacks, thus any telepathic or electromagnetic attack on his brain backfires on the source.

• Nagraj possesses the ability to shed his skin, the same way as a snake sheds its "Kenchuli",in case some harmful substance, like acid, comes in contact with his skin.

• Nagraj can also stick to surfaces and climb walls in a way some snakes do.

• He is a master of hypnotism, and can hypnotize anyone in matter of seconds to cast illusions and force the victims into believing or obeying whatever he tells them.

• Nagraj also possess some amount of psychic powers the amount of which is unknown (Different levels of this power have been shown in different issues).

Alter Ego

Early Alter Ego

File:Nagraj early alter ego.jpg

Nagraj revealing himself from his early alter ego

Nagraj in his initial issues was a wanderer, who like an avalanche used to bring havoc to the villains of the mankind. Since an alter ego wasn't needed, Nagraj didn't have one, but did conceal his identity under an overcoat and often a hat too. The attire he used to hide his real identity has been hailed by some of his fans as his alter ego because often no one knew that the person standing in front of them is Nagraj. Nagraj has adopted the same alter ego in his latest World Terrorism Series. Not having any fear of being identified in case of an emergency Nagraj instantly gives up his hat and overcoat, very often publicly.

Past Alter Ego

His past alter ego was Raj, who is the fumbling - bumbling Public relations officer of Bharti Communications, a fictional company in the storyline (actually owned by him). In his secret identity of Raj, he pretends to be terrified of snakes. He wears spectacles, a typical business suit and is very timid and simple. This is very similar to the character of Superman/Clark Kent alter ego, even his outfit, straightening of hair and use of glasses to conceal himself. While early alter ego was based on Phantom, this alter ego was based on Superman.

Current Alter Ego

As per recently released comic "Nagraj Ke Baad" his alter ego was changed again as due to the circumstances he was forced to reveal his true identity. Now according to the current storyline he works as the manager of his new security agency "Snake Eyes". His new name is Nagraj Shah. The company is is owned by Ms.Saudangi or Saudangi which resides in his body and is a shapeshifting (icchadhari) snake.

Enemies

Main article: Enemies and rivals of Nagraj

Innumerable enemies of Nagraj have appeared in Nagraj's comics, many died but some lived on to appear again. Here is the list of Nagraj's major alive enemies who can be expected to make a comeback in his future issues :

File:Nagpasha in Future (Nagayan Series).jpg

Nagpasha as Kroorpasha in Nagayana Series

• Professor Nagmani : Nagraj's so called creator who brought up Nagraj.
• Thodanga : A strange African human beast, characteristics match Rhino, Elephant and Turtle.
• Nagdant : A jealous, comparatively weaker copy of Nagraj made by Professor Nagmani.
• Tutan Khamen : Ancient Egyptian mummy whose main power-source, his mask, was snatched away by Nagraj.
• Miss Killer : Beautiful young evil scientist from Japan.
• Nagina : A female tantrik and shape-shifting snake.
• Vishandhar : A male tantrik and shape-shifting snake.
• Jaadugar Shakura : An evil sorcerer from an alien planet of immortal wizard dwarfs.
• Nagpasha : Nagraj's immortal venomous uncle who murdered his parents.
• Gurudev : Nagpasha's guru, a man good with science but evil on intentions who wishes to rule the world though Nagpasha.
• Kentuki : A student of Nagpasha's Gurudeva, is a physically powerful snake.
• Polka : A terrorist and scientist who works for Nagpasha.
• Zulu : An African exorcist+scientist.
• Sapera : A man whose power is Nagraj's weakness, i.e. snake charming music.
• Karanvashi : A magician who uses hypnotism to enslave people.
• See-Through : An invisible soul which thieved a big share of Nagraj's shape-shifting power and still wants more.
• Vish-Amrit : Duo of Paranatural powers troubling innocents on earth while playing hide N seek.
• Khalnayak Nagraj : Evil part of Nagraj's brain which still exists in his unconscious mind.
• Tantra : Bharti's nanaji (maternal grandfather) who took over Bharti's brother Agraj's body and wants to rule the world.

Known relatives and close friends

Main article: Allies and friends of Nagraj

Nagraj with his deeds has earned a big list of friends, many appeared just once, few appeared more than once and very few became permanent characters securing a place in his stories and appearing every now and then. Here is a list of some very well known characters in his issues :

File:Friends & Allies of Nagraj.jpg

Friends & Allies of Nagraj

• King Takshakraj : father, deceased
• Queen Lalita : mother, deceased
• Baba Gorakhnath : Mentor
• Mahatma Kaaldoot : Mentor
• Dada Vedacharya : Mentor
• Deva Kaaljayi : Family Deity
• Nagpasha : Uncle(enemy)
• Bharti : Friend
• Visarpi : Queen Of Nagdweep, love interest of Nagraj
• Nagrani : Mother to Nagraj's son Nageesh in a parallel dimension
• Super Commando Dhruva : Best Friend and an ally superhero
• Saudangi : An Egyptian she-snake with thorns on her body lives in his body
• Sheetnag kumar : Friend-lives in his body
• Naagu : Friend-lives in his body
• Vishaank : Visarpi's brother and Nagraj's ally in form of Chhota(kid) Nagraj
• Mahavyaal : Ruler of the ichchhadhaari naags living in water.
• Nageesh : Son lives with mother Nagrani in a parallel dimension
• Sillu : Friend and Computer Expert
• A Iyer: Tamil tutor (Nagraj's latet obsession is to learn new languages)
• Professor Srikant: Invisible killer (Adrishya Hatyara) situationally driven personality

New media

Nagraj was adapted into a Live action TV show in India, however the show never made it to the TV screen. Reason was pretty clear, due to poor quality of special effects raj comics itself was not satisfied with the quality of the episodes. The production of more episodes was indefinitely put on hold. The 3 episodes are available on CDs which were distributed freely as an attachment to digest-sized comic editions. (Khalnayak Nagraj, Saudangi)

Nagraj has also been converted into an animated TV series. Work was going on for producing an episodic series based on Nagraj and his arch enemy Jadugar Shakoora, even a teaser was out for display on website. But for the past one year there is no news on it. It is assumed that production has stopped cause the production company Rtoonz's website has disappeared.

In November 2007 an agreement was signed between Motion Picture Corporation and Raj Comics for the production of Nagraj's Animated Movie. They have decided to produce a high quality 2D Movie.

Nagraj's Comic Issues

Main article: List of Nagraj's Comics

Over two decades Nagraj has appeared in various comic titles published by Raj Comics.

Published Series

Nagayana

Main article: Nagayana

Raj comics is publishing a landmark new series in Nagraj comics named Nagayana.It was first proposed to be a four part super series of Nagraj comics but later more parts were added to it. Raj comics has also decided to publish it world wide. Its a story based on a hypothetical future of world casting Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruva after 25 years. Largely based on Hindu epic Ramayana the story narrowly follows the same storyline as of the epic with Raj Comic characters filling in the places of original characters. Earlier a Four part series, this series has been re-cast in order to fit in various sub-plots;finally the series has been declared to be an eight part series. The last part is Iti Kaand which is an 128 page issue released on 10th march 2009. The new series is as follows:

Nagayana Comic Issues

Issue No.		Comic Title	Publication Status
	1	Varan Kaand	Published
	2	Grahan Kaand	Published
	3	Haran Kaand	Published
	4	Sharan Kaand	Published
	5	Dahan Kaand	Published
	6	Rann Kaand	Published
	7	Samar Kaand	Published
	8	Iti Kaand	Published

Ongoing Series

World Terrorism Series

Main article: Nagraj:World Terrorism Series

A new series named "Aatanqharta Nagraj" or "Nagraj-World Terrorism Series" is being published prallel to the nagayana series. In this series Nagraj is traveling around the whole globe to fight and eliminate terrorism. It is not yet decided that how many parts this series would have.

File:Nagraj in WTS near Statue of Liberty.jpg

Nagraj in World Terrorism Series near Statue of Liberty

The names of the till now published parts are:

• Hari Maut
• Zahreela Barooda
• Mamber
• Numero Uno
• Operation Surgery
• Mission Critical
• Teen Sikke
• Jung Maut Tak
• Under Arrest
• Ometra - the code of silence
• Aankh Micholi
• Paanchva Shikaar
• 26/11 series (with Doga)

Ongoing as a part of the same series is Japan Series which is basically a 4 part story.Starting with Title Named "Ronin"the series has begun.

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Nagraj Ke Baad

'Nagraj ke Baad'(After Nagraj) is a three part series(Nagraj ke baad,Fuel,Venom) started with a comic of the same name. It deals with a time when Nagraj is killed by his enemies, and now world is facing serious threats from the villains.

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Swarn Nagri

It is a two part series which deals with something going wrong and dangerous in Swarn Nagri, the home of Deva-Jaati, an allied force of Super Commando Dhruva, and the makers of Fighter Toads. It includes three superheroes, namely-Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruva, and Fighter Toads. Its starting comic is Gehri Chaal(Deep Play), and 2nd comic was Level Zero.

The story moves around the escape of Green Mamba from the prison of swarn nagri, and his apparent control over the city, while everyone in the city is unconscious, and now he is planning something dangerous.

Discussion forum

Raj Comics hosts a discussion forum, with a section specially devoted to Nagraj.

• Forum by Raj Comics
• Nagraj discussion forums on Raj Comics Forums
• Nagraj comics reviews on Raj Comics Forums