Aru Shah

Modern Aru Shah

Arundhati “Aru” Shah is a 14-year-old Hindu demigod, the soul daughter of the chief god Indra and the daughter of archaeologist Krithika P. Shah and Suyodhana (the Sleeper) Shah. Her name, Arundhati, means “morning” in Hindi. Unfortunately, she was never taught any Hindi or Gujarati, all of which her mother speaks. Aru is born on February the 15th. She is the main Pandava of this age, and the reincarnation of Arjuna.

Early Life

As a 12-year-old living in Atlanta, Georgia, Aru has been known for lying at Augustus Day School. So one day, her classmates, Poppy Lopez, Burton Prater, and Arielle Reddy show up on the doorstep of the Museum of Ancient Arts and Culture to make her pay for the lies. Instead, she makes another “lie” that the Lamp of Bharata is cursed. To prove her point, Aru uses Poppy’s brother’s match to light it. Time freezes, and the Pandavas have nine days to stop Lord Shiva from doing the dance to end all Time.

When she lighted it, a once-demon-turned-pigeon named Shakuni, nicknamed Boo, asked who had lighted it. He suspected that Pandavas were arising to save the world again – and Aru was one of them.

Discovering Her Identity- Aru Shah and the End of Time, Pandava Quintet #1

When Boo told her she was a Pandava, he also said that Aru would go on a quest with her soul sister, namely Yamini “Mini” Mercado-Kapoor-Lopez. Mini is a 4-ft tall Pandava, with short black hair and purple glasses. Boo took them to the Court of the Sky, where Urvashi and Hanuman (the monkey demigod) were on their thrones. When she saw the two scrawny “warriors”, Urvashi wasn’t impressed at all. She ordered them to suffer the Claiming, an ancient ritual that hadn’t happened for years. Aru was claimed by Lord Indra, and Mini was claimed as the Dharma Raja (god of death and justice)’s soul daughter, which meant Aru was the reincarnation of Arjuna and Mini was the reincarnation of Yudhistira. On their palm, a Sanskrit number that stood for the number of days left until Time stops forever was accompanied by a mehndi map. The map will take them to a location close to the key that they have to find to get to the Kingdom of Death without dying.

The Quest Begins

The keys (the Sprig of Youth, Bite of Adulthood, Sip of Old Age) are well hidden, and the Sprig is in Madame Bee’s “beauty salon”. It turned out that the golden ball – or Vajra - Aru got is made of heavenly light and Mini’s compact – or Dee Dee, Dharma Raja’s Death Danda - can see through enchantments. With her quick mind, Aru realized the disguise: Madame Bee is actually the Brahmasura, an asura (demon). Aru and Mini know from the Hindu myths whoever’s forehead touched by the Brahmasura’s hand will turn to ashes. So they quickly find a way to touch the Brahmasura’s forehead with its own palm, defeating the asura and collecting the key that it thought was a pretty hair bauble that kept the Brahmasura young and pretty. Boo had to wait outside to hope that the asura wouldn’t know that the girls were Pandavas. Unfortunately, she knew by their gifts that the gods gave them, and called them “Pandavalings”. According to Boo, the gods have some sort of stench that attracts demons. Before taking on the next key, they travel to the Otherworld to get more tools from the Seasons. The Sleeper is not a demon that’s easy to defeat…(and isn’t a demon who’s known for his epic nappings). She is one of the “true” Pandavas.

Table of Sanskrit Numbers