Jara

Origin 

A power and sensual Rakshasi, Jara as it pertains to Hindu and Buddhist mythology, is considered to be the female form of a Raksasa. Both types of supernatuarl being, known for disturbing and unfriendly attitudes and actions towards humans. Supernatural illusionists often also thought of as demonic, filled with mystery, when a young boy Vimal Dhatri desperately stumbles about a jungle, he awakens a previously slumbering Jara. She tastes his fear and innocence, but is also intrigued by him. She moves with super human speed, and has an undeniable and unnatural appearance and presence. Hesitating to kill her prey, Vimal, the shouting and noises of westerners looking for Vimal, cause her to cloak her presence.   
 
Having never seen as pale creatures as the westerners, Jara silently observes them beat Vimal for his lack of obedience and discipline after refusing to wear a female frock. Intrigued she follows and stalks Vimal, and takes an interest in him, offering him a way to fight back. Despite his weariness and fear of her, Jara’s powerful and seductive nature coupled with the prejudice and adversity he faces leads Vimal to take her offer of revenge against those that so cruelly beat and abuse him.  She is a powerful ally to have, and Vimal uses her to deadly effect, even if not directly intended to that extent. A bond of sorts between the two is created. Jara even decides to travel from india to England so she can stay close to Vimal, her “Golden Boy” and despite his belief that he should no longer need her services, Vimal often ends up realizing he does actually. 
 

Jara is clearly supernatural, her skin an unnaturally dark purple tone, fanged teeth, behind deep blood stained red lips, glowing eyes, she also appears to have an uncanny ability to meld and morph into her surroundings, her body having an unnaturally soft quality to it, her outline hard to distinguish. No doubt due to her being a Rakshasi, it is therefore likely that she is a shapeshifter. She moves with grace and speed, often leaving a blurring effect. She can appear suddenly and her agility allows her effortless movement. She also has intimate knowledge of magicks, and mystical rituals, and can pass these on to others. The effects of this knowledge and skill can be used to deadly effect. It is suggested that she is very old, and has been asleep for a very long time. The world she wakes up, is very different to the world she knew, it even smells different. She is also described as alluring and seductive.   

Creation

Jara appears in Untouchable a Dynamite Entertainment comic book, written by Mike Carey with art by Ashok Bhadana. She is based on Rakshasi of Hindu mythology. Rakshasi the female form of Rakshasa. Her writer explaining aspects of the character “Yes. She is a rakshasa. She is a figure from Indian mythology. I guess the other strand to our story is that it’s set in the Age of Reason. It’s coming up to the Modern Era. Faith, superstition, mysticism are on the decline. Rationalism rules the day. This character wakes up after a period of many decades of sleep and finds that the world has changed and it’s very, very inhospitable to her kind. The demon is very, very believable – sexy and sinister and terrifying. I think it’s a style that goes very well with the edgy, unsettling subject matter”.

Powers and Abilities

Jara is a Rakshasi, a powerful, and deadly female demon. Jara is superhumanly strong, superhumanly fast, agile, durable with the ability to shape shift, blend in with surroundings and shadow, and with additional heightened senses and powerful mystical abilities. She is extremely long lived and ghostly in nature. Jara has supernaturally powerful senses. She appeared to have powerful skills and knowledge with arcane potions and herbs. She possesses speed that enables her to move faster than the human eye can follow. Jara can run up the sides of buildings and trees with casual ease.