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Nagraj ('Snake-King') (नागराज in Devanagari script) is a fictional superhero appearing in Raj Comics,.^[1] Created in the late 1980s by Sanjay Gupta, First story was written by Prashuram Sharma and illustrations were done by Sanjay Ashtputre and later it was drawn by Pratap Mulik and Anupam Sinha. Nagraj has changed a lot in his 25 years in print, both in terms of looks as well as powers and abilities.^[2][3][4]

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• 9Published series

Overview[edit]

The debut issue of Nagraj was written by Parshuram Sharma and illustrated Sanjay Ashtpure. After that Pratap Mullick illustrated the character for around 50 issues, ending in 1995. Since 1995, the illustration work of Nagraj has been taken over by artist and writer Sanjay Gupta.

The name Nagraj is derived from the word 'Nagaraja'(Hindi:नागराजा ) which is itself made up of two words 'nāga' (Hindi:नाग) and 'raja' (Hindi:राजा) where the word 'nāga' means snake and 'raja' means king. Nagraj is believed to have been inspired by the mythological Ichchhadhari Nag (shape shifting snakes) and historical Vishmanushya (venomous human). His stories create 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 that are prevalent among the masses.

Nagraj was originally conceived as an enemy of international terrorism. In his debut issue, Nagraj was unleashed as an international terror weapon by the evil scientist Professor Nagmani. Nagraj, in this first mission, was tasked with stealing a golden statue of a Goddess from a temple that was protected by tribal devotees, snakes, and by a mysterious 300-year-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 discovered that Professor Nagmani had implanted a mind control device in the 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.

Nagraj lives as Raj (After Nagraj Ke Baad, he is under disguise of Nagraj Shah) in a fictional Metropolitan City Mahanagar as an employee of a TV channel that he owns secretly.

Fictional character biography[edit]

In ancient times, there existed a kingdom known as Takshaknagar, ruled by King Takshakraj and Queen Lalita. The couple had no worries except for one fact that, they had no children. The absence of a prince or princess made Nagpasha the only potential heir to the throne. Nagpasha was the younger brother of the King Takshakraj. Knowing that he was the only potential heir to the throne, Nagpasha started living a lavish worry-free life.

As time passed, Queen Lalita started getting depressed for not having a child of her own. The king realised the cause of her depression and became upset as well. The couple used to pray to their family deity Dev Kaljayi for his blessings. Dev Kaljayi also knew of their grievances, so one day he blessed them to have a great child. His blessings came true as the queen soon became pregnant and the whole kingdom rejoiced, except for Nagpasha. The birth of this child meant the loss of the throne for him, so he decided to kill the child before he was born.

One day when the queen was going to pray to Deva Kaljayi, Nagpasha replaced the curtained plate of her offerings to the god with one containing a dead mongoose. The Snake God got angry and knocked her unconscious with his venomous breath. The king sought forgiveness from the Devta and pleaded with him to cure his wife, to which the Devta refused. Then 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, as was the king. Nagpasha was overjoyed that he was now the sole heir to the throne. When the child was born, everyone believed him dead because his whole body was blue and showed no signs of life. As per Hindu rituals, the newborn baby was thrown into the river.

Nagpasha rejoiced and went to Deva Kaljayi; the deity that also protected the grand royal treasure in form of a giant two-headed snake, and asked him to hand over the royal treasures, telling him that now he was the sole heir to the throne, so the treasure rightfully 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 containing the highly toxic venom (halahal, the greatest form of venom as believed by Hindus) which destroyed his face and mixed with his blood, and the other containing Amrit, which made him immortal. Simultaneous effects of both made Nagpasha an immortal, venomous man. At that time, Nagpasha could not tolerate the changes in his body and fainted.

When the king was informed of the happenings by Dev Kaljayi, he realised that his son was not dead and he also realised the potential dangers to his son's life. So he ordered his faithful astrologer Vedacharya, who had great knowledge of Tilism to enclose the treasure in a Tilism which could be broken only by his son. Vedacharya made the tilism with the co-operation of Dev Kaljayi to ensure that no one, except for the king's son, will be able to break the tilism, not even immortal Nagpasha. When Nagpasha came to his senses, he realised that he had lost the treasure. Enraged, he murdered the king and the queen.

The child, floating away on the river in his state of suspended animation, got stuck somewhere in bushes. He laid there 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 island in the Indian Ocean called Nagdweep. He told them the location of the baby and asked them to cure him. They did so and discovered that the baby was far more venomous than the greatest snake on Nagdweep, which was Mahatma Kaaldoot, indicating that he had divine venom of the god. Initially, the raj vaid was unsure whether he would be able to cure the child, but since Dev Kaljayi himself asked the king for his treatment, he was assured that the 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 and, although still in the 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, since 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, but fearing the wrath of the god, he decided not to kill the baby and instead placed him back into the same bushes in the river where he was found. 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 that he left astray was cured enough to regain his senses. First, his face and later, his whole body, turned normal color and he started crying. A priest of the nearby temple located him and gave him to Professor Nagmani, who was wandering in the nearby forest searching for snakes. For unknown reasons, the priest narrated a fake story that the child belonged to a woman, who was a devotee of the Snake God. He also said that the child was blessed by an ichchhadhari naag, so he asked Nagmani to bring up the child and allows him to avenge his mother.

Nagmani realised that the priest was lying, but he took the child. 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 became Nagraj.

Plot summary[edit]

Nagraj was presented to the world as a creation of Professor Nagmani. He was meant to be an ultimate killing machine, and his original plan was to hire out Nagraj to the highest bidder among villains and terrorist groups of the world.

Professor Nagmani used him for his other experimental projects and leased him for international terrorism. Nagmani always claimed that Nagraj's powers were evolved by feeding him bits of snake poison until his blood itself became poison. He claimed that his venom was a result of snake bites from 1,000 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, Nagraj was much more poisonous than any species of snakes because 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. He has a number of powers, such as superhuman strength, poisonous breath and poison-bite, instant healing powers, and snakes that come out of his wrists. The snakes can come out individually or form into ropes, parachutes, and many others, depending on his imagination. His venom is believed to be far stronger than Potassium Cyanide, resulting in the melting of any living being's body if he bites them or vice versa.

For his first mission, he was sold for a sum of $1 million and 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 eliminate terrorism from the world and works toward achieving this goal.

In his initial issues, Nagraj's powers were too limited, and at times he was even knocked out by powerful human opponents. His strength was also quite human in nature, as he would marvel at his opponent's strength, such as when someone picked up a car. Over the years, Nagraj became powerful enough to not only pick up falling cars single-handedly, but also to achieve feats such as throwing things into outer space effortlessly. This happened in the issue Nagadhish, when he threw the controlling sceptre of a serpent court official into orbit.

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.

Powers and abilities[edit]

Nagraj, a character in the Raj Comics series,^[5] has a huge arsenal of powers of which most can be credited to his divine birth in the comics storyline. Ever since Writer & Artist Anupam Sinha took over the character of Nagraj, his powers and abilities have evolved a great deal making him powerful enough to counter any character of the comic universe.Nagraj is arguably the most powerful superhero in the Raj Comics Universe and is among the most powerful Icchadhari Naagas of his time.^{[citation needed]} Time and again, he has even shown the potential of challenging the Supreme Snake-Gods like Sheshnaag, Vasuki, Takshak, Kaaljayi, and has defeated the likes of Kaaldoot, Trifana, Mahavyaal and Sheetnaag Kumar, who are ranked among the mightiest snakes in their species.^{[citation needed]}Nagraj's blood is a mixture of red blood cells, venom and minute snakes. He can 'release' snakes out of his body at his will through his hands and use them for whatsoever purpose he likes, controlling them through telepathy. Though Nagraj gives full liberty to his snakes, his will can keep them inside his body, leading him at times to take enemy snakes inside him.Snakes in his body can be classified into many groups:

• Microscopic snakes

Though these are snakes, of many different species, which commonly exist in the real world, being born in Nagraj's bodymeans that they share in Nagraj's extremely powerful venom. Nagraj uses them variably as ropes, ladders, parachutes, shields, boats, spies and messengers. Most notable among them is Naganand, at a time considered right-hand man of Nagraj, he left Nagraj's body to look after the people of Nagdweep at Nagraj's order after he upgraded to become an ichchhadhaari nag.Nagraj has accumulated snakes which weren’t born in Nagraj's body, but it was Nagraj who gave them a place in his body. These snakes are usually snakes carrying some special abilities. They include

• Jagmag sarp(glowing snakes which in Nagayana series were shown shooting lasers),
• Naav-sarp(giant snakes, Nagraj uses them for making snake-boats),
• Nagfani sarp(literally 'cactus-snakes') and
• Ichchhadhaari-naags (shape-shifting snakes).
• Nagfani-sarp Given by Deva Kaljayi to Nagraj, these snakes have spikes on their body and they can easily rip apart most opponents. The extent of their power is still a mystery; powers tend to be revealed when necessary for the plotline. For instance, Nagraj once used a snake to tie up an enemy, revealing that they may extend themselves at length.

Nagfani snakes may have additional powers:

• Dhwansak sarp : short-living magical snakes which explode at will causing major damage to their surroundings. Though Nagfani-sarp warned Nagraj about using them too frequently, Nagraj never ever had any problems with their numbers while using them.
• Tishk sarp : This snake wraps himself around Nagraj's forehead giving him paranatural powers and the ability to break physical laws. Using these snakes Nagraj can see and fight against souls and invisible powers. While using this power

Nagraj's body gets divided into minute particles making him almost ethereal and immune to physical damage, alsotemporarily disabling his power to eject snakes out of his body. This form of Nagraj is called Maanas Nagraj.Ichchhadhaari nags.They may or may not be of the same species but all snakes possessing the power of shape-shifting come under thiscategory. They include a big bunch of ichchhadhaari naags banished from Nagdweep. It is quite notable that some ofthem possess such great powers which rival Nagraj's own, but they all hold great respect for Nagraj. While some of themlive in his body just cause they have no better place to live, others live willingly to learn something from Nagraj's way of life. Most notable names among them are :

• Saudaangi : Saudaangi is the most famous and most notable Ichchhadhari nag inside Nagraj's body. Also she was the very first special snake induced by Nagraj in his body. She is the member of an Egyptian clan of snakes which fights against the evil mummy of pharaoh Tutankhemun. Like Nagfani snakes she too has spikes on her body when she is in her snake form, she also has a limited knowledge of Tantra. Among the trio of Sheetnag kumar, Naagu and her, her powers are least explained. In early issues of Nagraj, she often became the decisive force of the fights between Nagraj and his powerful enemies, particularly Nagdant. Though she does not appear as frequently as earlier, she still has a devoted fan following with some urging that she should be the main love interest of Nagraj.
• Sheetnag kumar : Sheetnag-kumar is now the most frequently appearing ichchhadhari sarp of Nagraj's body. Earlier a rival Sheetnag-kumar has now become one of Nagraj's most trusted snakes. He belongs to a clan of ichchhadhari nags living on the Himayalas. Sheetnag-kumar is known for his 'icy powers', he can create and manipulate ice at his will giving it different forms like spears and arrows. Sheetnag-kumar also regulates Nagraj's body temperature making him immune to normal fire when he is inside his body and also giving him protection against severe cold; one of Nagraj's greatest weakness which makes him drowzy pushing him towards hibernation . Sheetnag-kumar's Fang can absorb many attacks and revert them back towards the enemy. He can also freeze all the liquids inside one's body paralysing him.
• Naagu : Naagu is the most cheerful and comical among Nagraj's snakes. His acts are such that at times it becomes difficult to judge whether he is a jester or a helper. He belongs to a family of Ichchhadhaari naags living near Mahanagar.

His main source of power is his mani which grants him almost every imaginable power. For entering Nagraj's body hehas to remove his mani from his possession so he hides it in micro form at some place in Nagraj's dress. He thoughlooks and behaves like an idiot and talks non-sense, but he is the one who can never be underestimated. Unlike other snakes in Nagraj's body, Naagu decided to live in Nagraj's body for no reason other than watching movies, which becomes easier living incity. He is a true movie lover and remembers all dialogues of his favourite movies be it Bollywood or Hollywood.

• Sukshm-sarp: This is not a type but a state of the snakes living in Nagraj's body. Nagraj's snakes live in his body in form of Sukshm-sarps, or 'micro-snakes'. In this state the snakes of Nagraj's body can do anything which they could while in their maximized state, and just their size is affected. They carry out many important activities inside and even outside Nagraj's body. While in Nagraj's body they performs functions like healing his body, fighting against diseases and providing him superhuman strength. They have also been used to cure others of their diseases.
• Nagraj once used one of his powerful snakes Nagshri in Nagdant's body to kill all the micro-snakes inside him making him powerless temporarily.
• He also used them to temporary disable Karanvashi's hypnotic powers.
• Nagraj sent one of his sukhsham-sarp to live inside shakti's body to contact her in case of an emergency.
• Nagraj used one of his dhwansak-sarp in sukhsham roop (micro form) to destroy the brain of a terrorist recently in WTSSeries.

Nagraj's Venom
Nagraj's venom is the most powerful venom of the world, so much so that direct contact with it results in instant deathand melting of body. He gained his venom through the blessings of snake deity Deva Kaaljayi, who himself was blessedby Lord Shiva. It is explained that Lord Shiva who holds the strongest venom of the universe synthesised duringSamudra-Manthan, gave a minor portion of it to Deva Kaljayi who holds a dilute form of it and Nagraj holds an even moredilute form of it. The different ways in which Nagraj uses his venom also results in various powers he is said to possess.Like :Vish-funkarNagraj uses his breath to force out his venom in vapour form, depending upon its concentration thevish-funkar can cause a variety of damages to his enemies. Its effects include temporary blindness, drowzyness, blackouts, deaths and for once it even caused fire. This power of Nagraj once as a side-effect temporarily cured Richa (loveinterest of Super Commando Dhruva) of her disease pertaining respiratory system. This is among one of the oldestdisplayed powers of Nagraj.

Vish-dansh

This is simply a snake-bite. Since Nagraj has divine venom more often than not this power when executed properly

results in an opponent's instant death,[1] though exceptional beings able to withstand the poisoninclude the Deva Kaljayi, himself and enemies who didn't have a biological body. It was suggested in one issuethat the venom inside Nagraj's teeth is far more vicious than the venom in his blood, perhaps so much so thatNagraj might die if he bites himself.

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Vish-fuhaar

Nagraj can spill out high amount of liquid venom from his mouth. Since liquid form is much more concentrated in

comparison to vapour form therefore it causes more damage in comparison to vish-funkar, it is said that use of this powerhas negative effects on Nagraj weakening him temporarily cause it results in sudden drop of venom inside his bodydecreasing the number of sukhsham-sarps too.

Vish-varsha

This is one of the lesser known applications of Nagraj's venom. Nagraj once under the influence of evil powers spilled his venom as vish-fuhaar over the ocean and heated it using his dhwansak-sarp forming venomous clouds, the clouds

rained a very dilute form of his venom which was still extremely powerful. Whosoever came in contact with it diedinstantly and their bodies melted. After the clouds cleared there were many human skeletons lying at various places as aproof of the viciousness of Nagraj's venom.

Ichchhadhaari Shakti and its origin

According to the comic storyline inspired from a popular puranic storyline which has many alternate versions,

Vishwamitra a king who turned into a Rishi and wished to become a Brahmarshi (which he later became) once promisedhis disciple Trishanku to send him to heaven alive with his body. This alarmed the Gods who to protect the rules of theuniverse decided not to let this happen. When Rishi Vishwamitra applied his power to send him towards heaven, theGods applied counter-force to oppose him. This resulted in a stalemate. Despite all his efforts Vishwamitra failed to fulfilhis promise. This enraged Vishwamitra, he saw this act of the Gods as his insult, so he used his power to call upon thepower which was used for the creation of the Universe. He started creating a new heaven for sending Trishanku there tokeep his words. Seeing the powers of the rishi and alarmed by his act the gods themselves descended upon earth andconvinced him to drop his decision. Vishwamitra after realizing that Trishanku had evil intentions left him hanging. (It isbelieved that he is still hanging somewhere between heaven and earth alive cause Vishwamitra gave him half of hispowers).Vishwamitra called upon the power himself, but he couldn't send it back so he entrusted this power to his disciple,a snake Mahatma Kaaldoot. Minor portions of the power passed on to his future generations and resulted in a newspecies of snakes the Ichchhadhari naags (shape-shifting snakes). Most of the snakes don't know all the uses ofthis power and used it only for shape-shifting purposes but this power can do anything, even creating living beings.It is least used but most effective power of Nagraj, celestial as its origin is this power's true extent was unknown toeveryone for quite a long time. Since Nagraj had lost a very major part of this powercourtsey See Through, he doesn't try stupid stunts and makes minimum use of this power cause if he tries shapeshiftinginto something beyond his power limit then he might not be able to reform a new body and left bodiless like SeeThrough or maybe even die.Applications of this power:
Shape-shifting

Nagraj even when limited on power has been seen successfully switching between his real and snake form. He can use this power to divide his body into particles and rejoin them within 3 seconds making him invisible and intangible temporarily. At times in case of emergencies Nagraj has temporarily taken powers from the ichchhadhaari naags of Nagdweep granting him access to use the full extent of this power. Nagraj also has a number of ichchhadhaari naags in his body, and though he hasn't yet, he can take their powers too, in times of emergency. Nagraj when high on this power can undergo amazing transformations and can change into anything imaginable. In theory, this power has no limits.

Hypnotism

Nagraj has a unique hypnotic effect, formerly considered a separate power, this power was later explained as an

application of his ichchhadhaari shakti. Utilizing this power Nagraj can cast a hypnotic reality upon his surroundings usinghis eyes.[1] Breaking this hypnotic fate is extremely difficult and going against it is impossible. Nagrajand his snakes can cast normal hypnotism too.
Body-fusions

Nagraj at times has used this power to fuse with his allies to bring down a powerful enemy. He can perform two types of

fusions :

• Multi-membered imperfect fusion : In this type of fusion many people can join together to form a single body having

many heads and hands. Every individual retains his or her own identity and set of powers. Nagraj used it for the first timefusing with the legendary five in order to fight against a creature created by Nagina .

• Two-membered perfect fusion : In this type of fusion Nagraj can join together with a single person to form a whole new

identity. The new identity has new set of powers born from the combination of the participants' sets of powers. Nagrajdisplayed this power for the first time fusing with Lava to become Agni-Nagraj (Fire-Nagraj). The new born identity couldrelease 'burning snakes' and could breathe 'venomous fire'.Psychic powers
TelepathyIn addition to his ability to communicate with snakes, Nagraj contacted Super Commando Dhruva telepathically when hewas trapped in a parallel dimension containing evil souls.
Psychic force

In the debutant issue of Nagraj, after his introduction Professor Nagmani said : This later proved to be true, when Nagraj

achieved the feat using his ichchhadhaari shakti. Though the latter claim has not been substantiated, Nagraj's psychicpotential has been demonstrated during his battle with the Mahamanav (an advanced creature having enough psychiccapabilities to wipe out entire planets) in a psychic power battle.

• Nagraj's primary power is his ability to contain millions of snakes inside his body, becoming 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 create simple forms, such as ropes, lassos, webs, gloves, pipes, etc., as well as complex forms, 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 that shine brightly in the dark, 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 enable Nagraj to split his astral psyche from his body, Udan Sarp, winged snakes which can fly, among others. These snakes multiply rapidly, thus making them limitless in numbers.
• He also hosts several Icchadhari Sarp, shape-shifting snakes, in his body, such as Sheetnaag Kumar, The Prince of Sheetnaags, who has the ability to manipulate ice, Saudangi, an Egyptian snake woman who is a master of Tantra-Kala, or sorcery, Naagu, a Manidhhari snake, which is a snake with a diamond like gem on his forehead, whose 'Mani' grants him powers such as shape-shifting, illusion-casting, energy-based attacks, etc., and the Vilakshana Naags. These snakes can come out of his body at will and aid him in battles.
• Nagraj's body holds the most dangerous venom and thus his bite is fatal to almost every human being and Naags in this world. Anyone he bites, or vice versa, melts to nothing in a few seconds. His breath also consists of some amount of this 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, thus anyone who tastes his blood die almost instantly.
• 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 instantly, thanks to the millions of snakes in his body who aid in the healing. Thus guns, swords, blades, etc. are useless against him.
• All of his primary senses have been 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 allowing him to 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 refuses to be called a snake-man), poisons and drugs have absolutely no effect on him, making him immune to them.
• Being an Ichchhadhari, 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, as well as 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 three 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, in 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 hypnotise anyone in a matter of seconds, to cast illusions and force the victims into believing or obeying whatever he tells them.
• Nagraj has reached a level of strength considered superhuman. He can easily hold a car or throw a bus in air without a problem, as seen in his comic 'Venom' in which he was badly injured, having most of his bones broken, but to save the people from a fire dragon, he managed to lift up a 100 tones kilogram globe and threw it into the mouth of the fire dragon, which was flying 100 meters above the ground.
• Nagraj also possess some unknown amount of psychic powers which is very dangerous and he can increase his psychic powers with the help of his snake.Recently in Sarvanayak series Nagraj with the help of Parmanu created a micro blackhole poweful enough to hold back several dwarf planets.

Known relatives and close friends[edit]

Nagraj, along with his deeds, has earned a large amount of friends, many of whom appeared just once, but some that appeared more often, and still fewer that became permanent figures in Nagraj's stories. Here is a list of some very well known characters in his comics :

• King Takshakraj : father (deceased)
• Queen Lalita : mother (deceased)
• Baba Gorakhnath : Mentor
• Mahatma Kaaldoot : Mentor
• Dada Vedacharya : Mentor
• Deva Kaaljayi : Snake Deity
• Nagpasha : Uncle (Arch enemy)
• Bharti/Faceless : Friend, business partner. She is in one-sided love with Nagraj. She fights with the identity of Faceless.
• Visarpi : Queen of Nagdweep, love interest of Nagraj.
• Nagrani : Mother to Nagraj's son Nageesh in a parallel dimension. She is the female equivalent of Nagraj.
• Nageesh : Son that lives with mother Nagrani in a parallel dimension
• Super Commando Dhruva : Best Friend and an ally superhero
• Saudangi : An Egyptian snake-woman with tantrik powers and thorns on her body that lives in his body. Later on it was known that Saudangi was an Egyptian princess and Nagraj was a soldier in their previous birth.
• Sheetnag Kumar : Friend that lives in his body, Prince of snow snakes 'Sheetnaag'.
• Panch naag : Naagdev, Sarpraj, Naagpreti, Singhnaag and Nagarjuna. They are Ichchhadhari naags(shape shifting snakes) from Naagdweep.
• Naagu : Friend that lives in his body. Very fond of watching movies.
• Professor Srikant/Adrishya Hatyara (Invisible killer): With a situationally-driven personality.

Enemies[edit]

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 enemies that are still alive and who can be expected to make a comeback in future issues :

• Professor Nagmani : Nagraj's so-called creator who brought up Nagraj.
• Thodanga : A strange African creature. He has a combined body of human, turtle and rhinoceros.
• 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 mechanical science but evil on intentions who wishes to rule the world though Nagpasha.
• Kentuki : A student of Gurudev, who is a physically powerful snake having the strength of fifty elephants.
• Polka : A terrorist and scientist who works for Nagpasha.
• Zulu : An African exorcist and scientist. An expert of Voodoo and Zombies.
• See-Through : An invisible soul that stole a big share of Nagraj's shape-shifting power, but still wants more.
• Sapera : A man whose power is Nagraj's weakness, i.e. snake charming music.
• Karanvashi : A magician who uses hypnotism to enslave people.
• Vish-Amrit : Duo of Paranatural powers troubling innocents on Earth while playing hide and seek.
• Khalnayak Nagraj : Evil side of Nagraj's personality which still exists in his unconscious mind.
• Tantrata : Bharti's nanaji (maternal grandfather) who took over Bharti's brother Agraj's body and wants to rule the world.
• Garalgant : A famous enemy of Dev kaljai but also become enemy of Nagraj.

Comics list[edit]

Nagayan Series[edit]

• Varankand
• Grahankand
• Harankand
• Sharankand
• Dahankand
• Rankand
• Samarkand
• Itikand
• Upsanhar
• MahaNagayan (Upcoming)

Amazing friends of Nagraj[edit]

• Adhura Prem
• Nag Jyoti
• Panch Naag
• Ambrish
• Fairo
• Vishya
• Pratishodh
• Kobrak
• Shrap
• Param Vishya
• Parajay
• Pagal Nagin
• Dev Kanya
• Kaal Surp
• Ranniti
• Yugal Shrishti

Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruv[edit]

• Nagraj Aur Super Commando Dhruv
• Nagraj Aur Bugaku
• Aatank
• Dushman Nagraj
• Rajnagar Ki Tabahi
• Pralay
• Vinash
• Tanashah
• Kaliyug
• Sangram
• Sanhaar
• Kohram
• Zalzala
• Vidhwans
• Parkale
• Dracula ka ant
• Kolahal
• Samraat
• Saudangi
• Sarvashaktimaan
• Chakra
• Madyusa
• Nagadheesh
• Vartmaan
• Flemina
• Gehri Chal
• Level Zero
• Nagayan series
• Avshesh
• Chunauti
• Hedron
• Samudri Lutere
• Belmunda Ka Khazana
• Negatives
• Last stand
• Sarvyugam
• Sarvdaman
• Sarvsangram
• Sarvsanhar
• Sarvmanthan
• Sarvsandhi
• Sarvkranti
• Sarvshakti
• Sarvagaman
• Sarvyuh

New media[edit]

Numerous attempts have been made by Raj Comics to expand Nagraj into other media. However most attempts have been unfruitful.In the late 1990s, Raj Comics tried adapting Nagraj into a live-action television show in India. A few episodes were shot. However, the show never made it to the television screen. The reason cited was the poor quality of the special effects. Raj Comics was not satisfied with the quality of the show. The production of more episodes was placed on indefinite hiatus.^{[citation needed]} The three episodes that were made are available on CDs, which were distributed freely as an attachment to digest-sized comic editions. (Khalnayak Nagraj, Samraat, and Saudangi)

Nagraj was also set to feature in a proposed animated television series. Once again the show never made it to the television screen. An episodic series was in works, and a teaser was uploaded on YouTube featuring Nagraj and his arch enemy Jadugar Shakoora. However, since then there has been no news about the series. It is assumed that production has stopped because the production company Rtoonz's website has since disappeared.

In November 2007, an agreement was signed between Motion Picture Corporation and Raj Comics to produce a high quality 2D Movie featuring Nagraj.

Published series[edit]

Nagayana[edit]

Raj Comics is publishing a landmark new series featuring Nagraj named Nagayana. It was first intended to be a four-part mini-series, but later, the series was extended to include more issues. Raj Comics has also decided to publish it worldwide. It's a story based on a hypothetical future world casting Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruva 25 years into the future. Largely based on Hindu epic Ramayana, the story narrowly follows the same storyline as of the epic, but with Raj Comics characters filling in the places of original characters. The reason for the extension of the mini-series was to tell various sub-plots and the series was finally declared to be an eight-part series. The last part is Iti Kaand, which is a 128-page issue released on 10 March 2009. The new series is as follows:

World Terrorism Series[edit]

A new series named 'Aatanqharta Nagraj' or 'Nagraj-World Terrorism Series' is being published parallel to the 'Nagayana' series. In this series, Nagraj is travelling around the world to fight and eliminate terrorism.^[7] World Terrorism Series' is being written by Mr. Nitin Mishra.

This series includes:

• Hari Maut
• Zahreela Barood
• Mamber
• Numero Uno
• Operation Surgery
• Mission Critical
• Teen Sikke
• Jung Maut Tak
• Under Arrest
• Ometra
• Aankh Micholi
• Paanchva Shikaar
• 26/11 series (with Doga)
• Ronin
• Kame Kazi
• Tomo-The katana
• Shikata Ga Nai
• I-SPY (with Tiranga )
• Order of Babel
• New World Order
• World War
• Veergati
• Kshatipurti
• Maut Ke Bajigar

Nagraj Ke Baad Series[edit]

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

Nagraj Parallel Series[edit]

These days Raj Comics have published three parallel series of Nagraj, where each Nagraj is involved in a different universe. There are the following three parallel Nagraj series:

Nagraj – The original ongoing series of Nagraj, which is being illustrated and written by Mr. Anupam Sinha.

Aatankharta Nagraj– This Nagraj appears in the World Terrorism series. In the series, Nagraj no longer resides in Mahanagar. but instead, is travelling in different parts of the world fighting terrorism. This series, until now, has not portrayed villains with supernatural powers, but are more like gangsters or dons of different countries/cities. It is illustrated by Mr. Hemant and written by Mr. Nitin Mishra.

Narak Nashak Nagraj – This Nagraj is a bit different from the original Nagraj in appearance. He wears a jacket and a trouser and has longer hair. He also possesses different powers (Sheetika, Takshika, and Agnika) than the original Nagraj. He also rides on a flying snake named Sarpat. Until now, the series has shown him fighting vampires, demons, zombies, etc. It is illustrated by Mr. Hemant and written by Mr. Nitin Mishra.

References[edit]

1. ^'Why Nagraj, Dhruva, Doga aren't finding space on big screen&? (view pics)'. India TV News.
2. ^'In pics: Top comic characters'. jagran.com. 25 November 2015.
3. ^'Golden childhood memories: Favourite comics of 90's'. jagran.com. 11 June 2015.
4. ^'Origin of Nagraj in Hindi'. eashportsbook.com. 19 November 2018.
5. ^Trinaa Prasad (7 May 2014). 'The Indian Superhero League: A Look at the Desi Avengers'. NDTV.com.
6. ^http://comicvine.gamespot.com/nagayana/4050-30920/
7. ^http://comicvine.gamespot.com/nagraj-world-terrorism/4050-26789/

External links[edit]

• Classic Nagraj : The Hero, Fans Desperately needs Back CulturePOPcorn