Shaktiman

:"In Hinduism: Shaktiman (literally possessor of Shakti, the female aspect of God) is a term used for the male aspect of God."

Shaktiman, or Shaktimaan, is a fictional character, an Indian television superhero created by Mukesh Khanna and shown on Doordarshan, India's national television network, beginning September 13, 1997. Now it is shown on Pogo. Khanna plays the role of "Shaktiman" and his alter-ego "Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnathnath Shastri", a photographer for the "Aaj Ki Awaaz" newspaper. Like Superman, Shaktimaan is superhumanly strong, has the ability to fly, and is invulnerable to injury.

In the wake of the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, Khanna toured the affected areas in character as Shaktiman, boosting morale and distributing relief supplies.

Origin of Shaktimaan

He received his powers from seven gurus who trained and blessed him with "yogic shakti".He was the chosen warrior against evil by the siddha gurus of a cult named "Suryanshi". They are the followers of "Sun".As a part of his training he was trained with Kundalini Yoga to awaken the 7 chakras of body and gain super power from them. But it was not easy. To gain complete control over his powers he had to perform a ritual of death. He was to perform a Yajna in which he entered the fire himself and dissolved his body in the fire. Then the Five Elements of life i.e. Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Sky revived his body giving special powers from them. Thus after leaving his mortal body he was given a super human form to fight against the evil in the world.He is a defender of truth and justice as well as a role model for his television audience, even going so far as to lecture viewers on hygiene, patriotism, and education.

When the serial was first aired on Doordarshan, there was a lot of controversy created as children set themselves on fire or jumped off buildings, hoping that Shaktimaan would save them (as in the serial) and this caused an uproar in India. In an effort to promote responsible behavior among children and to spread useful messages among them, Khanna spent a substantial part of his allocated airtime in explaining to children that the stunts shown on television are not real and should not be emulated. Shaktimaan was one of the most popular and longest running television series for children on Doordarshan. Now, it is being repeated on Pogo TV.

Later a series of comic books appeared featuring Shaktimaan and published in many Indian languages as well as English

After Shaktimaan was created he set out to destroy his archenemy Kilvish (the devil itself). But, as the guru Mahaguru explains, Kilvish can only be defeated after evil is destroyed. Shaktiman's adventures show him pursuing justice and saving his friends while Kilvish and his minions plot to defeat him.

Powers of Shaktiman

Shaktimaan has unlimited powers which lies in his seven chakras of Kundalini attained through meditation. Shaktimaan worships God through the symbol OM.God and Shaktimaan's seven gurus have blessed him with powers, even to rearrange the galaxies and merge the whole universe into one Galaxy.His powers have no limits. He can even separate his body into five different bodies of fire, wind, water, earth and sky. He can convert his body into light and flies with the speed of light. He can shoot laser beams with his fingers and can stretch his hand and legs like Mr. Fantastic.

However he has only one weakness, the crystal which is possessed by Tamraj Kilvish. That crystal makes him powerless because it is filled with the evil of the world and the source of black powers. However, the effects are temporary and always good wins over the bad.

Shaktimaan’s archenemy

Shaktimaan’s archenemy is Tamraj Kilvish. He has lived 6000 years. He is the source of evil in the whole world and intends to rule the world by spreading hatred, sins and evil. He receives his power from a Crystal which he stole from Shri Satya (Satya means truth), the founder of Suryanshi. It was later revealed that only Shri Satya can kill Tamraj Kilvish. After a great death defying adventure (which nearly had killed Shaktimaan) Shaktimaan was told that he is the rebirth of Shri Satya. Shri Satya had given exact time of the child birth and place before he died about 5000 years ago.Tamraj also knows this and this is the main reason he is frightened to death by the appearance of Shaktimaan because he knows that only Shaktimaan can kill him.In a very hard attempt to remain alive, he leaves his mortal body and takes an ethereal body which can't be killed. Shaktimaan is told that now he has to kill all the evil in the world to destroy Tamraj’s ethereal body.

Main Cast

* Mukesh Khanna as Shaktimaan/Pandit Gangadhar Shastri
* Vaishnavi as Geeta Vishwas
* Surendra Pal as Kilvish
* Tom Alter as Mahaguru

External links

*
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/shakti.htm Shaktimaan] at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
* [http://movies.bizhat.com/tv/shaktiman.php Shaktiman profile] at BizHat.com
* [http://www.indiantelevision.com/interviews/mukesh1.htm Interview with Mukesh Khanna] at Indiantelevision.com