* “Where is my friend’s voice…”: A line of Persian verse from the Masnavi of Rumi (1207–1273).
CHAPTER FIVE
* “Shah Dulah’s mice”: These were retarded children born with heads too small for their bodies, who were often dedicated to the popular saint Shah Dulah to protect them from an early death.
* “Houses and inns and places…”: Part of a line from a poem by Munir Niyazi.
CHAPTER SIX
* “First the sword and spear…”: An echo from a poem by IQBAL.
* filbert branches: Water to wash a dead body is customarily heated with filbert leaves in it.
* war has broken out: On December 3, 1971, war broke out with India; India had been vigorously supporting the disaffected party in East Pakistan.
CHAPTER SEVEN
* “London is victorious…”: A line from a cynical World War II poem by Zafar Ali Khan (1873–1956).
* pseudo-Taj Mahal: The reference is to WAPDA House, headquarters of the Water and Power Development Authority, a prominent Lahore landmark.
* “What was I good for…”: A line from a ghazal by Firaq Gorakhpuri (1896–1982).
* “Guess from my garden…”: A famous line of Persian verse, used like a proverb.
* Every day… Glorious King’s serpents: An echo of the story of Zahhak from the SHAH NAMAH.
* “a new flower blooming”: This Persian proverb implies skepticism or contempt.
* “The cannons cannot… India is done for!”: It is also said that this sarcastic verse was composed by someone else, and that when BAHADUR SHAH “ZAFAR” heard it he replied with another verse expressing undaunted fighting spirit.
* DECEMBER 16: December 16, 1971, was the day the Indian Army entered Dhaka, and the birth of an independent Bangladesh was assured.
* Today is September 14…: September 14, 1857, was the day the British succeeded in retaking Delhi from the rebels.
CHAPTER EIGHT
* “these fighters for the faith…”: The first line of a famous poem by Iqbal, “Tariq’s Prayer.”
* “Surely God is with the patient”: Quran 2:153.
* “Then where does this smoke…”: A line from a ghazal by MIR.
* “It’s as if my heart…”: Based on a line from a ghazal by Mir. The line establishes a punning relationship between “heart” (dil) and “Delhi” (dilli).
* “And when we had obtained… from the land”: Quran 2:84–85
* “You murdered…”: Based on a passage from the Nahj ul-balaghah, attributed to Hhazrat Ali.
* “The remnant who survived… destroyed by fire.”: Based on Nehemiah 1:1–3.
* A river of blood is flowing…”: A passage from one of GHALIB’s letters, describing the disasters he lived through in 1857. The passage ends with the first line of a verse from one of his ghazals. The second line, which completes the thought, is: “Just wait and see what happens to me next.”
* “Lanes that were like leaves…”: Based on a line from a ghazal by Mir.
CHAPTER NINE
* read the omens: One common method is to open the works of the great Persian poet Hafiz (1320–1390), read a line at random, and draw conclusions from it.
CHAPTER TEN
* “Suddenly I was afraid…”: In Quran 46:24–25, a hurricane sent by God sweeps down and devastates the sinful tribe of Ad. In Quran 79:13–14, a single loud cry announces the onset of Judgment Day.
* “The way they’d flee… during an earthquake.”: A line from an elegy on KARBALA by Mir Anis (1802–1874).
* The town… now looked like a bubble in the churning ocean waves: Based on a folk account of the death of KRISHAN, who spent much of his adult life in Dwarka, a town on the west coast of Gujarat.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
* until their shapes changed entirely: In South Asian Muslim folk tradition, the faces of sinners grow deformed, and they are raised from the dead in animal shapes.
* “What a building sorrow…”:A line from a ghazal by Mir.
* “The city has already burned…”: Based on a folk version of an episode from the Ramayan, in which the mighty monkey Hanuman and his companions spread flames through Lanka with their burning tails. When they reach Sita, RAMCHANDAR-JI’s captive wife, she counsels them on how to quench the fire.
* letter-writers: Some residents of the city of Kufa, in Iraq, wrote letters inviting HUSAIN to come to Kufa and assume power; this led to his betrayal and death. Husain first sent his cousin Muslim bin Aqil to Kufa as an envoy.
* he was alone: It had been decreed that whoever prayed behind Husain’s envoy Muslim, and thus showed respect for him, would die.
* the leafy tree: In Persian and Urdu story tradition, the hero Hatim Tai encounters a similar tree.
* “Oh Lord, save us from the fire of Hell” Quran 2:201; 3:191.
* The sun had come down: A Muslim folk tradition about the torments of Doomsday.
* “I swear by Time, man is surely in loss”: Quran 103:1–2.
* “It’s evening…”: A line from a ghazal by the minor poet Agha Hajju Sharaf (fl. 1850s).
* Burnt-out fires here…: A line from a poem by Iqbal.
* lifted on the points of spears: The heads of Husain and his companions met this fate.
* “who are alive are unfortunate”: Based on Ecclesiastes 1:1, 1:15, 4:2.
* “your time for dismounting has not yet come”: A story traditionally told about one of Husain’s cousin Muslim’s prominent supporters in Kufa.
* “a desolate wasteland”: From one of Ghalib’s letters describing the disasters of 1857.
* “Now Jahanabad lies in ruins—”:A line from a ghazal by Mir. The second line, which completes the thought, is “Otherwise, at every step a house was here.”
* the pitcher is smashed at the well…: Based on Ecclesiastes 12:1–8.
GLOSSARY
NOTE: All names and terms are described only as they are used in the novel itself. They are generally spelled the way the novel spells them, based on Urdu script.
Abba Jan: Zakir’s name for his father. “Abba” is something like “Dad.” “Jan” is a title appended to kinship terms to show intimacy and affection.
Abul Hasan: A rich merchant’s son who was betrayed by his friends, and who therefore vowed to seek out and entertain only strangers.
ai: An emphatic exclamation, used vocatively to command attention or express surprise or consternation.
ai hai: An exclamation of rueful regret, characteristically used by older women.
Ali: The Prophet’s son-in-law, husband of Fatimah, father of Hasan and Husain. He is deeply venerated, and is often referred to by epithets like “the Chosen One” and “the Lion of God.”