Yakshini is a supernatural fantasy drama on Hotstar Originals that revolves around various intriguing characters. The story centers on Maya, a beautiful and powerful Yakshini, also known as a celestial maiden, who lived in Alkapuri. Maya was banished for falling in love with a human named Mahakal. But this isn’t just a simple love story; it’s filled with drama and deceit, which ultimately led to her banishment from Alkapuri. Determined to return to Alkapuri, Maya is on a mission to kill one hundred virgin men. However, along the way, Maya falls in love with another human named Krishna. Naturally, this journey is filled with challenges, including Jwala, another Yakshini who, instead of helping Maya, becomes her enemy. What is Jwala’s agenda, and will Maya succeed in her mission? We will explore all these questions by getting to know the cast and characters of the series Yakshini.
Spoilers Ahead
Maya
Maya, played by Vedhika, is the main character of our series. This is probably Vedhika’s debut in a series, and, not to lie, her acting was better than the rest. So, who is Maya? She’s the most powerful celestial maiden who lives in the Yakshini homeland called Alkapuri. According to mythology, Alkapuri is the kingdom ruled by Kuber, where all the Yakshinis live. They are enemies of the Nagas. Why? Because Kuber, Ravana’s evil elder brother, took over Ravana’s kingdom, Lanka, after his death, becoming the superior power holder over all the demons and Nagas. Naturally, the Nagas were not happy about this and always dreamed of tormenting the Yakshinis and taking over Alkapuri. But that wasn’t easy because Maya, one of Kuber’s favorite Yakshinis, protected Alkapuri with her magical skills and power. She had never shown her weaknesses to anyone until an illusionist named Mahakal played with her mind using his spells and charms, making her mistakenly fall in love with him. For the Alkapuri dwellers, to fall in love with a mere human was a disgrace. Even though Maya was Kuber’s favorite, he had no choice but to banish her to set an example. She was told she had to kill one hundred virgin men by seducing them, sleeping with them, and then killing them to earn her way back to Alkapuri.
Maya had a lot of pride in being a powerful Yakshini. So to live on Earth and become human was a shame to her. She realized finding these virgin men wasn’t easy, but she went on a killing spree and managed to kill ninety-nine of them. But the hundredth man, Krishna, was different. She fell in love with his innocence and selflessness. At first, her motive was to kill him and return to Alkapuri. But as Krishna helped her fight back against Jwala, another Yakshini, and the infamous Mahakal, she fell for him hard. She even proposed to Krishna and married him out of desperation before time ran out and before Mahakal could get to her. But ultimately, she thought marrying him was the best decision. The girl who never cared about anyone’s feelings started doing all the household chores to impress Krishna’s family because she learned the act of selflessness. In the end, Mahakal is killed, but the series doesn’t show if Maya killed Krishna or not. As she’s made the same mistake of as Maya fell in love with a human again, I don’t think Maya would kill Krishna this time. By pretending to be human, maybe she had become somewhat human herself, and maybe they would be together in the end.
Mahakal
Mahakal, played by Ajay, is the villain of our story. As his name suggests, he was a worshiper of Lord Shiva. After his spiritual leader’s death, being the perfect disciple, he carried on his leader’s mission and became the king of the Naaga world. What was his mission? To take over the Yakshini world, Alkapuri, and fight against Kuber to retaliate for the torment Kuber had inflicted on the Nagas through his evilness and rivalry. So, Mahakal’s motive was revenge. He was the reason Maya was banished from Alkapuri. He knew that if he could overpower Maya, then demolishing Alkapuri would be easy. But he realized that Maya was not so naive after all. As she had managed to kill ninety-nine men and was only one man away from returning to Alkapuri, Mahakal knew he couldn’t let that happen. He became desperate and started searching for the magical white lotus through which he could trace Maya by infusing it into one of his paintings. To the outside world, he pretended to be a painter. His plan was that once Maya came close to the painting, it would change color, which would ultimately reveal her whereabouts. Mahakal’s revenge motive was so strong that he even took another Yakshini, Jwala’s help, to finish off Maya. But greedy people must face their downfall, and that’s exactly what happened to him. Even though he managed to get hold of Maya and perform his ritual to enter the gateway to Alkapuri, Jwala’s sacrifice closed the gateway, and he lost his life in the end.
Krishna
Krishna, played by Rahul Vijay, is the hero of our story who falls in love with Maya. Krishna is a thirty-year-old virgin who’s never looked at any girl differently. Krishna believed that he would find the true love of his life eventually. He thought that only after marrying his true love would he lose his virginity. However, he was fooled by a girl his family chose for him. Sadly, she had another relationship and planned to run away after marrying Krishna. When Krishna found out about this, he lost all hope of finding love and, in despair, attempted suicide. But when Maya found his suicide note, she made him believe in love at first sight. Although Krishna was initially skeptical, Maya’s charm deeply attracted him. Even after he knew Maya was a Yakshini, he never stopped loving her. When Mahakal took her away, Krishna risked his life to go after her because he couldn’t let her be killed. In the end, when Maya was found alive, Krishna wanted her to take his life because he knew that would allow Maya to return to Alkapuri. He was truly brave and madly in love, so much so that he was ready to sacrifice himself for her.
Jwalamukhi
Jwalamukhi, played by Lakshmi Manchu, was another Yakshini who was banished from Alkapuri by a curse. Even though Jwalamukhi is a side character, she plays an important role in the story. When Jwalamukhi learned that Maya was about to kill her hundredth virgin man and would be able to return to the Yakshini world, she couldn’t let that happen. So, she teamed up with Mahakal and told him about Maya’s whereabouts. Jwala even killed Krishna’s father to make sure that Maya couldn’t kill Krishna after their marriage for eleven days because, as per the ritual, they couldn’t sleep together. However, Jwala eventually realized that her selfishness was putting Alkapuri and the entire Yakshini world in danger. In the end, she sacrifices herself in front of the doorway to Alkapuri, which prevents Mahakal’s ritual from being successful. Because of her sacrifice, Maya was saved, and Mahakal was killed in the process.
