Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)

History

Origin

Paras Gavaskar was raised as one of two sons of a wealthy family living in Panchajana outside of Mumbai, India.^[3] The Gavaskars were Jainites and raised Paras in the Jain Dharma tradition teaching him to avoid doing harm to any living being.^[4]

Academy X

After his mutant powers manifested, Paras enrolled as a student at the Xavier Institute and moved to the United States. Taking on the codename Indra, he was placed in the Alpha Squadron under the mentorship of Northstar.^[5][6]

Alpha Squadron suffered a great loss when Northstar had been killed by the Hand. Karma was assigned as the new adviser Alpha Squadron.^[5]

M-Day

Indra was one of the few students to remain his powers after M-Day.^[7] Despite his stance on non-violence, Indra participated in Emma Frost's sparing exercise to determine the roster for the New X-Men.^[8]

Indra was among the students captured by Belasco and held in Limbo.^[9] When X-23 orchestrated an escape attempt, Indra was beaten badly by S'ym as punishment.^[10]

When the students were returned to the Institute, Mercury became interested in determining who was the youngest mutant at the school. Unfortunately, Indra was identified with this dubious honor.^[11] Believing that being the youngest mutant met he was a target, most of the other students, with the exception of Rockslide, began to avoid Indra.^[12]

X-Men

Indra relocated to San Francisco when the X-Men reformed and relocated there.^[13][14] During Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R.'s attack on X-Men, Indra was assaulted by an H.A.M.M.E.R. agent and attacked him in self-defense.^[15] Because of his deeply held belief in nonviolence, this incident led to an internal crisis and the loss of his powers.^[4] On Utopia, Rogue began counseling Indra. While working through his conflict, Indra made a breakthrough and suddenly transformed creating psionic armor and weapons vastly different from his original form.^[16]

Indra was called home by his parents after his brother fell into a coma. Along with Rogue, Magneto, Loa, and Anole, Indra travelled to Mumbai. Unbeknownst to Indra, his father planned to have him married off in the place of his brother. Indra begrudgingly agreed to marry and leave the X-Men.^[3]

While in India, the Children of the Vault arrived pursuing their wayward member, Luz, who had recently been brought back to the Gavaskars' estate. When the Children of the Vault arrived, they kidnapped Rogue, Magneto and Vaipala, Paras' new fiancée.^[2] With the Children of the Vault crashing the Corridor into Mumbai, Indra, Loa and Anole with Luz were left to rescue everyone.^[17]

Following the battled, Indra decided that the path of non-violence was not the way to stop the evil in the world. Rejecting his families wishes, Indra decided to return to the U.S. and the X-Men.^[18]

Following the schism between Cyclops and Wolverine, Indra relocated with Wolverine and the other to the new Jean Grey School for Higher Learning in Westchester County, New York.^[19]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Indra is a mutant with powers including:

• Retractable Exoskeleton: Indra possesses a physically retractable exoskeleton.^[6][4] The mechanic behind his power is unknown, but he is able to summon his exoskeleton almost instantaneously and with little to no restriction in his mobility.^[12] His exoskeleton originally formerly took the form of a rhinoceros beetle-like armor.^[8][12][4]
  • Superhuman Durability: With his armor, Indra possesses increased durability. In his armored form, he is immune to conventional trauma and also has limited resistance to energy attacks.^[12]
• Psionic Armor and Weapons: Since he used his powers in violent self-defense and temporarily lost the use of his powers,^[15][4] Indra began to manifest psionic, ornate, Hindu-stylized armor and levitating weapons such as swords, knives, and axes.^[16][17]

Notes

• In the New X-Men Yearbook Special #1, Indra was voted Most Reliable. He also listed his going home to visit my family and science class, and his dislikes meat (because he's a vegetarian).^[6]
• Indra had a sister who also reportedly attended the Xavier Institute, but she never was introduced and was likely depowered and possibly killed.^{[citation needed]}
  

Trivia

• The codename Indra is derived from the Hindu god of war and weather, the armorer of heaven.^[16]
  • Rogue theorized that Paras chose "Indra" as his codename because he was labeling a part of himself or the potential inside of himself.^[16]
• Indra is a vegetarian.^[6]

• After the M-Day, Indra was found to be the youngest living mutant (except for Franklin Richards, Tito Bohusk, Molly Hayes, and the Stepford Cuckoos).^[12]
• Indra and his family are Jains.^[4][16]

Links and References

• 58 Appearances of Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)
• 2 Minor Appearances of Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)
• Media Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616) was Mentioned in
• 61 Images featuring Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)
• 1 Quotations by or about Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Paras Gavaskar (Earth-616)

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Footnotes