Aru Shah and the End of Time

As Aru takes the group to the Hall of Gods, the other children mock her for living in a museum, and make fun of the barely clothed statues of the Hindu gods, which embarrasses Aru. She shows them the lamp, explaining that the lamp of Bharata was acquired by India after gaining independence from the British in 1947; it once rested at the Kurukshetra battlefield, the site of the Great War described in the Mahabharata. Lighting the lamp will awaken the Sleeper, a demon who will summon Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. Shiva will then perform a cosmic dance, which will bring an end to Time itself.

The three students dare Aru to light the lamp, and in order to impress them, she complies. However, when she moves toward it, the hall suddenly goes dark, and Aru hears her name being called from inside the lamp. As the wick catches light, a shadow unfurls from inside the lamp and grows into a dark form which says, “Oh, Aru, Aru, Aru…what have you done?” (23).

Aru wakes up on the floor to find the lamp missing, and time comes to a standstill; the three children are frozen, as is her mother in the entrance, caught mid-jog. The stone elephant at the entrance of the hall creaks, lifts its trunk, and unhinges its jaw; a pigeon emerges from inside the elephant, demanding to know who has dared light the lamp.

The pigeon declares that its duty is to help the Pandava who lit the lamp. Aru remembers that the Pandavas are the five brothers from the Mahabharata, who were on the winning side of the civil war against their 100 cousins. The Pandavas were heroes, sons of gods who wielded celestial weapons. The pigeon declares that only one of the Pandavas could have lit the lamp and is shocked to discover that Aru is the one who did so.

Aru stares at the pigeon, remembering a story her mother had once told her about Gandhari. She was a queen who had blindfolded herself for life in empathy for her husband with blindness. She only took off her blindfold once to look at her son, and her gaze was so powerful that whichever part of her son’s bare body her gaze fell on, it made it invincible.

The pigeon laments its fate, noting how the past Pandavas have all been powerful people, like senators and athletes. However, every generation has its own reincarnation of the brothers, and Aru is definitely one because she was able to light the lamp. Aru remembers how the Pandavas also had a sixth, secret brother, whom they didn’t know was related to them until just before the war began.

Despite Aru’s insistence, the pigeon doesn’t reveal its name or history, asserting that Aru can call him “Subala;” to his consternation, Aru nicknames him “Boo.” Boo explains that Aru must stop the Sleeper in nine days’ time; until then, he will freeze time wherever he walks, and when he reaches Shiva, time will come to a permanent end. Boo and Aru must now find her sibling: when one Pandava awakens, usually another one does, too. Boo is shocked to learn that Aru’s mother has not told her any of this.

Aru and Boo enter the magical corridor that opens up inside the stone elephant’s mouth, which takes them to the Door of Many. Aru wonders how she can have a sibling, and Boo explains that the connection is not of blood, but of the divinity of souls; they are both children of gods. After meeting her sibling, Aru must go to the Otherworld and ask the Council of Guardians located in the Court of Sky for details of their quest.

Aru finds it unbelievable that she is the child of a god; she has never even known her biological father. Her mother never talked about him, and there was only one picture of a man in the house: a handsome, dark-haired, amber-skinned man, with one blue and one brown eye.

Aru asks the Door to take her to the other Pandava. She and Boo are yanked through to a different location altogether, where another young girl, the same age as Aru, is waiting for them.

Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez introduces herself as “Mini,” and Aru realizes Mini’s parents must have filled her in, as she is aware of her Pandava identity and Aru’s existence. Aru is disappointed, as she was expecting her sibling to be more impressive.

When Boo asserts they must now journey to the Otherworld, Mini reveals she has been there before with her parents and older brother; all parents of Pandavas are required to take their children there the moment they show signs of being demigods. Mini is surprised, and a little pitying, to learn that Aru has never been there, which irritates Aru.

Boo insists it is too dangerous for the group to drive there, as the Sleeper will be looking for Aru, Mini, and the celestial weapons they are to retrieve. Boo instructs the girls to find an invisible string of hope and grab onto it. Aru sees a thread of light, and she closes her eyes and grabs it. It morphs into a doorknob in her hand, and she enters an arched-ceilinged room, which contains a huge, blue crocodile.

The crocodile reveals itself to be makara, the guardian of thresholds between worlds. It recognizes Boo, whom it claims doesn’t look the same as before. Then, he announces the heroines, who are to meet the Council. Before makara opens the door to the Court of Sky, it confirms that the girls are who they claim, and scenes of what happened when Aru lit the lamp flash across its eyes. Aru watches Mini, discovering her frozen parents and brother; Mini curls up and cries before wiping off her tears, packing a backpack, and heading outside to wait for Boo and Aru.

Mini is surprised to learn that Aru lit the lamp but reassures her that they were destined to fight the Sleeper, assuming Aru couldn’t have known what would happen. Aru doesn’t correct Mini but feels guilty. Boo and the girls are transported to the Court of Sky, an open-air room floating in the clouds where the Council gathers periodically. Seven labeled thrones float around the room though one of them is on the outside of the circle; it is rusted and features faded letters. Some of the thrones are transparent, as only some guardians are in residence at one time. Aru recognizes the names on the thrones, all celestial beings from the Hindu epics.

Urvashi, the chief dancer of the heavens, and Hanuman, the monkey demigod, appear. They address Boo as Subala, and Aru realizes that this is the name on the rusty throne with faded letters. Urvashi is suspicious and condescending toward the girls, not believing them worthy of her time. She also claims it’s ironic that Boo is the one chosen to guide the Pandavas. When Boo asserts the Sleeper is awake, Hanuman grows grim and reveals that the vehicles of the gods have been stolen: Aru remembers that the Hindu deities use special mounts, usually animals, as their vehicles.

Urvashi insists the girls must prove they are Pandavas and commences the Claiming, and Aru and Mini are suddenly surrounded by five giant statues of the different deities that fathered the Pandavas. As a shower of arrows heads straight for the girls, Boo explains the girls’ respective fathers will claim them by keeping them alive.

The arrows stop short of the girls, and Boo explains they must pay respect to the five father gods of the Pandavas before the Claiming commences: Dharma Raja, lord of justice and death; Vayu, lord of the winds; Indra, king of the heavens and lord of thunder; and the Ashvins, the twin gods, Nasatya and Dasra, who rule the sunrise and sunset, and medicine, respectively.

As soon as the girls pay their respects, the arrows start whizzing around them again. Aru yells at them to stop, and a protective net of lightning appears around her, stopping the arrows. Thus, she discovers she is Indra’s daughter.

Being Indra’s daughter makes Aru the reincarnation of Arjuna, the greatest warrior to exist in Hindu mythology: besides being a skilled archer, Arjuna was brave, perceptive, and extremely honorable.

The net transforms into a golden orb the size of a ping pong ball; next to Aru, Mini is safe too, as the statue of Dharma Raja looms over her. His danda (stick of death) was thrown down to shatter the arrows that approached her. Mini is distraught to discover she is the daughter of death; she wants to become a doctor one day and thinks no one will want to be treated by a doctor fathered by death. On Boo’s urging, Aru comforts Mini, reminding her that the eldest Pandava, Yudhishtira, was his son. He was a wise and just king whom everyone sought out for advice.

Urvashi and Hanuman reappear, both stunned at the results of the Claiming. They assert that if the Sleeper continues unchecked, the other Pandavas will awaken. Urvashi asks to see the girls’ gifts, and Aru shows her the golden orb while Mini shows them a purple compact mirror, each of which appeared during the Claiming. Urvashi is disappointed, but Hanuman insists these objects are meant to help the girls during their quest.

Urvashi now gives them the details: The Sleeper needs celestial weapons to awaken Shiva. The girls need to find the weapons before he does and travel to the Kingdom of Death to look into the Pool of the Past, which will show them how to defeat the Sleeper. To enter the Kingdom without dying, they must collect three keys: a sprig of youth, a bite of adulthood, and a sip of old age.

Urvashi magically transfers mehendi maps onto the girls’ hands, on which the three keys are illustrated: a branch of blossoms, a book, and a wave. Touching the symbols on their hands will transport the girls to the area where the keys are hidden, but they must find them themselves. They have nine days until the new moon to complete their quest, after which they will receive training from the Council. At that time, Boo can rejoin the girls. Before the girls leave, Hanuman tells them how he was cursed as a child and that he wouldn’t remember how strong he was until someone else reminded him. He wonders if it was truly a curse or something everyone experiences at some point in their lives.

The girls touch the symbol of the first key on their hands, and they materialize in the parking lot of a strip mall. In the center of their palms, a mehendi symbol appears, which Mini identifies as the Sanskrit number eight; they have already lost a day for their quest.