Menaka was a nastika of the Gandharva clan. She was the wife of Gandharva and mother of Shakuntala. She is deceased by the time the current story takes place.
Appearance
In her human form, Menaka appears as a woman with long, dark blue, untied hair and golden eyes. She wears a dress that has frills on the top-side.
She is always shown as either swimming in water or "standing" on water. Her sura part is apparently her "legs", which is either a long, eel-like tail, or tentacles.
Personality
During Season 1, not much is revealed about her, but she seems to like flowers and have a gentle personality. Others describe her as a clueless pacifist.
Notes
- Despite her pacifism, she managed to survive because of friends like Urvasi, who protected her.
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
History
Gandharva's family
Before Gandharva met her, he was cruel and even feared by other nastikas due to his behavior. However, Menaka seems to have been able to influence him with her pacifism and changed his temper for the better.
She was Shakuntala's mother, and has been shown to play with her on a field of flowers, when Shakuntala was still young. She playfully tells Shakun that her father is sulking because she only made a flower necklace for her mother. Shakuntala gives her flower necklace to her father and starts making one for him right away. Gandharva remembers his wife asking him to take care of their daughter.
She convinced Gandharva not to send help to the Ananta clan for the rescue of Ananta, over Urvasi's objections. Sagara expresses her regret that she did not kill Menaka earlier.[1]
Season 1
Chapter 11: The Power of the Name
(2) Sagara tells her army that before Gandharva got married, he was a king worthy of her respect. She then describes both Menaka and Shakuntala as "unrealistic wenches" who ruined Gandharva and his clan.
Season 2
Chapter 17: Reflection
(1) Menaka is mentioned in the pamphlet on Gandharva read by Teo Rakan. It states that she had been Gandharva's only wife, not including the propagation period at the beginning of the universe.
Chapter 21: Frozen Tears
(1) According to Sagara, Menaka's death was a result of Gandharva's indecision, much like the death of Teo now.
(10) Agni reveals to Gandharva that he has known a way to kill him for a long time now, but hasn't done so because of Menaka's pacifistic influence on him.
Season 3
Chapter 38: Devastation
(1) In a flashback, Menaka holds Gandharva's hand and insists that he can take his time to learn to change. She adds that it will be a difficult process, but in the end he will have time, a future, and a happiness that she will never have. He asks what she means by time, because they are nastikas who were given infinite time. Menaka looks back at him with a sad look on her face. In the present, Gandharva states that Menaka was deceived and that she should never have traded her time for his current pitiful reality.
(2) Agni describes Gandharva
as someone who still does not realize the gravity of slaughtering humans, and who still has not fully changed under Menaka's influence. He adds, however, that the nastika's attack on Kalibloom was not killing for fun, and he believes that change was due to Menaka. A brief image of Menaka suggests that Agni had personally spoken with her in the past.
(6) When Agni ceases his attacks because of Brilith's collapse, he tells Gandharva that he cannot fully trust him in spite of all the times he tried, but he will still delay killing him, and he should thank Menaka for his final chance. Now it is clear that Menaka had spoken with Agni in the past.
Chapter 42: Crossroads
(5) In an indeterminate time in the past,
when Agni finally learned of a way to kill Gandharva, he searched among most of the watery planets to find him. He encounters Menaka on one planet and initially expresses concern that she is vulnerable to hostile nastikas while in her human form, then asks if she knows where Gandharva is. She realizes immediately that he has finally found a way to kill him. When he declares that he must end the senseless killings and remove his sins from the universe, she confesses that those sins are hers to bear, and reminds him that Brahma once told him that someone else ha sworn to carry the burden of Gandharva's sins.
References
- ā Kubera, Season 2 Episode 55: Grudge (5)