Fantastic Beasts: Amish Tripathi Explains Indian Origin of Nagini to JK Rowling

Warner Bros. recently released the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the latest film set in the universe before Harry Potter. And, Potterheads were blown away when they learnt that Voldemort's beloved pet Nagini was originally a human being. Played by Korean actor Claudia Kim, the character has received much attention around the world.

While most of the fans were still struggling to cope with this twist, an angry Twitter user lashed out at Harry Potter author JK Rowling, saying, "listen Joanne, we get it, you didn't include enough representation when you wrote the books. But suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage. Representation as an afterthought for more woke points is not good representation."

But Rowling, who's known for her complicated metaphors and double references, had an explanation for the critic. She wrote, "The Naga are snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology, hence the name ‘Nagini.’ They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake. Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi. Have a lovely day."

Soon, the snake reference came to the attention of Amish Tripathi, author of The Secret of the Nagas (part of his Shiva trilogy), and he decided to correct Rowling about the origins of Naga mythology. He tweeted, "Actually @jk_rowling the Naga mythology emerged from India. It travelled to Indonesia with the Indic/Hindu empires that emerged there in the early Common Era, with the influence of Indian traders and Rishis/Rishikas who travelled there. Nagin is a Sanskrit language word."

In another tweet, he also defended the Indonesian version of the author saying, "I'm not offended, @lalisa_you. I was just clarifying something to @jk_rowling. That's all. And Indonesia is a cousin culture of India's. We have learnt many things from them too. Both our countries tend to like each other. My limited point: Naga traditions have origins in India."

For the uninitiated, Nagini, whom we saw multiple times in the Harry Potter series, is a ‘maledictus’, which means that she is a carrier of a blood curse, which will ultimately cause her to transform permanently into a beast. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, will reportedly have a backstory of the character, tracing her connection to Voldemort.

The film is slated to release on November 18.