Nagraj is a comic book superhero character appearing in Indian comic books published by Raj Comics created in the late 1980s by Rajkumar Gupta. Nagraj first appeared in the comics Nagraj GENL #14 which was written by Parshuram Sharma and illustrated by Pratap Mullick. Later Sanjay Ashtpure, Pratap Mullick, Chandu, Milind Misal and Vitthal Kamble alternately illustrated the character for 44 issues, ending in 1995 with Visarpi Ki Shadi. While the Nagraj character itself was created/conceived by the Raj Comics team, primarily Rajkumar Gupta and his sons, Parshuram Sharma was the main writer of the first Nagraj comic book. The debut issue, Nagraj (GENL #14, released in 1986), which converted the original concept into a powerful, word-for-word narrative and introduced the character to the world, was written by legendary writer Parshuram Sharma. His classic Nagraj story has achieved immortal status for Indian readers as a legacy.
Nagraj is believed to have been inspired by the mythological Ichchhadhari Nag (shapeshifting snakes) and historical Vishmanushya (venomous human).
Parshuram Sharma's concept and debut story for Nagraj comic book was written with such depth that it clearly reflected his intellectual, mystical, mythological and spiritual thought, showcasing his masterful writing. The quality of his character creation remains unmatched by other writers in the field. His writing for the character's initial impact and resonance are considered unparalleled in Indian comics. After some years (around 1995-1996) when Nagraj already became a successful and well established character, Anupam Sinha, a writer of another Raj Comics successful character "Super Commando Dhruv" started writing and illustrating Nagraj stories.
In the middle of the nineties, as Anupam Sinha (who was already running the mega-successful Dhruv series) took over the helms of Nagraj as well. Anupam Sinha's expansive narration could not completely fit in a single comic, so he used multi-comic stories to layer and enrich his tales. The Khajana arc by Anupam Sinha set up the backstory beautifully, and discredited Nagmani many years after the comics began. He also led to increase in frequency of Two-in-One comics, which combined Nagraj and Dhruv and started happening once in a year. Nagraj has changed a lot in his 40 years in print, both in terms of looks as well as powers and abilities. With time many new artists such as Lalit Sharma and Hemant Kumar have done illustration of Nagraj.
Fictional character biography
In ancient times, there existed a kingdom known as Takshaknagar, ruled by King Takshakraj and Queen Lalita who had no children. The absence of a prince or princess made Nagpasha, the younger brother of the King Takshakraj the only potential heir to the throne.
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. 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. Meanwhile, the snake deity Deva Kaljayi appeared in the dreams of King Maniraj and his wife Queen Manika, rulers of ageless Ichchhadhaari nags, 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. Many years passed and the treatment started showing results and, although still in the suspended animation, the colour of the baby had gradually changed to green.
Later Vishandhar, an evil Tantrik placed him back into the same bushes in the river where he was found. A priest of the nearby temple located him and gave him to Professor Nagmani, who was wandering in the nearby forest searching for snakes. The child had extraordinary healing powers and was extremely venomous. He raised the baby, who became Nagraj.
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 toured the world and defeated many villains and terrorists such as Bulldog, Gangster William, Seaman, General Tamta, Shankar Shahnshah.
Nagraj lives as Raj (After Nagraj Ke Baad, he is under the disguise of Nagraj Shah) in a fictional Metropolitan City Mahanagar as an employee of a TV channel that he owns secretly.
Nagraj Parallel Series
These days Raj Comics have published four parallel series of Nagraj, where each Nagraj is involved in a different universe. There are the following four parallel Nagraj series:
Nagraj – This is the early Nagraj, this Nagraj introduced in first comic of nagraj, Nagraj has continued in Nag Pralay comic after Visarpi ki Shadi. Vishwarakshak Nagraj – The ongoing series of Nagraj, which is being illustrated and written by Anupam Sinha. This version of Nagraj is now called as Vishwarakshak Nagraj. Aatankharta Nagraj – This Nagraj appears in the World Terrorism series. This version of Nagraj was introduced with the comics 'Hari Maut' SPCL #2281 which was released on 5 September 2007. This is another timeline of Nagraj which separated from Vishwarakshak Nagraj after the comics 'Visarpi Ki Shadi' SPCL #42. In this timeline, Nagraj does not move to Mahanagar but continues on the mission to eliminate world 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 Nitin Mishra. Narak Nashak Nagraj – This Nagraj is a bit different from the original Nagraj in appearance. He was introduced in the comics 'Hallabol' SPCL #2396. 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 was illustrated by Hemant and written by Nitin Mishra.
Powers and abilities 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.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 among the mightiest snakes.
Microscopic snakes: 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. Some of the notable snakes possessed by Nagraj are Jagmag sarp, Naav-sarp, Nagfani sarp, Ichchhadhaari-naags, Dhwansak sarp, Tishk sarp Ichchhadhaari nags. It is quite notable that some of them possess such great powers which rival Nagraj's own, but they all hold great respect for Nagraj. While some of them live 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: 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. Sheetnag kumar: He belongs to a clan of ichchhadhari nags living on the Himayalas. 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 drowsy 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. Venom: Nagraj's venom is the most powerful venom of the world, so much so that direct contact with it results in instant death and melting of body. He gained his venom through the blessings of snake deity Deva Kaaljayi, who himself was blessed by Lord Shiva. It is explained that Lord Shiva who holds the strongest venom of the universe synthesised during Samudra-Manthan, gave a minor portion of it to Deva Kaljayi who holds a dilute form of it and Nagraj holds an even more dilute form of it. The different ways in which Nagraj uses his venom also results in various powers he is said to possess. Like Vish-funkar, Nagraj uses his breath to force out his venom in vapour form, depending upon its concentration the vish-funkar can cause a variety of damages to his enemies. Its effects include temporary blindness, drowsiness, black outs, deaths and for once it even caused fire. Ichchhadhaari Shakti: 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. 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 using his eyes. Breaking this hypnotic fate is extremely difficult and going against it is impossible. Nagraj and 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 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 time fusing 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 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. Nagraj displayed this power for the first time fusing with Lava to become Agni-Nagraj (Fire-Nagraj). The newborn identity could release 'burning snakes' and could breathe 'venomous fire'. Psychic powers: In addition to his ability to communicate with snakes, Nagraj contacted Super Commando Dhruva telepathically when he was trapped in a parallel dimension containing evil souls.
Known relatives and close friends