Aru Shah and the End of Time

“Her mother had said that the Hindu gods were numerous, but they didn’t stay as one person all the time. Sometimes they were reincarnated—their soul was reborn in someone else.”

Krithika had once described the concept of reincarnation in Hindu philosophy and mythology to Aru, as an explanation for why there are numerous gods. The idea of reincarnation is a central one in the book, as Aru and Mini are both reincarnations of the Pandavas. The fact of their reincarnation is vital to the plot and marks them out for the adventure that follows.

“‘Blood isn’t the only thing that makes you related to someone,’ said Boo. ‘You have a sibling because you share divinity.’”

Boo explains that Aru and Mini share a bond beyond blood. This is in keeping with the Hindu concept of reincarnation, in which it is possible to have shared relationships with different souls across multiple births. In Aru and Mini’s case, they were once siblings, but have now been born into completely different, unrelated families; nevertheless, the bond they once shared keeps them connected across the ages.

“It all boiled down to one thing: she wasn’t supposed to light the lamp, and yet she had. The fact that it had been ‘destined’ to happen didn’t really absolve her of blame.”

Aru ponders her actions and feels guilty about having lit the lamp. Despite this having been destined to happen, she still feels responsible for releasing the Sleeper; this brings up the question of free will versus destiny, as explored in the theme The Interconnected Roles of Karma and Fate. Aru does not see fate as something absolving one of individual responsibility; this plays out later in her reaction to the Sleeper, whom she sees as evil because of his actions, despite the prophecy and the fact of him being her biological father.

“‘Because…because we’re Pandavas,’ Aru said, forcing her voice not to shake. ‘And it’s your job or—’ ‘Dharma,’ whispered Boo. ‘It’s their sacred duty to help the Pandavas fight the Sleeper one last time.’”

Boo suggests that it is the Council of Guardians’ “dharma” to help the Pandavas. The concept of dharma is explained in Hindu philosophy as sacred or righteous duty, and hence is connected to the name of the god of justice, Dharma Raja. It forms the core subject matter of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu religious text which is part of the Mahabharata. It is a discourse between Arjuna and his close friend Krishna, in which the latter urges him to fight the war against the Kauravas, as that is his dharma or duty. Boo invoking the idea here is a callback to this instance, reminding the Council that the Pandavas are responsible for fighting the Sleeper, and the Council is equally responsible for aiding the Pandavas.

“‘They said I would never remember how strong and powerful I am until someone reminded me,’ said Hanuman. ‘Sometimes I wonder if it is a curse that we are all under at some point or another.’”

Hanuman’s story about a curse he received as a child echoes the self-doubt that both Aru and Mini face along their journey. They emerge victorious over different obstacles in their quest, and each of these serves as a reminder that they have hidden strengths and capabilities and are truly worthy of being heroes.

“In the small mirror, Aru saw an alternate version of the room they were standing in. […] ‘The compact sees through enchantments,’ said Mini, in awe.”

The compact is an important symbol because girls discover it can see through enchantments. As Dharma Raja is the god of justice and death, the mirror’s capability is significant: justice is non-discriminating, and death is the ultimate equalizer, hence an object that signifies that these can cut through all illusion.

“‘Wasn’t Valmiki a murderer?’ ‘Well, he started out as one,’ said Mini. ‘Even if you murder only once, you’re still a murderer….’ […] ‘People can change,’ added Boo. His eyes looked very knowing in that moment, as if he’d read her mind. It didn’t escape Aru that Boo sounded a little defensive.”

Boo’s defensiveness stems from his own past as someone who worked against the Pandavas for selfish and vengeful reasons. Now, however, he swears his loyalty to them and is looking to guide them against evil. This change of heart points to the theme of The Interconnected Roles of Karma and Fate.

“Aru didn’t meet her eyes. She could have told the truth about a lot of things. That she wasn’t popular. That she did know how it felt to be on the outside. That her best talent wasn’t defeating monsters…it was pretending.”

Aru empathizes with Mini’s feeling of not belonging but doesn’t acknowledge it out loud. Aru and Mini are both girls who, although on an epic, magical quest, also face the same conflicts and confusions of regular preteens. Self-doubt and self-discovery, thus, become important parts of their journey. While Aru disparagingly thinks of pretending as her best talent, she later comes to see that her imagination is truly a strength.

“Many things can coexist. Several gods can live in one universe. It’s like fingers on a hand. They’re all different, but still part of a hand.”

Boo explains that the Otherworld contains gods and being from multiple cultures and religions, as many things can coexist at once. This is an important idea in the book, also explored in the theme of The Multiplicity of Perspectives in Truth and Morality. The idea that multiple truths can co-exist at once is applied to narratives, characters, and even religious and philosophical concepts and entities.

“Aru recognized this type of Otherworld person from the paintings in the museum. He was a raksha. Aru almost panicked. But not all demons were bad. It was one of the things she liked best when her mother told her the stories: villains could be heroic, and heroes could do evil. Makes you wonder who the villains really are, her mother used to say. Everyone has a bit of good and bad in them.”

Aru remembers how both Hindu mythology and her mother, assert that the world is not black and white. Once again, this calls to the theme of The Multiplicity of Perspectives in Truth and Morality: Because multiple ideas can co-exist, it is impossible to paint a single character or situation as unequivocally good or bad. Krithika’s assertion also stems from her own history with Suyodhana before he became the Sleeper and her attempts to thwart the prophecy.

“Was she a heroine if all she did was fix a mistake she made? Or was it heroic because she was willing to fix it in the first place?”

This passage highlights the dilemma of the theme of The Interconnected Roles of Karma and Fate: in some sense, Aru was destined to make the “mistake” of lighting the lamp and, thus, is also fated to fix it. However, her willingness to do so contains some degree of free will. This choice, which she sees as born out of free will, counts as good karma and can even reverse or balance the effects of her past mistake.

“A tiny bit of the poison had found shelter from the fire in a new place: the statue of Shiva who had once crouched openmouthed behind it. Now his throat glowed bright blue.”

When Aru and Mini cause the cauldron of halahala poison to explode, most of it evaporates, but some finds its way into the statue of Shiva placed over the cauldron. This image of Shiva, with his throat turned blue from the poison, is a nod to the actual story surrounding the poison, where Shiva swallows the poison released during the Churning of the Ocean, and it turns his throat blue.

“[I]n Hinduism, death wasn’t a place where you were stuck forever. It was where you waited to be reincarnated. Your soul could live hundreds—maybe even thousands—of lives before you got out of the loop of life and death by achieving enlightenment.”

While Aru is initially scared to enter the Kingdom of Death, she remembers the Hindu belief surrounding death and reincarnation, where death is not an end but a place to pass through before entering a new life. This idea of death, as something not to be feared, pervades the book, as well as Hindu mythology. Dharma Raja, the god of death, is also the god of justice; his son is a wise, gentle, and well-loved king, Yudhishtira. Similarly, the Kingdom of Death is not a scary place; the girls meet benign entities and even allies there, in the form of Chitrigupta and the Palace of Illusions.

“Who cares if they’re celebrities? Death is the greatest leveler of them all! They are not the first. Nor the last. We’ve carried the souls of queens and murderers and infernal Yogalates instructors between our teeth […]. Even the Pandava brothers had to die. Even gods reincarnated in mortal bodies have to die.”

Ek and Do, the dogs guarding the door to the Kingdom of Death, are unimpressed by the fact that the girls are children of gods. In keeping with Aru’s recollection of Hindu mythology describing reincarnations of the gods themselves, the dogs reiterate that not even the gods can evade death in mortal form. It also highlights the non-discriminating nature of death, further explaining why justice and death are linked in Hindu mythology and philosophy.

“What made Arjuna great wasn’t his strength or his valor, but the way he chose to see the world around him. He looked around, questioned, and doubted. You, too, are perceptive, Aru Shah. What you do with those perceptions is up to you.”

Chitrigupta tells Aru that Arjuna’s greatness comes from the strength of his mind, rather than his valor or physical prowess. His assertion that she can choose what to do with her perceptions reinforces the idea that Aru’s strength is her imagination, and she can indeed choose to do either good or ill with it.

“She found a place deep within her that had been hidden until now. It was a place of silence that seemed deafening. It was a feeling of narrowness turned vast, as if she could hide small worlds within her. This was what escape was: discovering a part of herself that no one else could find.”

When surrounded by the terrifying distractions created by the Palace of Illusions, Aru realizes that focus and concentration can free her. This realization aids her in accessing a part of herself she didn’t know existed. Representing yet another trial in Aru’s Initiation, the event teaches her something invaluable about herself. This further points to the theme of Self-Discovery on a Hero’s Journey.

“It is better, perhaps, to be thought of as a fiction than to be discarded from memory completely.”

The Palace asks the girls to remember it fondly, asserting that it is better to be remembered in some way at all, rather than forgotten entirely. The Palace also asserts earlier that memory is the greatest illusion of all. Thus, it is fitting for the Palace of Illusions to be remembered as fiction: Memory and illusion merge perfectly to recreate the Palace as a myth.

“[T]rue things were supposed to feel…clean. Unquestionably good. But she didn’t feel good. Shukra had given up his life-form, and a curse had followed Aru over the bridge. She was allegedly a hero. Was this how heroes felt, knotted up with doubt?”

Aru doubts her actions after she steals Shukra’s memories, and he curses her before he disappears. This passage points to how the truth does not always feel unquestionably good, highlighting the theme of The Multiplicity of Perspectives in Truth and Morality. It also reasserts that heroes and villains are not completely good or bad; it is possible for heroes to make mistakes or regrettable choices, just as it is possible for those seen as villains to have compelling reasons for their actions.

“Their trying to save one another had activated the weapons. Maybe what they’d done had proven to the weapons that they were worthy of wielding them in the first place.”

When Aru and Mini try and save each other inside the timingala, the golden orb and purple compact reveal themselves to be celestial weapons. Both of these objects are important symbols in the story, and their revelation is a turning point in both the plot and the girls’ journey of self-discovery.

“Thousands upon thousands of windows looked out onto worlds that Aru had never considered real. […] It made sense that every place should have a connection to death. Death had some claim everywhere.”

As Mini and Aru pass further into the Kingdom of Death, they encounter a hall with windows that look out onto multiple worlds. This reiterates the idea that multiple realities can coexist, as Boo had explained to the girls earlier, and points to the theme of The Multiplicity of Perspectives in Truth and Morality. It also portrays death as an equalizer, applicable to everyone irrespective of history, culture, or background.

“You made me into what I am now, […]. You and your mother. All I wanted to do was end the tyranny of destiny. Can you understand that? […] Do you realize how cruel it is to tell someone that their future is fixed? That they can do nothing but play out their life like a puppet?”

The Sleeper expresses his rage and frustration at being bound by the prophecy, which explains his intense desire to overturn fate. He also claims that Krithika and Aru have played a part in making him into a monster. This is ironic because Krithika’s decision to contain the Sleeper in the lamp was done out of love, and a desire to thwart the prophecy herself. This brings into question how powerful fate is, and whether one can truly defy it.

“Hero. That one word made Aru lift her chin. It made her think of Mini and Boo, her mom, and all the incredible things she herself had done in just nine days. Breaking the lamp hadn’t been heroic…but everything else? Fighting for the people she cared about and doing everything it took to fix her mistake? That was heroism.”

After a long journey, literally and emotionally, Aru is finally convinced that heroism lies in the choices and intentions behind one’s actions. She realizes that fighting to fix her mistakes and remaining loyal to those she cares about deem her worthy of being a hero despite what fate or the Sleeper decide for her. In this decision, Aru shows that she places greater importance on choice or free will over what fate apparently has in store for her.

“On the Bridge of Forgetting, Shukra had told her that when it mattered most, she would forget. But had that really been the fulfillment of the curse? Aru couldn’t remember—or perhaps she didn’t want to remember—what she had felt the moment the Sleeper disappeared.”

Aru remembers Shukra’s curse but is unsure whether her indecision stems from the fulfillment of the curse or genuine doubt that the Sleeper has stirred in her. This confusion indicates that there is a part of Aru that empathizes with the Sleeper and his reasons. The curse itself is also reminiscent of the one cast upon Karna, the secret Pandava brother, in the original epic.