Midnight’s Children

Midnight’s Children

by

Salman Rushdie

Parvati-the-witch / Laylah Character Analysis

Saleem Sinai’s wife and the mother of his son, Aadam Sinai. Parvati is a fellow child of midnight, and she is endowed with the powers of the illuminatus, or “the genuine gifts of conjuration and sorcery.” Parvati tricks Shiva into impregnating her, knowing the he will lose interest once she is pregnant, allowing an impotent Saleem to step in as Aadam’s father. Parvati is killed during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.

Parvati-the-witch / Laylah Quotes in Midnight’s Children

The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by Parvati-the-witch / Laylah or refer to Parvati-the-witch / Laylah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Truth and Storytelling Theme Icon
).
Book 2: Love in Bombay Quotes

Women have always been the ones to change my life: Mary Pereira, Evie Burns, Jamila Singer, Parvati-the-witch must answer for who I am; and the Widow, who I’m keeping for the end; and after the end, Padma, my goddess of dung. Women have fixed me all right, but perhaps they were never central—perhaps the place which they should have filled, the hole in the center of me which was my inheritance from grandfather Aadam Aziz, was occupied for too long by my voices. Or perhaps—one must consider all possibilities—they always made me a little afraid.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Aziz, The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer, Mary Pereira, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Evie Burns, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 119-20
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: A Wedding Quotes

Parvati’s formal conversion to Islam (which irritated Picture Singh, but on which I found myself insisting, in another throwback to an earlier life) was performed by a red-bearded Haji who looked ill-at-ease in the presence of so many teasing, provocative members of the ungodly; under the shifting gaze of this fellow who resembled a large and bearded onion she intoned her belief there was no God but God and that Muhammed was his prophet; she took a name which I chose for her out of the repository of my dreams, becoming Laylah, so that she too was caught up in the repetitive cycles of my history, becoming an echo of all the other people who have been obliged to change their names…like my own mother Amina Sinai, Parvati-the-witch became a new person to have a child.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Mumtaz Aziz / Amina Sinai, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Picture Singh
Page Number: 477
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Midnight’s Children LitChart as a printable PDF.
Midnight’s Children PDF

Parvati-the-witch / Laylah Quotes in Midnight’s Children

The Midnight’s Children quotes below are all either spoken by Parvati-the-witch / Laylah or refer to Parvati-the-witch / Laylah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Truth and Storytelling Theme Icon
).
Book 2: Love in Bombay Quotes

Women have always been the ones to change my life: Mary Pereira, Evie Burns, Jamila Singer, Parvati-the-witch must answer for who I am; and the Widow, who I’m keeping for the end; and after the end, Padma, my goddess of dung. Women have fixed me all right, but perhaps they were never central—perhaps the place which they should have filled, the hole in the center of me which was my inheritance from grandfather Aadam Aziz, was occupied for too long by my voices. Or perhaps—one must consider all possibilities—they always made me a little afraid.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Aadam Aziz, The Brass Monkey / Jamila Singer, Mary Pereira, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Evie Burns, The Widow / Indira Gandhi
Page Number: 119-20
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 3: A Wedding Quotes

Parvati’s formal conversion to Islam (which irritated Picture Singh, but on which I found myself insisting, in another throwback to an earlier life) was performed by a red-bearded Haji who looked ill-at-ease in the presence of so many teasing, provocative members of the ungodly; under the shifting gaze of this fellow who resembled a large and bearded onion she intoned her belief there was no God but God and that Muhammed was his prophet; she took a name which I chose for her out of the repository of my dreams, becoming Laylah, so that she too was caught up in the repetitive cycles of my history, becoming an echo of all the other people who have been obliged to change their names…like my own mother Amina Sinai, Parvati-the-witch became a new person to have a child.

Related Characters: Saleem Sinai (speaker), Mumtaz Aziz / Amina Sinai, Parvati-the-witch / Laylah, Picture Singh
Page Number: 477
Explanation and Analysis: