Every year there is in the Netherlands a special week, called the Week of the Book, in which– to promote the new titles– anyone spending more than $10 in a book store receives an extra book, which is specially written for the occasion. In 2001 it was Salman Rushdie who was invited to write the book, and his Woede (i.e. Fury in English) became the year’s present. He was also invited to the Gala of authors with which the Week of the Book started. This year the party was held in a wing of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.) It was here that Margot Dijkgraaf, literary critic of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, interviewed Salman Rushdie for the series The Crucial Book, in which writers expound their views on the book that has most influenced their ideas. [K.G.]

THE CRUCIAL BOOK OF: SALMAN RUSHDIE

“Joyce built a whole universe out of a grain of sand”

Salman Rushdie, the author of the “Week of the Book” present, was carried along by James Joyce’s Ulysses as though the book was rocket fuel.

The wing of the Rijksmuseum looks like a fort. His bodyguards (beside his own there are three other of the city of Amsterdam) have left for a cup of coffee, and the one walking along Salman Rushdie watches me with a slightly disturbed and slightly concerned expression. Many images must haunt the head of the man who wrote this year’s “Week of the Book” present: frightening images, images of the future, images of old myths and modern internet legends. Somewhere in that hyperactive brain also roams the spirit of the Irish-born writer James Joyce (1882-1941). Rushdie: “Joyce is always in my mind, I carry him everywhere with me”.

Who it was who called his attention to Ulysses (published in Paris in 1922) Rushdie does not remember, but he knows that it was in the first year of his study of history.. “Everyone said that it was such a sealed book, hard to penetrate, but I did not think so at all. You never hear people say that there is so much humor in the book, that the characters are so lively or that the theme – Stephen Daedalus in search of his lost father and Bloom looking for his lost child – is so moving. People talk about the cleverness of Ulysses and about the literary innovation. To me it was moving, in the first place”

Stephen and Bloom, those were the characters which touched him immediately. He quotes from memory: “Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls”. Those were the first lines of the second chapter. “I am myself disgusted by that kind of organs”, he grinned. “There are still so many little things I always have to smile about when I think of them. That commercial, for example: “What is home/without Plumtree’s Potted Meat?/ Incomplete”. That is still funny. Joyce used many stylistic means which were novel in his time, newspaper headlines for instance. Is it not moving that he makes Ulysses happen on the day that he met his wife! He kept that newspaper, carried it always with him and used all of its details, including the names of the horses in the races. In short, he built a universe out of a grain of sand. That was a revelation to me: so that is the way one could also write! To somebody who wanted to be a writer, like me, it was so perfect, so inspiring, that it made one need to recover. I have thought for some time: I quit writing, I become a lawyer. Later I thought that there may be some little things still worth doing.”

Such as in the field of linguistic innovation? “Joyce spoke against the politisizing of literature, but his language is a purposeful attempt to create an English which was just not a property of the English. He employs a lot of borrowed words from other European languages and creates an un-English kind of English”. Was that not also the goal of Rushdie himself? “Certainly. The Irish did it, so did the American and the Caribian writers. While English traveled around like that, the people felt the need to innovate it. So I did. But the Joycean innovation was the greatest of all. It is an example that deserves to be followed”.

And what about Joyce’s famous monologue intérieur ? “That stream of consciousness was not an invention of Joyce, but he used it more subtly than anyone else. Bloom’s inner voices were about very common things, about a hungry feeling or so. Joyce demonstrates that the material of daily life can be as majestic as any great epic. The lives of ordinary people are also worthy of great art. One can create grandeur out of banality. That was precisely the criticism Virgina Woolf had on Joyce. Woolf was a bit too snobbish for it”.

As the best example of the stream of consciousness Rushdie “of course” considers Molly Blooms monologue at the end of the book. “In the past I could recite whole parts of it: “and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.” That conclusion is absolutely rocket fuel at the end. You have a book behind you in which the behavior of people is not strictly transparent and then suddenly you feel not only the skin of that woman, but her whole body, all her flesh and blood, that is a baffling climax. Of course also very erotic, although as yet the novel was not erotic at all. At that time literature did not extend to erotics, to the sexual fantasies of women. Impossible to imagine Virginia Woolf doing something like that”.

Ulysses is in fact a national epic about Ireland. “It is a grand homage to the country that has never understood him” says Rushdie. “He was regarded there as a pornographer and blasphemer. Now he is viewed as Ireland’s national monument. Well, that’s easy. I do understand how Joyce felt. I am close to him. I feel a kinship, not so much between our types of authorship, but rather between his eye and ear, his mind and mine. The way one looks at things”.

Nevertheless, they would not have become friends, he believes. “Joyce was not very good at friendship. There is a story about his put-down of Samuel Beckett, who adored him and often came along his place. He plainly told him that he only loved two people in the world: the first being his wife, the second his daughter. His only encounter with Proust was also very comical. Joyce and Proust met each other when leaving a party. Proust had his coach standing at the door and was wrapped up fom head to foot, afraid as he was to catch a cold. Joyce jumps into the coach uninvitedly, lights a cigar and opens the window widely. Proust says nothing, neither does Joyce. It is like a silent movie. Two masters of the word, who say nothing to each other and yet disclose themselves. Fantastic!”

In Portrait of the artist as a young man Joyce mentions the weapons with which a writer can defend himself against the outer world: silence, exile, and cunning. Are those the weapons Rushdie recognizes? “Well, that was a very good stratagem in the time of Joyce. Like Voltaire, Joyce believed that a writer should live near a border, so that he could leave immediately if problems arose. At present that does not work anymore: I have experienced it personally. And silence is an overrated artform, which people now too often impose upon you”.

But are writers not regarded more and more as intellectuals and are they not continually asked for an opinion? “I believe that worldwide there are more and more efforts to impose silence upon writers – and that not only applies to me. It is easy to point to the Arab world, or to China, but even in the United States there are people who want to ban Harry Potter books from schools, because they contain something about witchcraft. Even something harmless like that provokes an attack. We live in a time with an increasing urge to censorship. Various interest groups–including antiracist or feminist movements– demand it. When Kurt Vonnegut is banned from public libraries and not everywhere it is allowed to teach about Huckleberry Finn, then you just cannot assume straight-away that there is something like freedom. Against silence it is that now we have to fight. And exile does not work. Therefore, cunning is the only thing that remains”.

Translated by K. Gwan Go, reproduced by permission of Margot Dijkgraaf.

It is interesting to note that while Chamcha embodies the demonization process which victimizes the immigrant, the Manticore illuminates the purpose of Rushdie’s appropriative strategies with even greater subtlety. As Rushdie himself informs us, the Manticore is a man-tiger with three rows of teeth escaped from Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerrero’s Manual de Zoologma Fantastica. The entry cites Pliny’s original description, followed by Flaubert’s reworking of it in the last pages of La tentation de Saint Antoine. In his monumental Historia Naturalis, Pliny the Elder devotes a number of books to the cataloguing and description of animals world-wide. Drawing on Aristotle and Ctesias among others, Pliny’s inventory happily mixes fantastic beings and wild, exotic animals such as elephants or lions. The Manticore is mentioned “multaque alia monstri similia” roaming the wilderness of Ethiopia. Characteristically, the fabulous beast is a hybrid, half-human half-animal, with “three rows of teeth which intertwine like the teeth of a comb, the face and the ears of a human being, blue eyes, the purplish body of a lion and a tail which ends with a sting, like a scorpio. It runs very fast and human flesh is its favourite dish; its voice sounds like the flute and the trumpet mixed together.” Pliny’s description strikingly reveals the nature of the collective fantasies which the center projects onto the confines of the Roman Empire. Like most imaginary creatures in the Historia Naturalis, the Manticore crystallizes the mixture of fear and fascination the Ethiops and other “barbaros” inspire to the Romans. What is more, the association of difference with monstrosity takes place in the naturalizing context of Pliny’s “scientific” enterprise. Through his allusion to Pliny’s Manticore, Rushdie not only draws the reader’s attention to how knowledge is constructed and what kinds of fantasies are invested in it, but it also points to a long tradition of travel writing starting with Herodotus (on whom Ctesias heavily depends) which, by imaginatively mapping out unfamiliar places, will inspire colonial expeditions.

Martine Dutheil.

(For more detail, see Dutheil 138-139).

Plot outline for Chapter III

Rosa Diamond, an old woman who spends much of her time dreaming about the past (the Norman Invasion and her own, in Argentina), witnesses Gibreel and Saladin’s descent to earth and rescues them; but Saladin is arrested as an illegal immigrant, while Rosa dies. The police strip and humiliate Saladin, who discovers that he is turning into a hairy, goatlike creature. In a bizarre secret hospital where animal/human experiments reminiscent of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau are being carried out he is befriended by a physiotherapist and escapes.

The scene shifts to Saladin’s home where his wife Pamela, rather than grieving for him, has started an affair with Jumpy Joshi, and does not welcome the news that he is still alive. The two lovers flee and engage in an orgy of lovemaking until Saladin finds them in his goatlike form.

On the train to London Gibreel is bored by an African immigrant of South Asian origin with the same name as a “false prophet” in Islamic tradition: Maslama. Various signs convey to Gibreel that he is evolving into an angel. This scene shifts to introduce Alleluia Cone, former lover of Gibreel, speaking to a class of schoolgirls about her career as a mountain-climber. Gibreel, entering London, haunted by the ghost of another lover–Rekha Merchant–runs into her on the street.

Notes for Chapter III

Page 129

[133]

Rosa Diamond
Her story and its sources are studied in detail by Daniel Balderston.

Willie-the-Conk
William the Conqueror. See above, note on p. 44.

first Norman castle
The reconstructed Pevensey Castle. The original was built by William the Conqueror.

Why is it appropriate that Rosa Diamond be the person who first encounters Gibreel and Saladin after their fall? And what does she have in common with William the Conqueror?

Page 130

[134]

Battle Hill
Near the traditional site of the Battle of Hastings; its name commemorates the battle.

Harold Arroweye
Although this epithet might suggest a sharp-eyed leader, it is in fact a mocking reference to the means of King Harold’s death. In the Bayeux Tapestry the Saxon leader is depicted as having been shot through the eye with an arrow. Image from the tapestry.

William with his mouth full of sand
One tradition says that when William landed, he stumbled and fell with his face in the English soil.

Page 131

[135]

Lucifer
One traditional name for the planet Venus, also a name for the Devil. See note above on p. 76.

cased in a fine skin of ice
See notes on pp. 33-34, 169.

old Chumch
A pun on “old chum.”

What do you think Rushdie intends by this symbol?

Page 132

[136]

Charlton Heston
In one of the more spectacular Academy Award winning special effects from the 1956 film The Ten Commandments, Heston, playing Moses, parts the Red Sea with his staff so the captive Hebrews can leave Egypt. Information on the film.

the tall, bony figure of Death
Margareta Petersson points out that both Gibreel and Chamcha “meet, almost in a faint, a woman with a cane, which they believe is Death: for Saladin it is Rosa Diamond, for Gibreel Allie Cone” (Petersson 273).

Page 133

[137]

almost a wanton attitude to tumbling flies
See Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act IV, Scene 1: “As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods.”

I yield pride of place to no personage in the matter of tumbles
Satan (Satan) is said to have been an Angel, cast down from Heaven for rebelling against God. (See Qur’an 38:78 and Revelation 12:9). Note also the suicidal plunges of various characters in the novel.

Page 134

[138]

like a wolf on the fold
From Byron’s “The Destruction of Sennacherib,” stanza 1, line 1: “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold.”

shingle
Shoreline gravel.

Page 135

[139]

Japonaiserie
Imitating Japanese style (French).

Page 136

[140]

Here I am, in Grandmother’s house. Her big eyes, hands, teeth.
Allusion to “Little Red Riding Hood.” The Little Red Riding Hood Project

Tennyson
The play described might be a dramatization of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Enoch Arden (1864), with the incident of the toy added by the dramatist (or by Rushdie).

Page 137

[141]

Harrods
A popular London department store.

sod
An obscene verb derived from sodomize, commonly used as a curse.

What do you think is Rushdie’s point in telling the Indian version of the story of the husband’s unexpected homecoming?

Page 138

[142]

vibora, de la Cruz
“Viper of the cross,” the popular Spanish name of the snake scientifically called Bothrops Alternatus, also called the urutu. The paradoxical association of the holy cross with the demonic snake fits the divine/demonic themes of the novel. The historical Martin de la Cruz from whom this character’s name is derived was a 16th-century doctor who wrote the first medical book written in Colonial America, the Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (1552).

I’m not having it
I won’t accept/allow this.

Jerry
German soldier. Rosa Diamond is remembering the coastal blackouts imposed during World War II.

Page 139

[143]

illegals
Illegal immigrants.

Page 140

[144]

ugando-kenyattas
Jomo Kenyatta was the leader of the Mau Mau liberation movement in Kenya, which had nothing to do with another British African colony, Uganda. Here the two are linked as a way of mocking the tendency of the British to lump all dark-skinned people together. A brief history of Kenya. U.S. Department of State notes on Kenya.

Page 142

[146]

pull the other one
An expression of incredulity, meaning “Try another outrageous lie on me, I don’t believe this one.” Derived from the expression “You’re pulling my leg,” meaning “You’re kidding me.”

Black Maria
Traditional slang term for a police van.

Page 143

[147]

Argentina
The most thorough discussion of the Argentina allusions in the Rosa Diamond section is by Daniel Balderston

Page 144 [148]

men with horned helmets
Alludes to ancient invasions of England by Norse raiders.

[149]

Some ancient Morgan Le Fay singing a young Merlin into her crystal cave
In most versions of the Arthurian legends it is the young Vivien (also known as Nimue, one of the “ladies of the lake”), who traps the aged Merlin in a cave or tree. Rushdie was probably influenced by John Boorman’s 1981 film, Excalibur, in substituting the better-known Morgan (called “Morgana” in the film) for Vivien. Rosa is old and Gibreel is young; so that although she enchants him as did her predecesssor, the difference in their ages is reversed. Information about Vivien. Information about Morgan. Information about Excalibur. The text of Tennyson’s poem about Vivien and Merlin from The Idylls of the King. Back on p. 135, Saladin had dreamed of Zeeny Vakil luring him into an iceberg with her song, clearly a foreshadowing of this image.

Page 145

[150]

Babington
Rushdie has given this anti-English Argentinian a quintessentially English name, the middle name of poet Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), infamous in India for his 1835 “Minute on Indian Education” which prescribed a system of Western-oriented education designed to keep Indians subordinate to the English within the British Empire.

Page 147

[151]

the Peròn people
Followers of Argentine dictator Juan Perón, who rose to power during the period 1943-1946. As Daniel Balderston points out (304-305) Rosa Diamond would seem to have left Argentina considerably before he became known, one of several anachronisms in this story. A brief overview of Argentine history.

the Hurlingham
Probably the members of the Hurlingham Golf Club, near Buneos Aires, founded in 1888 by a group of English citizens.

trop fatale
French for “too fatal;” but alluding to the expression “femme fatale” (“fatal woman”) which describes a woman whose beauty lures men to destruction.

[152]

Aurora del Sol
Spanish for “dawn of the sun.”

Page 148

[152]

Martello tower
A kind of circular coastal fort built along the English coastline in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, named after the first one at Cape Martello in Corsica. A series of them was also built 1803-1806 along the Irish coast as protection against a Napoleonic invasion; the one at Sandycove was inhabited by James Joyce for a week in September 1904 and is now a Joyce museum (Fargnoli).  Stephen Dedalus lives there in Ulysses. Hence this may be one of several Joyce allusions inThe Satanic Verses. In both Rushdie’s work and Joyce’s the towers are associated with characters alienated from their homelands; but here they also remind us that England has been subject to threats of invasion, a major theme in the novel.

An interview with a Netherlands journalist in which Rushdie talks about his admiration for Joyce.

ostrich
Since Rosa sees it as well, this is probably a South American rhea rather than at true ostrich, suggests Steven F. Walker. It marks the beginnings of Gibreel’s hallucinations (Walker 349).

Page 149

[153]

fancy dress
Party costume.

Page 150

[154]

Amerigo Vespucci’s account of his voyages
This 15th-century Italian navigator made exaggerated claims for his discoveries in the Western hemisphere and managed to have the “New World” named after himself: “America.” Some more recent scholars have tried to rehabilitate Vespucci’s reputation.

Page 151

[156]

Hispano-Suiza
A deluxe early make of sports car whose name reflects the theme of intercultural hybridity, since it means “Spanish-Swiss.” The history of the Hispano-Suiza. Pictures of a restored Hispano-Suiza.

Page 152

estancia
Argentinian ranch.

As white as snow . . .
Her body forms the Nazi flag, as described in the previous paragraph.

Page 153

[157]

As if a boulder had been placed upon his chest
See note above on p. 43.

Page 156

[160]

London shareef
The term sharif or shareef means “noble, exalted” (Arabic). Here the term parodies the more usual term Mecca Sharif (see below, p. 235, where the terms Quran Sharif and Haram Sharif are also used.)

younger
Since Rosa has just died, this sexual encounter with her younger image seems to be a delusion in Gibreel’s mind. On p. 334, the ghost of Rekha Merchant claims that this younger Rosa was a shape taken by herself.

Page 157

[163]

Fancy
Desire.

What is the significance of Saladin here being transformed into a demonic beast?

Page 158

Joe Bruno, Novak, Jock Stein
The “distinctly un-Anglo-Saxon” names of the immigration officers drive home the absurdity of their rabid xenophobia.

Joe Bruno is the long-time New York Senate Republican leader who has been outspoken in his criticism of minorities and immigrants.
Jock Stein was the renowned manager of the Scottish soccer team, the Glasgow Celtic, in the 1960s and early 1970s. “Mack” is a plausibly Scottish nickname for this person with a Jewish last name. Stein was, however famously a Protestant leading a Catholic team–another outsider.(David Windsor) Information about Jock Stein.
On. p.160 Novak is called “Kim,” presumably a nickname derived from that of the very female American movie star of Vertigo and other popular films. Picture of Kim Novak. Novak is a Polish surname, but it may have amused Rushdie to refer to Kim because that is the name of one of Rudyard Kipling’s most famous protagonists, born English, but living as an Indian.

that Sussex of rewards and fairies which every schoolboy knew
Rudyard Kipling’s Rewards and Fairies (1910) continued the historical/fantastical adventures of Dan and Una, whom most readers met for the first time in Puck of Pook’s Hill (Suzanne Keen). Both volumes deal in part with “colonial” periods in English history, including the Roman and Norman invasions, and are set in the same general area as the Rosa Diamond episode.

Page 159

[164]

Sylhet
A rural district in Bangladesh. Information on Sylhet.

Gujranwala
An agricultural center in Pakistan.

[165]

primus inter pares
First among equals (Latin).

Page 161

[166]

Danny Blanchflower
Famous footballer (soccer player) for the Tottenham Hotspurs during 1960 and 1961 seasons when they were champions, hence the reference to the “double” team. Information about Danny Blanchflower. (Kuortti).

Pansy . . . bum boys
Both insulting terms for gay men.

football hooligans
Violent soccer fans.

Page 162

[167]

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty
Although this slogan is commonly attributed to Thomas Jefferson, it was apparently first delivered in this form by Wendell Phillips in 1852, speaking to the Massachusetts Antislavery Society; but an earlier version–“The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance”–was uttered by John Philpot Curran in Ireland in 1790.

Page 163

[168]

matchoftheday
Broadcast football (soccer) match of the day, here sports talk generally.

the penny dropped
Refers to someone belatedly catching on to what is being talked about; derived from a slow-working coin-operated machine.

Packy billy
Pakistani goat. All South Asians tend to be labelled “Pakys” in London.

Garrick Club
Prestigious actors’ club, named after the famous actor David Garrick (1717-1779).

Page 164

Why does the fact that the Police National Computer identifies Saladin as an English citizen place him in greater danger than before?

[170]

Hyacinth Phillips
In Greek mythology, Hyacinth was the beloved of Apollo. Supposedly when Apollo’s tears blended with the dying Hyacinth’s blood as the god embraced him they created the flower we now call Hyacinth, so the name may be plausibly linked to caring for the sick, as in the case of an AIDS service organization with that name (Kuortti). She shares her last name with another Black woman, Orphia Phillips, whom Gibreel will meet later, on p. 328 [338] (Petersson 273).

Page 166

[171]

What do you think is the significance of the image of the woman repeatedly giving birth?

exotic spices sizzling in clarified butter–coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves
Indian recipes often begin by “roasting” (frying) whole spices such as these (the masala) in clarified butter (ghee).

Cheshire-Cat-like
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire Cat can make parts of his body–such as his head–appear and disappear in isolation.

Page 167

that sick
British equivalent of American “so sick.”

burd
Bird, British slang for “woman.”

[173]

Beelzebub
See note above, on p. 98 [100].

manticore
A mythical Indian beast with the head of a man, body of a tiger or lion, and feet and tail of a scorpion or of a dragon; from Persian mandchora: “man-eater.” From Rushdie’s acknowledgements: “For tiption of the Manticore, I’m indebted to Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings.” The manticore is a chimera, see note on p. 301 [311]. More on the manticore by Martine Dutheil.

Moaner Lisa
Pun on the Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci.

Page 169

[174]

Her skin turned to glass.
As in Saladin’s dream, pp. 33-34.; see note on p. 131 [135].

[175]

he found himself dreaming of the Queen, of making tender love to the Monarch
Like Gibreel with Babasaheb, p. 22 or Mahound with Hind, p. 119 [121].

Page 170

[176]

black water
Possibly an allusion to the kala pani (Hindi for “black water”) a taboo in Hinduism against crossing foreign seas and thereby being “polluted” and losing one’s caste status.

great escape
Probably an allusion to The Great Escape, a 1963 film about an escape from a World War II prison camp. Information about the movie.

Page 171

detenus
French for “prisoners.”

Page 172

[178]

the two-backed beast
In Shakespeare’s Othello Iago tries to stimulate Brabantio’s horror at the news that his daughter has married the African Othello by telling him that the couple is now “making the beast with two backs,” that is, making love (Act I, scene 1, l. 116).

breather
Obscene phone-caller who gets his kicks by saying nothing (just breathing) while listening to the agitated party on the other end of the line.

Page 173

[179]

Partido Socialista
Socialist Party (Spanish).

even the last of the elms, a survivor of the plague years
Most elms in Europe have been killed by Dutch elm disease. The final phrase echoes the title of Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).

Page 174

[180]

patchouli
The most commonly imported Indian scent, worn widely by hippies in the sixties seeking to associate themselves with India, which explains why Saladin has doused himself with it to attract Pamela.

kurta
See above, p. 53.

read-your-palm
The first in a list of other stereotypically but inauthentically Indian images which might attract an exoticism-seeking young woman like Pamela. Palm reading is traditionally more associated with gypsies, though they are Indian in origin.

bedspread-jacket
A cheap cloth jacket made of an Indian-print bedspread.

Hare-Krishna
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, very conspicuous in the West in the seventies. A Hare Krishna page.

dharma bum
Refers to the title of Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel, Dharma Bums,
which incorporates the Hindu concept of duty: dharma. A dharma bum is either someone who finds his dharma in being a bum, or, more likely, someone who avoids performing his dharma.

Eros
The Greek god of love. Information on Eros.

Page 175

[181]

a real Saladin . . . a man with a holy land to conquer
In the 12th century, the Sultan Saladin led a successful attempt to dislodge the Europeans from Jerusalem, which the latter had seized in the First Crusade.

the Falklands War
The British forced Argentina to abandon the Falkland Islands off its coast, which the latter had seized in 1982. The conflict was widely interpreted as a flareup of old British imperialism.

What are Pamela’s main complaints about Saladin?

[182]

the one hundred and thirty-seventh psalm, ‘Super flumina.’
Psalm 137 is the lament of the Jews taken into exile in Babylon in the early sixth century BC and begins “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.” The exiles refuse to sing their songs in this foreign land (How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land, p. 176). The attribution to King David is traditional, but unsupported by modern scholarship. On their 1978 album Nightflight to Venus the group Boney M set this psalm to music as “Rivers of Babylon.” Boney M was a Euro-Disco group of black American soldiers who had stayed on in Germany after serving hitches there, assembled by a German record producer in the mid-seventies; so not only is the theme of immigration and exile present in the song but in its singers. More information on Boney M.

Page 176

[183]

Glenn
Does anyone know why this name is given Pamela’s dog?

Sher Khan
Saladin evidently named his dog after the tiger in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, set in India. Kipling was probably alluding to the Medieval Kashmiri leader ‘Alam Sher Khan, whose deeds are recounted in the Baharistan-i-Shahi.

Page 177

Harold Wilson
Prime Minister of Great Britain 1964-1970 and 1974-76. Leader of the British Labour Party.

students disguised as Russian assassins
The description that follows reflects an old newspaper-cartoon stereotype of the communist terrorist, which the students here are self-consciously mocking.

fedoras
Felt hats with curled brims traditionally associated with cartoon terrorists. Picture and info of a fedora.

[184]

bonnet
American “hood.”

long live Ho Chi Minh
Many radical anti-Vietnam War protesters, far from being pacifists, aligned themselves with the communist forces in Vietnam led by Chairman Ho. A brief history of the Vietnam War. An article on the anti-war movement in Seattle containing relevant material.

Page 179

[185]

Finn MacCool
This legendary Medieval Irish warrior-poet had only to suck his magical thumb of knowledge to forsee things to come. Also known as Finn Mac Cumhail. The story of Finn MacCool, including how he acquired his magic thumb.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
President Kennedy’s widow appalled many of her admirers when she married the conservative shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who lived on the Greek island of Skorpios.

Page 180

[187]

ass. Arse. Ass.
Alternating the American spelling with the British one.

What is it that Saladin loved about Pamela?

Page 181

ack-ack
World War II bomber crew slang for aerial machine gun fire.

to the top of a tall building
Jumping or falling to one’s death is a constant motif in this novel. Compare for instance, Rekha Merchant and her children (pp.14-15).

Page 182

[188]

Château Talbot
One of the finest of red Bordeaux wines, named after an English general who was killed in the final battle of the Hundred Years War at Castillon, near where the wine is made. Hence this is another cross-cultural reference: a French wine named after an Englishman.

Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder-General
A 17th-century British “Witch Finder General” responsible during 1645-1647 for the deaths of perhaps 230 people, finally himself hanged as a witch in 1647 (Robbins 249-253). He was particularly obsessed by the consorting of witches with imps and familiars: demonic creatures in the form of possessed animals, as depicted in the frontispiece of his pamphlet entitled The Discovery of Witches:.

Reproduced by permission of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University. Rushdie might have been made aware of Hopkins by the fame a 1982-1983 heavy metal rock called Witchfinder General. Information on the rock group.

Gremlins
In World War II, pilots invented mythical creatures called “gremlins” which were responsible for various mechanical malfunctions in their planes; but Rushdie may be referring to the demonic little creatures featured in the 1984 movie, Gremlins. Information on the film.

[189]

I am that I am
God’s definition of himself, or his name, in Exodus 3:14.

Page 183

Chin-Chin . . . Skol
British and Swedish expressions for “Drink up!”

[190]

killing old women
See below, p. 361.

Page 184

cannibal and Christian
Cannibals and Christians is the title of a 1966 collection of essays by Norman Mailer in which he opposes what he calls “the Right Wing” (“cannibals”) to all who believe in the potential goodness of humanity (“Christians”).

pista barfi and jalebis
Indian sweets (Hindi). Pista barfi would be a sort of fudge made with pistachios. Jalebi are deep fried swirls of saffron-flavored yellow dough.Recipe for ice cream barfi. A thick batter is poured in a stream into hot oil to make jalebis, which are then soaked in a sugar syrup. Recipe for jalebis.

chaloo chai
Sweetened spiced tea with milk (Hindi).

[191]

samosas
Pockets of bread filled with spiced meat or vegetable (Hindi).

Page 185

[192]

beard hennaed red
A mark of piety—Muhammed is said to have had a hennaed beard.

pice
Tiny coin, 100th of a rupee (Hindi).

rishi
Ancient Hindu sage (Sanskrit).

pir
A Muslim saint, wise man (Farsi).

Page 186

Like the Roman, the ferrety Enoch Powell had said, I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood.
On April 20, 1968, the racist British politician Enoch Powell, recently returned from observing the riotous aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King in the U.S., gave in Birmingham an inflammatory diatribe against a proposed race relations measure which vaulted him to instant prominence. He warned of a coming race war, stating: “like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.” The allusion is to a prophecy of war uttered by the Sibyl in Book VI of Virgil’s Aeneid. The prophecy is fulfilled on p. 462 [477].

Page 188

[194]

history sheeter
Indo-Anglian term for someone with a criminal record.

beastly dead
In the first chapter of James Joyce‘s Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus tells his friend Buck Mulligan that the day after his mother’s death, he had overheard Buck say to a visitor, “O, it’s only Dedalus, whose mother is beastly dead” (Booker 206, footnote 3). Here the “dead” man has been literally transformed into a beast.

Page 189

Why do you think prohibitions and instructions gladden Gibreel’s heart?

Page 190

[196]

Maslama
The name alludes to the Arabian “false prophet” known as “Musaylima the Liar” (Al-‘Azm 284 & Simawe 186), linked to Akbar by his unorthodox beliefs.

La-ilaha . . . illallah
The qalmah. See note above, on p. 105 [108].

universal faith invented by the Emperor Akbar
Akbar the Magnificent ruled over the Mughal Empire in India (1556-1605), repudiated orthodox Islam, and was deeply interested in the major beliefs of the world’s religions, including Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. He finally claimed theological infallibility and promulgated a blended religion of his own invention called “Teen Ilahi,” Arabic for “the religion (Diin) of God” or “Divine Faith” (Windsor).

music of the spheres
Influenced by the ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras, many Renaissance thinkers speculated about harmonies inaudible to mortals produced by the turning of the spheres of the heavens. More on the music of the spheres.

Page 191

[197]

bespoke tailoring
Hand-made clothing (very expensive).

milord
French term for an English gentleman.

producing advertising jingles
Like Rushdie himself.

Page 192

[198]

rainbow coalition of the celestial
Borrows Jessie Jackson’s term for his multi-racial coalition.

a walking United Nations of Gods
Margareta Petersson points out that Gibreel is also compared to the United Nations on p. 60 (Petersson 273).

How does Maslama fit into the theme of self-definition in this novel?

Page 193

[199] Bartica on the Essequibo
Bartica is a city at the mouth of the Essequibo River in Guyana. Map of Guyana.

Page 194

[200]

Handel’s Messiah
George Frederick Handel’s most popular composition is the “Hallelujah Chorus” from the oratorio Messiah. Information on Messiah.

Page 195

[202]

bibi
Usually wife, but here, woman (Hindi).

Kachori
Spiced breads. Kachori recipe .

Hi ho, it’s off to work.
From the song “Hi Ho” in the Disney film of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. See the reference to Snow White earlier in this paragraph.

Page 196

the old mantra: om mani padmè hum
A mantra is a formula repeated ritually in Buddhist meditation. The one quoted here in Sanskrit is the most famous, and means “The jewel in the lotus,” which refers to the Buddha. More on om mani padè hum.

[203]

yeti
The “abominable snowman,” a gigantic deadly monster believed by people in the Himalayas to seek human beings. More about the Yeti.

Page 198

[204]

Sherpa Pemba
Pemba Sherpa is one of the founders of Asian Trekking, the main organization that provides guides for Everest expeditions. Picture and more information about Pemba Sherpa.

What do we learn about Allie as she speaks to the schoolgirls? What kind of person does she seem to be?

Page 200

[206]

dressed in white, like a mourner at a funeral
In Muslim countries, mourners wear white, not black. It has snowed.

What kinds of plays on words is Rushdie indulging in in the last sentence of this chapter? Describe them.

Next chapter
Back to previous chapter
Back to Table of Contents

Plot outline for Chapter II

Gibreel falls asleep and “dreams” the beginning of the other main plot of the novel, the story of Mahound, more or less closely based on the traditions surrounding Muhammad and the founding of Islam in the seventh century. It is this plot that resulted in the attacks on Rushdie by Muslim critics. We see Mahound surveying the city of Jahilia and are introduced to various significant locales. The period corresponds historically to the early days of Muhammad’s preaching in Mecca, where he was not widely accepted, and the Ka’ba was still filled with pagan idols, including those of the three goddesses who are the focus of the “satanic verses.” Mahound’s preaching has earned the hatred of the ruler of Jahilia, Abu Simbel, whose fortune is derived from worshippers at their temples. Abu Simbel, aware that Baal is his wife Hind’s lover, blackmails the poet Baal to satirize the Mahound and his companions.

But then he tries a more effective alternative to render the prophet harmless by offering him toleration if he in turn will acknowledge the three goddesses whose temples he and his wife receive their income from. Mahound horrifies his followers by seeming to be willing to deviate from his message of strict monotheism. He consults with the Angel Gibreel, who has up to this point been dictating holy scripture to him, and becomes convinced that the “satanic verses” quoted at the bottom of p. 114 [top of p. 117], acknowledging the three goddesses, should be proclaimed as inspired, though the narrator hints on p. 112 [114] that they have been inspired not by God, but by the devil.

Mahound’s decision produces an orgy of celebration which results in death for some, and he himself wakes up in Hind’s bedroom. Mahound realizes the “satanic verses” are indeed satanic, and goes to the Ka’ba to repudiate them. A fierce persecution of Mahound’s followers is unleashed, and he has to flee to Yathrib. Gibreel dreams that he is being attacked by the goddesses, for in his dream-role as the archangel/devil he has been responsible both for suggesting the verses and repudiating them.

Note on the “Satanic Verses”

by Joel Kuortti

One of the most controversial topics in the Satanic Verses “affair” is the question of the “satanic verses” themselves. The title of the novel refers to an incident which is on the disputed terrain between fiction and fact. The “satanic verses” are, in transliteration from Arabic, tilk al-gharaniq al-’ula wa inna shafa’ata-hunna la-turtaja, and translate into English as “these are exalted females whose intercession is to be desired” (Satanic Verses p. 340). (Note on the translation of these verses.) The verses comprising this sentence are said to have been added to the 53rd sura of the Qur’an entitled Surat-annajm, The Star (53:19ff)in order to acknowledge the validity of the goddesses Lat, Manat, and ‘Uzza. The tradition goes on to say that the verses were later withdrawn and denounced as “satanic.”

But the historicity of the incident is disputed by some of the early Muslim historians, especially (Muhammad ben Yasar) Ibn Ishaq (d. 768 CE), (Muhammad Abu ‘Abdullah Ibn Umar) al-Waqidi (747-822 CE), (Muhammad Ibn Muslim Ibn Shihab) al-Zuhri (d.741 CE), Muhammad Ibn Sa’d (d. 845 CE), al-Tabari (c. 839-923 CE), Ibrahi. Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq’s editor, omits the passage, but it is preserved as a quotation from al-Tabari, in Guillaume’s translation of Ibn Ishaq (Ishaq 165-166. See Muir, pp.lxxix-lxxx).

Some Islamic and most non-Muslim Western commentators on the Qur’an have accepted this story of Muhammad’s momentary acceptance of the verses; others have repudiated it. But the prevailing Muslim view of what is called the “Gharaniq” incident is that it is a fabrication created by the unbelievers of Mecca in the early days of Islam, and, Haykal comments, afterwards the “story arrested the attention of the western Orientalists who took it as true and repeated it ad nauseam.” (Haykal 105) The main argument against the authenticity of the two verses in Haykal and elsewhere is that “its incoherence is evident upon the least scrutiny. It contradicts the infallibility of every prophet in conveying the message of His Lord.” (Haykal 107) In other words, since Muslims believe Muhammad to have faithfully reported God’s word, it is surprising that Muslim scholars have accepted such a discreditable story, and not at all surprising that it might have been invented by Islam’s enemies. In his analysis of the passage, Haykal comes to the conclusion that “this story of the goddesses is a fabrication and a forgery, authored by the enemies of Islam after the first century of Hijrah” (Haykal 144). Zakaria Bashier shares this view, though he further argues that even if the verses were to be regarded as being genuine, they would not impugn the Prophet’s infallibility because they were in fact uttered by Satan. (Bashier 175). He also refers to similar observations by al-Suhayili (see Bashier 173).

The argument that W.M. Watt, for his part, provides for the inarguable authenticity of the verses is that “it is inconceivable that any Muslim would invent such a story, and it is inconceivable that a Muslim scholar would accept such a story from a non-Muslim.” (Watt xxxiv). Similarly, in his highly controversial book Twenty-Three Years, the Iranian ‘Ali Dashti concludes that “the evidence given in well-attested reports and in the interpretations of certain commentators makes it likely that the incident occured.” (Dashti 32). As evidence for the possibility of such a recitation and its subsequent withdrawal, the following passage from the Qur’an is often cited: “And We did not send before you any apostle or prophet, but when he desired, the Shaitan made a suggestion respecting his desire; but Allah annuls that which is cast” (22:52). As the suras of the Qur’an are traditionally not presented in chronological order (and just what that order might be is generally under dispute), it could be possible that this passage is referring to such a withdrawal.

The verses were perhaps first named “satanic verses’ by Sir William Muir, as Ahsan notes (Ahsan 139, footnote 2). Later the term was widely adopted, for example by Watt in his book Muhammad at Mecca. Daniel Pipes explains that as the term “satanic verses” does not occur anywhere else than in Western Orientalists’ works, and states that Rushdie “unwittingly adopted a part of the orientalist tradition.” (Pipes 116) Rushdie maintains that the term “comes from al-Tabari, one of the canonical Islamic sources.” (Rushdie: “Choice between Light and Dark“ 11)

A list of references to the “satanic verses” in the novel.

Page 24
the incident of the Satanic verses in the early career of the Prophet

Page 114
The Star … At this point, without any trace of hesitation or doubt, he recites two further verses.

Have you thought upon Lat and Uzza, and Manat, the third, the other?’ . . . ‘They are the exalted birds, and their intercession is desired indeed.’

Page 123 the three winged creatures, looking like herons or swans or just women

‘It was the Devil . . .’

Page 124
He stands in front of the statues . . .

After the repudiation of the Satanic verses . . .

Page 340
he would still speak, at nights, verses in Arabic . . .

Page 366
What finally finished Salman with Mahound: the question of the women; and of the Satanic verses.

Page 368
I went on with my devilement, changing verses . . .

Page 373
Have you heard of Lat, and Manat, and Uzza . . .

There are allusions in the London plot from time to time which connect the verses to Gibreel:

Page 285
it proved impossible to identify the verses

Page 445
the return of the little, satanic verses that made him mad

Page 459
What does a poet write? Verses. What jingle-jangles in Gibreel’s brain? Verses. What broke his heart? Verses and again verses

Page 544
But I heard verses/You get me Spoono/V e r s e s

Note:

The transliteration is given without diacritical marks. The translation in The Satanic Verses here is closest to the one in William Muir, The Life of Mohammad from Original Sources 81). Another translation can be found in M. M. Ahsan: “These are the high-soaring ones (deities) whose intercession is to be hoped for!” (Ahsan 132). Arabic variants appear on pp.132 & 141 of the same source, and there are variant transliterations in Muhammad Husayn Haykal, p.111.

Rushdie’s own most extended discussion of this issue appears in his Critical Quarterly interview, pp. 59-62.

Karen Armstrong, in her Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, speculates about what truth might lurk behind this tale without necessarily alleging that Muhammad recognized the three goddesses as in any way comparable to God himself:

The gharaniq were probably Numidian cranes which were thought to fly higher than any other bird. Muhammad, who may have believed in the existence of the banat al-Llah as he believed in the existence of angels and jinn, was giving the “goddesses” a delicate compliment, without compromising his message. The gharaniq were not on the same level as al-Llah—not that anybody had suggested that they were—but, hovering as it were between heaven and earth, they could be valid intermediaries between God and man, like the angels, whose intercession is approved in the very next section of Sura 53. The Quraysh spread the good news throughout the city: “Muhammad has spoken of our gods in splendid fashion. He alleged in what he recited that they are the exalted gharaniq whose intercession is approved.”

Notes for Chapter II

Page 91

[93]

How is “falling asleep” made literal in this opening paragraph?

lote-tree of the uttermost end that stands beneath the Throne.
In Sura 53, verses 14-16 of the Qur’an,entitled “The Star,” It is said that a lote tree stands at the boundary of the garden of paradise. According to W. M. Thackston, “This tree, said to stand in the seventh heaven on the right hand of the Throne of God, is called al-muntaha, ‘of the limit,’ because it is the boundary beyond which even the angels do not pass” (al-Kisa’i 347; see also Haykal 141-142). It is the passage just following this into which the “satanic” verses are said to have been inserted and then withdrawn.

[94]

revealing the spring of Zamzam to Hagar the Egyptian
Refers to a famous story according to which Muslims believe that Hagar (Arabic Hajar), mother of all future Arabs, finds water in a well miraculously provided by Gibreel (Cornwell 195). Her quest is ritually reenacted by all those who go on the Hejira to Mecca, where the well is now enclosed by the Haram, the grand mosque. Her son Ismail (Ishmael) is considered the ancestor of all Arabs. See above, p. 17. Discussion of Muslim beliefs. Information about Zamzam. (Side note: There is an Iranian brand of soda pop called “Zamzam.”)

the Jurhum filled up Zamzam with mud and golden gazelles
The Jurhum, a tribe of Arabs, a daughter of which had married Ismail (Ishmael), filled the well of Zamzam in when they left Mecca. They had come to Mecca from the Yaman, and settled there before Hajar and Ismail arrived. They became the rulers of the temples and judges in Mecca. But it is said that they became “high-handed and made lawful what was taboo;” and other tribes rose against them and cast them out of the city, sending them into exile. Before they left, one of the Jurhum brought out two carved gazelles of the Ka’ba and the corner-stone, threw them into Zamzam, and covered the well over. Generations later, the tribe of the Quraysh gained control of the Ka’ba, and it was to one of them, ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib b. Hashim, who had responsibility for watering and feeding the pilgrims, that the vision came ordering him to dig up Zamzam. He was the grandfather of Muhammad. Speaking symbolically, the filling in of the well stands as part of the slide into ignorance (Jahiliya) and polytheism by the Meccans; along with the introduction of idols into the Ka’ba. (David Windsor). See Haykal, pp. 33 & 38.

Page 92

Muttalib of the scarlet tents
Muhammad’s grandfather’s name Abdul Muttalib. He like his father, was a merchant.. What is the reference to the scarlet tents? and the silver hair? Muhammad’s family tree.

I’ve had my bloody chips
British slang for to be finished, done for.

Cone Mountain
Note the pun on Alleluia Cone’s name. Plays a role in the novel similar to to Mount Hira where Muhammad received his first revelation (Netton: Text 27). For more on Mount Hira, see Haykal, pp. 70, 406.

Allahgod
The word for God in Arabic is “Allah.”

homosap
Homo sapiens (“wise human”) considered as a “sap” (fool).

Freedom, the old antiquest.
Pun on “Anti-Christ;” suggests that religion opposes freedom.

[95]

harpy
Vicious winged creatures in Greek mythology, implements of vengeance, most unangelic; but here the pun is on “harp,” the instrument traditionally played by angels.

What is said about the will versus submission in the last paragraph on this page?

Page 93

The businessman
Muhammed. The description that follows resembles the description of The Prophet in Haykal, p. 63.

opobalsam trees
These trees produce myrrh. Latin name Myroxylon samum.

Jahilia
A term used by Muslims to refer to the period of history preceding the revelation of the Qur’anto Muhammad, meaning “ignorance,” or “barbarism.” Commonly used as a term of contempt today meaning “unislamic” (Easterman34). Rushdie uses it as a name for Mecca or Makkah.

Mahomet
A common misspelling of Muhammad’s name in Europe from the Middle Ages through the 19th century.

farangis
Foreigners, Europeans (Hindi).

whigs, tories, Blacks
Each of these is a term originally used by its enemies to denigrate the designated group, but later adopted with pride by that very group. Compare Yankee, originally a British term of contempt for Americans.

Mahound
See note on Mahound, above, in Introduction.

What is your reaction to Rushdie’s explanation for choosing this name for his prophetic character?

Hijaz
The area in which Mecca is located.

Page 94

[97]

Zamzam
See note above, on p. 91 [94].

House of the Black Stone
The Kaaba, the temple enclosing the al-hadjar al-aswad,
the mysterious rock said to have fallen from heaven, the center of Muslim worship in Mecca, a focus of religious observances from before Islamic times. Pictures of the Kaaba.

Given the fact that most Middle-Eastern cities introduce pools and fountains wherever they can, what do you think is the significance of the symbolism of a city made of sand which abhors water?

Page 95

Khalid Khalid ibn al-Walid (d. 642) was converted to Islam in the year before Muhammad conquered Mecca and became early Islam’s most famous military leader apart from the Prophet himself. He is referred to again on p. 381 [385] as “General Khalid.”

Shark
See note in Introduction. Rushdie is stressing the appropriateness of the name for a tribe of businessmen.

Ismail
The Qur’anic spelling for character called Ishmael in the Bible. Gibreel was partly named after him. See note on “Ismail,” above, p. 17.

He moves in mysterious ways.
Alluding to the first lines of the Olney Hymn no. 35, “Light Shining Out of Darkness“ by William Cowper (1731-1800): “God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform.”

first Safa then Marwah
Two mounds between which pilgrims to Mecca still run in imitation of Hagar.

Arabia Odorifera
Latin for “fragrant Arabia.” The region was associated with spices in ancient and medieval times and it was said that one could smell them in the air. See, for instance, Rabanus Maurus’s De rerum naturis, Book 19: on aromatic herbs and trees in the Middle East (842-846).

balsam, cassia, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh
Fragrant substances; it is probably not a coincidence that the last two were often described as being given to the Christ child by the Magi.

Page 96 [98]

Monophysite
The belief that Christ had only one nature. More on Monophysites.

Nabataean
An ancient Arabian people; but the term is used in Arabic to label Syrian and Iraqi Aramaeans.

Basra
In southeastern Iraq. Information on Basra.

hashish
See above, note on p. 76 [78].

afeem
Opium.

Page 98

[100]

Anatolian slaves
Anatolia (modern Turkey) was a source of slaves from ancient times. Anatolia Throughout the Ages.

[99]

a series of rough circles
According to Rushdie, this feature of Jahilia is modelled on Delhi (“In Good Faith“ 409).

Page 97

onager
A wild ass (Equus hemionus) of southwestern Asia. More about Onagers.

[100]

the satirist
Muhammad was much troubled by satirical poets who attacked him and had one, named Ka’b, assassinated (Armstrong 185).

Baal.
Originally the name of a Middle Eastern sky-god worshipped by the original inhabitants of Israel, much denounced but occasionally worshipped by Jews. In the Bible his worship is fiercely denounced, and his name eventually became synonymous with “Devil.” He is also often referred to as “Baalzebul” (“Lord of Lords”), although these were evidently originally separate gods. More on Baalzebub.

Why do you think Rushdie has chosen this as the name of his satirist?

Page 99

[101]

Hubal . . . Kain
The Arabic spellings of “Abel” and “Cain.”

Amalekites
A Semitic people who figure as enemies of the Israelites in the Bible, and whose descent are traced from Esau. See Exodus 17:8-16, I Samuel 15:1-33. Arabic scholars identify them with the ancient Arab tribe of Abulfeda, ruling for a long period over Mecca. More information on the Amalekites.

Uzza . . . Manat . . . Al-Lat . . .
Not only were these three pre-Islamic goddesses worshipped in Mecca, but at temples of their own in, respectively Taif, Qudayd, and Naklah. More information about the goddesses and their worship.

Page 101

[103]

Bilal
Bilal b. Rabah, was a freed Abyssinian slave and appointed by Muhammad as his first muezzin (Netton: Text, p. 28). See note on “Bilal X”, below, p. 207 [213].

some sort of bum from Persia by the outlandish name of Salman
Salman al-Farisi was an early Persian convert to Islam, but this is also a sly reference to the author’s first name (Netton: Text, p. 28). David Windsor adds, “he was one of the actual companions of the Prophet (though not one of the scribes of the Recitation, as he is in the novel) and is credited with the idea of digging the trench (in the battle that gets it name from it) which defeated the Meccan cavalry. (See Haykal 303 and Armstrong 203).

Why does Abu Simbel oppose Mahound so fiercely?

Page 102

[104]

They stretched him out in the fairground with a boulder on his chest.
See note above on p. 43.

What does Abu Simbel mean by his answer to the question, “What kind of idea am I?”

manticore
See “manticorps,” below, p. 361 [373].

Page 103

[105]

Zafar
A city in Yemen, founded in the 13th century. Rushdie undoubtedly mentioned this city partly because its name is also that of his son by his first wife, and to whom Haroun and the Sea of Stories is dedicated.

Sheba
The kingdom also known as Saba, in southern Arabia, considered by many scholars to be the Biblical Sheba.

Yathrib
The original name of Medina before Muhammad moved there in 622, the second most sacred city of Islam, object of the Hejira or Hijrah.

Midian
The area bordering the Gulf of Aqaba opposite the Sinai Peninsula.

Aqabah
Or Aqaba, the port city at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Petra
Ancient city in southwest Jordan, capital of the Nabataeans.

Palmyra
Ancient city in Central Syria, northeast of Damascus. Legend says it was built by Solomon. Although the Bible does not indicate that Solomon and Sheba were lovers, legend linked them romantically. Information and photos about Palmyra.

[106]

gangs of young Sharks
The Tribe of Mahound (see above, Introduction) but very likely also a reference to the Puerto Rican gang called “The Sharks” in Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, which, like this novel, has a theme of interracial strife. More information on West Side Story.

Page 104

[106]

Ablutions
Muslims must ceremoniously wash certain parts of their body before prayers.

[107]

Hamza
The name of the uncle of the historical Muhammad. (See Netton: Dictionaryp. 95.)

Page 105

[107]

When you come down from Coney there’s a brightness on you.
Compare with the Biblical tradition that when Moses descended from Mount Ararat after receiving the Law from God, his face shone (Exodus 34:35).

[108]

There is no god but God.
The central statement of faith of Islam, the shahada or qalmah: “La ilaha ilallah! La ilaha!” A fuller translation is: “There is no God but God, the God”.

Page 108

[110]

pee oh vee
POV: point of view.

steadicam
A camera on an ingenious mechanical mounting that allows it to compensate for the movements of the person carrying it, so that a hand-held shot looks steady.

bazooms
Old-fashioned slang for “bosoms.”

[111]

travelling mat
A special effect in film which allows the insertion of a person into a scene where he/she has actually never been.

Page 109

bhaenchud
Literally means “one who sleeps with his sister;” but used very commonly as a very insulting expletive like “fucking” (Hindi, Urdu).

Page 110

[112]

flew me to Jerusalem
Refers to a miraculous journey taken by Muhammad, the ‘isra (“Night Flight”). See Armstrong pp. 138-142. More information on the ‘isra.

Page 111

[113]

Allah Ishvar God
Listing in order Muslim, Hindu and Christian terms for the deity.

What do you think the repeated refrain “What kind of an idea are you/am I” is meant to indicate? Keep track of the various uses to which this phrase is put throuhgout the novel.

Page 112

[114]

epileptic fit
In some early Western commentaries on Islam, Mumhammad’s visions were ascribed to epileptic fits (Kuortti).

Page 113

[116]

that famous Grecian profile . . .
Compare with the description of Ayesha below, p. 206 [212].

kahin
Muhammad was accused of being a seer or kahin (Arabic) by the inhabitants of Mecca early in his career, one of several accusations against him made previous to his recognition as the Prophet (Götje. 9, Bader 69). When the angel Gibreel first ordered Muhammad to recite, he protested that he could not, that he was not a kahin (Armstrong 46).

Page 114

The Star
Each sura, or chapter in the Qur’an has a title, in this case “The Star” (Sura 53). The added verses are, of course, the “Satanic” verses of the title, and there is indeed a rather obscure Muslim tradition which tells how these verses were at first included, then rejected. Detailed discussion of the “satanic verses”. See also above, p. 24, and below, p. 123 [125-126]. See also Haykal, pp. 105-114.

Note the seeming results of Mahound’s new “revelation” on the following pages and discuss them.

Page 115

[117]

Allahu Akbar
“God is Great,” part of the traditional Islamic call to prayer (Arabic). More about Islamic prayer.

Page 117

[119]

gryphons
Monsters combining the forequarters of eagles and the hindquarters of lions. Also spelled “Griffins.” More about gryphons.

salamanders
Because salamanders were often found basking in the still-warm ashes of extinct fires they were thought to be able to live in flames and were attributed all sorts of miraculous properties.

rocs
The roc was the gigantic bird that carried off Sinbad in The Thousand and One Nights.

amphisbaenae
Two-headed serpents of Greek myth.

Assyrian Sphinx
The Assyrian figures of winged bulls with bearded human heads have sometimes been called by this name by analogy with the Egyptian sphinx, which has the body of a lion and head of a man. Pictures of Assyrian bulls.

Djinns
See note above, on p. 22.

houris
Beautiful, virginal maidens provided for the pleasure of the saved (men) in the Muslim paradise (Arabic). See Introduction.

Page 118

[121]

Isa . . . Maryam
Jesus and Mary. Jesus is a miraculously born prophet of God in Islam, but not God’s son.

Page 120

[122]

simurgh
In Persian mythology, a gigantic bird. Rushdie called his first novel Grimus, a near-anagram of “simurgh.”

hippogriffs
Mythical monster combining the forequarters of a griffin and the hindquarters of a horse. See above, note on “gryphon,” on p. 117 [119].

[123]

He knows I take lovers
According to tradition, Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan (after whom Abu Simbel is patterned), had many lovers (Haykal 319).

Page 123

[125]

wrestling match with the Archangel Gibreel
Refers to Jacob’s wrestling match with an angel (or God himself, depending on how you read Genesis 32:24-32). An article on this story.

[126]

Why does the narrator say “it was me both times”? What is the significance of this statement?

Page 124

[127]

These are but names you have dreamed of, you and your fathers. Allah vests no authority in them.’
Verses from the chapter called “The Star“ in the Qur’an.

Page 125

Submission
“Islam” literally means “submission.”

Yathrib
See note above, on p. 103 [127].

Next chapter
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Back to Table of Contents

Plot Summary for Chapter I

This chapter is preceded by an epigraph from Book I, Chapter VI of Daniel Defoe’s The Political History of the Devil as well Ancient as Modern (London: T. Warner, 1726), p. 81. Defoe’s location of Satan’s abode as the air is of course highly appropriate for this novel in which the demonic falls from the air. But more importantly, the Devil is a wanderer, an image of the rootless immigrant. More details from Martine Dutheil.

The novel opens with the two main characters, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, falling to earth because the plane they have been flying in has just been blown up by the terrorists who have hijacked it. We are then told a good deal of detail about their backgrounds, their occupations, their love affairs, and how they happened to find themselves together on the plane. Then the story of the hijacking is told, leading up to the moment of explosion which began the novel.

Page 3

Notes for Chapter I

Why do you think the novel begins the way it does?

Ta-taa! Takathun!
Syllables used in teaching traditional rhythms.

Baba
A common meaning is “old holy man,” but Rushdie points out that in this context it “means ‘young fellow,’ or even in certain contexts “mister” or “sir.” (Hindi, Urdu) (personal communication from Salman Rushdie).

If you want to get born again . . .
. . . first you have to die. See note below, p. 85 [86], note on Gramsci.

twenty-nine thousand and two feet
The height of Mount Everest, to which the height of the fall is compared on the next page. Falling is a major motif throughout the novel (Seminck 35). See, for instance, note below on p. 133 [137]. Everest from Kala Patar.

‘I tell you, you must die, I tell you, I tell you,’
Refrain from “The Whisky Song” from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill‘s The Decline and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930) memorably recorded by Jim Morrison as “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” on the album The Doors.

gazal
A classical Persian poetic form. More commonly ghazal (also Urdu).

bhai
Brother (Hindi).

yaar
Friend (Hindi).

Dharraaammm
Sound of the impact of something that has fallen (Hindi).

Page 4

big bang
Refers to the explosion which astrophysicists posit began the universe.

Bostan
One of the traditional heavens of Islam, another being Gulistan (Farsi). Two famous 13th-century Persian didactic classics by Sadi are titled Bostan and Gulistan (Mojtabai 3). See pp. 31, 364 [376] & 512 [526].

Flight AI-420, blew apart without any warning
This incident seems to be a conflation of elements based on two different events. On June 14, 1985 a TWA flight was hijacked by a band of Shiite terrorists, from Athens to a series of airports, ending in Beiruit, where the plane sat on the runway until July 1, with people being released at various intervals. On June 23, 1985, Air India (AI) Flight 182, en route from Canada via London to India, crashed into the ocean 120 miles southwest of Ireland, killing all on board. Sikh separatists were suspected of having planted a bomb (see Jiwa). After the publication of the novel, on December 21, 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board in a manner strikingly reminiscent of the Flight A I-420 explosion. The flight number has negative associations discussed in the second note on p. 5, below. Some Indian readers saw a parallel of this scene to a scene in An Evening in Paris (Paris Ki Ek Shyam, 1967, dir. Shakti Samanta), a Bombay film in which Shammi Kapoor descended from a helicopter singing to a water-skiing Sharmila Tagore, “Asman se aya farishta” (“An angel has descended from the sky”) (Ali 295). A chronology of hijackings. Information about Shammi Kapoor. He is the son of Raj Kapoor.

Mahagonny
See above, note for p. 3

Babylon
The capital of the Neobabylonian ( Chaldean) Empire which conquered ancient Judea and took the Jews into exile; in prophetic writings and in the book of Revelation a synonym for decadent apocalyptic evil; in first century Christian thought a metaphor for Rome, later used as a label for any great power seen as evil; in Jamaican Rastafarian thought, the capitalist world and more specifically, The United States.

Alphaville
The weirdly dehumanized futuristic city of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film by the same name. Poster for the film.

Vilayet
Literally “foreign country,” used as a name for England (Hindi).

winked blinked nodded
Allusion to the childhood rhyme by Eugene Field, “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.” Text of the poem.

a quantity of wives . . . a sufficiency of children
Rushdie would seem to have forgotten that on p. 79 [80] it is said that the women and children were all previously released by the hijackers.

What aspects of the immigrant experience are alluded to in the bottom paragraph on this page?

Page 5

English Sleeve
The French name for the English Channel is La Manche, which means “the sleeve.”

“Oh, my shoes are Japanese . . .”
The song is “Mera joota hai japaani” from the 1955 film Shree 420 (Mr. 420), directed by Raj Kapoor, music by Shankar Jaikishen, lyrics by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri:
Translation of the song lyrics:

My shoes are Japanese,
These pants are English
The red hat on my head is Russian
Still my heart is Indian.

(walking)
I’m out on the open road, proud-chested
Only God knows where all I might go
I’ll move onward like a raging flood.

My shoes are Japanese,
These pants are English
The red hat on my head is Russian
Still my heart is Indian.

(on camel)
Up and down, down and up moves the wave of life
Those who sit on the river bank and ask the way home are naive
Moving on is the story of life, stopping is the mark of death.

My shoes are Japanese,
These pants are English
The red hat on my head is Russian
Still my heart is Indian.

(on elephant)
There may be kings, or princes, but I am a spoiled prince
And sit on the throne whenever I desire.
My face is renowned, and people are amazed.

My shoes are Japanese,
These pants are English
The red hat on my head is Russian
Still my heart is Indian.

My shoes are Japanese,
These pants are English
The red hat on my head is Russian
Still my heart is Indian.

Based on translations by Nandi Bhatia, by permission of Jennifer Wenzel, and Poorvi Vora.

Joel Kuortti points out that Rushdie had already discussed same song in his essay, “The Indian Writer in England.” Information about Raj Kapoor.

“420” has for several decades been a negative expression in India, suggesting corruption and other forms of political villainy, because it alludes the number of a statute forbidding corrupt practices. (Aravamudan: “‘Being God’s Postman is No Fun, Yaar'” 7-8). In Midnight’s Children Rushdie says that the number symbolizes “fraud and deception” (193).

[6]

changes took place . . . that would have gladdened the heart of old Mr Lamarck
Jean Baptiste-Pierre Antoine de Lamarck (1744-1829) a French naturalist, developed the theory that characteristics acquired by living things during their lifetimes could be inherited by their offspring; an idea rejected by modern genetics.

flew too close to the sun
Refers to the classical myth of Daedalus, who tried to escape his island prison with his son Icarus using wings made of feathers fastened on with wax. But when Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted and he plunged to his death in the sea. Daedalus is also the last name of the protagonist of James Joyce‘s Ulysses, a work often alluded to in The Satanic Verses. Another Joyce site. Online version of Ulysses.

What aspects of change are discussed in the paragraph beginning “Yessir?”

Page 6

What attitudes characteristic of the two men falling are expressed by the songs they choose to sing?

lyrics by Mr James Thomson “. . . at Heaven’s command . . . .
From the first verse of “Rule, Britannia!’

When Britain first, at heaven’s command,
Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sing their strain–
Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.

David Windsor points out that Thomson was a Scot (which explains why the title of his song refers to Great Britain rather than simply England). Thomson went to England in search of work and had to take lessons to change his accent; so he, like so many others in this novel, was a colonial immigrant.

[7]

Wonderland
See note below, on Wonderland, p. 55 [56].

cloudforms, ceaselessly metamorphosing
Alludes to Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1st century BC), which recounts many examples of people being transformed into other beings. Rushdie says of the Metamorphoses:

It’s one of my favourite books and after all this is a novel about metamorphosis. It’s a novel in which people change shape, and which addresses the great questions about a change of shape, about change, which were posed by Ovid: about whether a change in form was a change in kind. Whether there is an essence in us which survives transmutation, given that, even if we don’t change into, you know, cloven-hoofed creatures, there is a great deal of change in everybody’s life. The question is whether or not there is an essential centre. And whether we are just a collection of moments, or whether there is some kind of defining thread. The book discusses that, I think, it uses the idea of physical metamorphosis in order to discuss that. And so, of course, Ovid was important.

Also I thought the book itself was conceived as one which constantly metamorphosed. It keeps turning into another kind of book. Certainly, from my point of view, that was technically one of the biggest gambles. Because I couldn’t be sure that the readers would come along for the ride. It was something which could be irritating. Imagine that you’re reading a certain kind of book and you’re suddenly stuck with another kind of book.

Rushdie: “Interview,” p. 58.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Page 7
woman of a certain age
Translation of a traditional French phrase used to describe a middle-aged woman.

Bokhara rug
Red rugs and carpets woven by Turkmen and Uzbeks (Kuortti).

for your eyes only
Security clearance marking for highly secret data, often abbreviated “eyes only,” also used as the title of a James Bond novel and film.

Why do you think no one can see Rekha but Gibreel?

sour nothings
The opposite of “sweet nothings:” affectionate comments; therefore these are probably curses.

saw nothing, heard nothing, said nothing
A formerly popular image consisted of three monkeys covering, respectively, their eyes, ears, and mouth. They were said to be Chinese, and called “see no evil,” “hear no evil,” and “speak no evil.”

[8]

It was you, O moon of my delight, who hid behind a cloud. And I in darkness, blinded, lost, for love.
This looks like the lyrics to a song, but the words are original with Rushdie (personal communication from Salman Rushdie).

Page 8

Al-Lat
See p. 100 [102].

Page 10

who has the best tunes?
An allusion to a reply of John Wesley when he was reproached for setting his hymns to popular tunes to the effect that the Devil shouldn’t have all the best tunes.

Why do you think Rushdie has chosen the Devil as his narrator?

Page 11

the Phantom Bug
This incident is based on an actual incident in the life of actor Amitabh Bachchan. Says Rushdie:

He had an accident on set and almost died. Well, the whole country fell into a state of shock. It was the lead item on the news for weeks: bulletins from the hospital on the hour. Rajiv Gandhi cancelled a trip abroad, came home to sit by his bedside, and so on and so on. This extraordinary event struck me as being made for a novel. Something like the death of a god, almost.

Rushdie: “Interview,” p. 52.

D. W. Rama
Depicts a famous Indian film director under an alias composed of a typical Indian name and the first two initials of the famous Hollywood director of historical epics, D. W. Griffith (1875-1948).

In what sense is reincarnation important to Gibreel?

Page 12

ekdumjaldi
Suddenly, abruptly (Hindi).

Willingdon Club golf links
This Bombay golf club would seem to have been named after one in in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

maharaj
Great lord or prince. More commonly encountered in English as Maharaja (Hindi).

Pimple Billimoria
Billimoria is a familiar name in Indian film: D. and E. Bilimoria were popular stars beginning in the silent era and Fali Billimoria directed documentaries in the 1950s. However, her first name is probably a joking pun on the name of Bombay star Dimple Kapadia. Information about Dimple Kapadia.

[13]

flibberti-gibberti
Derived from “flibbertigibbet,” a foolish or flighty woman. This sort of expression, with paired words differing only in their beginnings, is common in Urdu as well as in English (“higgledy-piggledy,” “mumbo-jumbo”) and is one of Rushdie’s favorite linguistic devices. He uses it throughout Midnight’s Children, but there are also other examples in The Satanic Verses: “glum chum,” “moochy pooch” (both on p. 249 [257]), and “tarty-farty” (p. 284). (Joel Kuortti)

temple-dancer
See below, note on temple-dancing, p. 37.

copulating Tantric figures from the Chandela period
Tantrism is a form of religion popular in Tibet and parts of northern India which sometimes involves extensive sexual imagery. Several temples at Khajuraho were built under the Chandela (or Candella) of Bundelkhand in the 10th and 11th centuries AD, covered with detailed carvings of gods, humans, and animals in all manner of sexual activities. A sample sculpture, milder than most, but not for minors.

beedis
Hand-rolled cigarettes (Hindi).

ayah
Maid (Hindi).

Page 13

saturnine
Originally, like the god Saturn: heavy, gloomy, morose. Here, perhaps suggestive of Satanic. The irony is of course that the actor with the name of an angel has the breath of a devil.

We are creatures of air, Our roots in dreams And clouds, reborn in flight.
This note left behind by Gibreel is punctuated so that it suggests an excerpt from a poem, but it is an original composition by Rushdie (personal communication from Salman Rushdie).

How does this note foreshadow what happens to Gibreel in the opening pages of the novel?

[14]

Everest Vilas skyscraper on Malabar Hill
Named after the world’s highest mountain, this is located at the highest point in the most elegant residential district in Bombay. The misspelling of “villas” may satirize the tendency for English names to be rendered with a quaint twist in India. The Rushdie family home in India is called “Anees Villa Estate.” See below, note on Solan, p. 514 [527].

Marine Drive
A coastal road running along the Back Beach of Bombay, from Malabar Hill to Nariman Point. (Kuortti).

Scandal Point
Scandal Point is located on Warden Road, now renamed Bhulabhai Desai Road (personal communication from Salman Rushdie).

Blitz
CinéBlitz, a Bombay film magazine. The CineBlitz home page.

Busybee
Nickname of Behram Contractor, editor of the Bombay Afternoon Despatch and Courier. More information on Contractor. (Kuortti)

Page 14
Reza Pahlevi
The pretentious and tyrannical Shah of Iran who hosted a lavish celebration of 3,000 years of Persian history at the ancient capital of Persepolis shortly before he was overthrown in the Islamic revolution which is to loom large later in the novel. Overview of Iranian history.

Doordarshan
The Indian national government television network.

Colaba
The Colaba Causeway on the southern part of Bombay Island contains elegant hotels, restaurants, and shops. (Kuortti).

klims and kleens
Kilims are a flat woven carpets, thinner than the traditional knotted sort, whose Farsi name is usually rendered “gleem” in the carpet trade. The implication is that Rekha aspires to connoisseurship in using these technical terms, but mispronounces them, as she does “antiques” below. More on kilims.

How is Rekha characterised in the paragraph beginning, “Who was she?” What are her main traits, and how are they symbolized here?

[15]

Lalique crystal
RenÉ Lalique (1860-1945), French designer of elegant jewelry and other precious objects for the rich.

Chola Natraj
A priceless traditional Hindu sculpture from the period of the Chola dynasty which ruled Southern India in the 9th-12th Centuries, C.E. A Natraj or Nataraja is a traditional depiction of a six-armed Shiva dancing in a ring of fire. He bears a crescent moon on his brow, has serpents entwined around him, holds a flame in the open palm of one hand, dances on a dwarf symbolizing ignorance and beats out a rhythm on a drum. He both dances the world into creation and to destruction. A Chola Natraj (Hindi).

Page 15
Rekha Merchant’s dive with her children from the Everest Vilas, imitating literally Gibreel’s figurative “dive underground” on p. 13 [14], may allude to a moment in the life of Muhammad when he was tempted to throw himself down from Mount Hira (Haykal 79). See note below on Cone Mountain, p. 92 [94]. Compare with the similar temptation during Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness (Luke 4:9).

To be born again, first you have to
See above, note on p. 3. See p. 84 [86] for the complete phrase, and below, note on p. 85.

lala
Usually a male who cares for children, but it can also mean a clerk (Hindi).

Olympians
Ancient Greek Gods who dwelled on Mount Olympus, associated here with Mount Everest, one of the tallest mountains in the world, north of India in the Himalayas, after which the lavish Everest Vilas where Rekha Merchant lived was named, and which Alleluia Cone has climbed.

Page 16
a star gone supernova
When an old star explodes it creates a brilliant new point of light in the sky as viewed from earth; the largest are known as supernovae.

theologicals
Rushdie says of these films:

the kind of religious movies that Gibreel acts in are not really called “theologicals”. They’re actually called “mythologicals”. But I just thought I’d make them more intellectual. Also, mythological movies have not really been a Bombay cinema form. They’ve, more or less exclusively, been a South Indian form and it’s Tamil cinema that has particularly gone in for them. And they have created at least one major political figure. The former Chief Minister for Tamil Nadu [actually Andhra Pradesh, just north–PB], N. T. Rama Rao started out as a person who played gods in the movies. He stood for election and he won.

For Gibreel I first transposed the South Indian form to Bombay. There are movies in Bombay where you get a deus ex machina: it is not uncommon for a god to arrive at an important moment in the plot and play a part. But, retelling the stories of the Indian tradition is not a Bombay form. So that’s one, if you like, fictionalisation.

Rushdie: “Interview,” p. 52.

More information on N. T. Rama Rao.

Krishna
When a demon attempted to suckle the infant Krishna with her poisonous milk, he survived miraculously, but turned a deep blue color. Devotional images of Krishna.

[17]

gopis
In HIndu myth, the lover-playmates of Krishna, wives of cowherds. Their devotion to him is expressed in highly sexual terms which are taken allegorically by Hindus. More information about the gopis. Another site on Krishna and the gopis.

Gautama
The historical name of the figure known as the Buddha. Protected by his parents from knowledge of death, aging and disease, he was shocked to discover at the age of seven that suffering existed and twenty-nine left his home to find a way to deal with this knowledge. The life of the Buddha.

bodhi-tree
An Indian fig tree (from the Sanskrit), ficus religosa, regarded as sacred by Buddhists because the Buddha achieved his enlightenment while meditating under one. A bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, Birhar (NE India) is said to be a descendent of the tree under which Buddha meditated (Westphal).

Grand Mughal . . . Akbar and Birbal
The Grand Mughal Akbar the Magnificent (ruler of 16th-century India), and his warrior chieftain/poet/minister who was famous for his wit. Sample stories. The Mughal Dynasty of Muslim rulers was founded when Babur invaded India in 1526 and governed much of northern India until the 18th Century. Much of the art and architecture we now associate with India, such as the Taj Mahal, actually consists of Persian-influenced Mughal-era creations. Many Hindus, especially those of lower castes, converted to Islam during this era, giving rise to families like that of Gibreel, and Rushdie himself.

Page 17
jackfruit
Large sweet fruit common in South and Southeast Asia.

Avatars
Reincarnations of a god (Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali). Krishna, for instance, is the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Reincarnation is basic to Hinduism, both for gods and humans, as well as other living beings.

What is the meaning of the contrast made on this page between divine reincarnation and secular incarnation?

Pune of Rajneesh
A town in Maharashtra, the home and former operating base of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh (later called “Osho”) and his cult.

Vadodara
Gujarat town now renamed Baroda.

Mumbai
The name “Bombay” probably evolved from the name of a local earth goddess, Mumba Devi, or Mumbai. In 1995 the local government changed the name of the city to Mumbai. General information on Bombay.

Ismail after the child involved in the sacrifice of Ibrahim
Refers to the Islamic version of the story contained in Genesis 22 according to which God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac; in this version it is his brother Ishmael who is involved. See also p. 95 [97].

[18]

mummyji
Affectionate term for mother, combining British “Mummy” with honorific Hindi suffix “-ji.’

Page 18

tiffins
Originally a mid-morning snack, now any sort of light meal or snack.

dabbas
Lunchboxes (Hindi), typically containing hot foods cooked at home, then delivered to the workplace by a dabbawalla, a lunch-delivery person (Kuortti).

the inflight inevitability of Walter Matthau . . . Goldie Hawn
The movie is Cactus Flower(1969).

Gandhi cap
A soft cloth hat worn by members of the Congress party, notably Jawaharlal Nehru, as a symbol of nonsectarian support for a unified India. A picture of Gandhi wearing a cap.

Santacruz
“Santa Cruz” means “Holy Cross,” Bombay was under Portuguese rule before it was given as a dowry to the British (in 1661)–but many Catholic place names remained. Both the name of the airport and the “triumphal arch” of the gateway mentioned on p. 39 are reminders of the colonial past.

Page 19

muqaddam
Leader (Hindi).

Page 20

buddha-fat
The Japanese paunchy figure often called a Buddha is actually Hotei (Chinese Pu-tai), and is a deity of good fortune. According to some beliefs, Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, will be incarnated in the form of Hotei, so that Hotei is often regarded as a Bodhisattva. See The Zany Zen: “Hakuin’s Self-Portrait in the Image of Hotei.”

BTCA
Bombay Tiffin Carriers Association (see above, p. 19 [19-20])

Page 22

green-tinged spectacles
In the original L. Frank Baum novel, The Wizard of Oz, all those who enter the Emerald City must wear green glasses, which turns out to be a ruse by the wizard to deceive people into thinking that the city is really all green. Here the spectacles reveal magic rather than replacing it. Rushdie is a serious Oz fan and authored a tribute to the film (The Wizard of Oz, London: British Film Institute, 1992). Rushdie has in common with Baum a taste for both fantasy and wordplay. Another Wizard of Oz Site. Information about the movie.

the Prophet at the time when, having been orphaned . . .
Refers to a period in the life of the Prophet Muhammed, implying that he married for money. The first of many references in the book which many Muslims find blasphemous, and which is labelled as such here by the author, though the thought is attributed to Gibreel, not Rushdie. A brief life of Muhammad.

Page 21

the final grace
The ultimate goal of pious Hindus is not reincarnation, which is technically viewed as a curse; but stepping off the wheel of rebirth (samsara) to achieve liberation (moksha). However, people not ready for moksha often find the prospect of reincarnation appealing.

phutt, kaput
Fortuitously rhyming words in (respectively) Hindi and German implying that something has ceased. (Americans spell a similar expression “pfft.”) “Phutt” originally suggested the sound of a candle-flame going out, but it can also mean “Gone!” For instance: “Oh yaar he is phut” (meaning that he has just suddenly, dramatically disappeared). . . (Hussain).

baprebap
A common exclamatory Hindi phrase, literally meaning “father of father,” but used to express a sense of amazement and wonder, among many other feelings. A rough English equivalent would be “O my God!” Often spelled “bap-re-bap.” (Hussain)

The account of his education into the supernatural is strikingly remiscent of Gabriel García Márquez’s accounts of his upbringing by a storytelling grandmother who made the miraculous seem ordinary. One of the defining characteristics of García Márquez’s work is the introduction of fantastic elements into otherwise realistic narratives in such a way that they are taken for granted. Compare García Márquez’s technique with Rushdie’s.

Page 22

How does the young Gibreel learn about Muhammad, and how does this learning relate to the account of Mahound in the next chapter?

afreets
Arabic demons (also spelled “afrits”).

djinns
In Muslim tradition, powerful spirits which can transform themselves into various shapes, also spelled “jinns,” “jinees,” and “genies” (Arabic).

sari-pallu
The loose end of a sari which is normally thrown over the shoulder (Hindi).

Gibreel is imagining himself as a new bride, with the “sari pallu” drawn over his face, about to be married off to Babasaheb Mhatre. When the new husband lifts the “sari pallu” off his new wife’s face (theoretically seeing her for the first time), it is a very erotic moment (Windsor).

Page 23

four wilderness years he failed to kiss a single woman on the mouth.
Alludes to the forty days of wandering in the wilderness which Christ underwent before he started preaching (Matthew 4:1-11) and to the fact that until recently it was forbidden in India to depict kissing on the screen.

What do the items in the list which begins at the bottom of this page have to do with this novel?

[24]

avatars of Jupiter
In Greco-Roman mythology Jupiter (Greek “Zeus” takes on many different forms, primarily in order to mate with human women, using the Indian term “avatar” (see note above, p. 17). Several of the subjects that Gibreel studies are later to become elements in his dreams. Information on Zeus’ affairs with various women.

Page 24

the boy who became a flower
The beautiful but vain Narcissus. The myth of Narcissus, as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

the spider-woman
Arachne, who was turned into a spider for daring criticize the gods in a weaving contest with Athena. The title given her here is possibly also an allusion to Manuel Puig’s novel Kiss of the Spiderwoman, or to the 1985 movie based on it. Information about the movie.

Circe
the seductive witch in Homer’s Odyssey who transforms the crew of Odysseus into pigs. More about Circe.

Annie Besant
(1837-1933) English spokeswoman for Theosophy, a mystical philosophy heavily influenced by Hinduism. More information about Annie Besant.

unified field theory
A definition from NASA: “Any theory which attempts to express gravitational theory and electromagnetic theory within a single unified framework; usually, an attempt to generalize Einstein‘s general theory of gravitation alone to a theory of gravitation and classical electromagnetism” (NASA Thesaurus). Since no one has yet succeeded in developing such a theory, it remains as fantastic as the other elements mentioned in this list. Encyclopedia Britannica article on unified field theory.

incident of the Satanic verses
The first mention of this theme. See below, Chapter II.

butterflies could fly into young girl’s mouths
See below, note on p. 217 [223].

puranas
Ancient Hindu scriptures (400 BCE-1400 CE) derived from oral traditions surrounding the Vedas and the Mahabharata, concentrating on tales of Shiva and Vishnu (Kuortti) (Sanskrit).

Ganesh
The Hindu elephant god often associated with prosperity. Sometimes called Ganesha.

[25]

Ganpati Baba
“Lord Ganesh” (Hindi).

Hanuman the monkey king
His adventures, based on tales in the Ramayana, are extremely popular in India and throughout much of the rest of Asia. Picture of Hanuman. More information on the Ramayana.

Hong Kong
A center of production for cheap, sensational movies shown all over Asia.

Page 26

Greta Garbo
Classic film beauty of the twenties and thirties. Information on Greta Garbo.

Gracekali
Pun on “Grace Kelly,” a fifties film beauty, later the Princess of Monaco, and “Kali,” the destroyer goddess of Hindu mythology. Rushdie notes, however, that this is actually a three-way pun, alluding to another sense of “‘kali,” “a flower-bud . . . so ‘Gracekali’ could also mean ‘Gracebud'” (personal communication from Salman Rushdie). More information about Kali.

[27]

Jaisalmer
A remote town in NW Rajastan built from sandstone in 1156 by a Bhatti Rajput prince, Mahwarawal Jaisal, famous for its exquisite Jain temples and other historic buildings, from which these carved stone lattices were probably taken. Pictures and travel information on Jaisalmer. Picture of a house facade in Jaisalmer including typical carved stone screens on its balconies.

chhatri
Rounded dome (Hindi).

surely gods should not partake of alcohol
Strict Hindus abstain from alcohol, as do strict Muslims.

Aga Khan
Rushdie was probably thinking of Ali Khan, a notorious playboy of the royal family of Egypt, fond of both drink and Hollywood stars.

Page 27

lafanga
No good bum, vagrant (Hindi).

haramzada
Literally “bastard,” a scoundrel: a common term of contempt (Jussawalla: “Post-Joycean” 228) (Hindi, Urdu).

salah
Literally “wife’s brother” (Hindi, Urdu) or “brother-in-law,” but typically used as an insult, implying “I sleep with your sister.” Not to be confused with bhaenchud, which Literally means “one who sleeps with his sister;” .

[28]

Kanya Kumari . . . Cape Comorin
Cape Comorin is the southmost point of mainland India in Tamil Nadu; Kanyakumari (the more usual spelling) is named after an incarnation of Parvati; the place is the destination of pilgrimages by Hindus (Kuortti).

Page 28

Breach Candy Hospital
Located in the luxurious Breach Candy district of Bombay. Movie stars such as Amitabh Bachchan have often been treated here.

[29]

lathi-charges
Lathis are the long wooden sticks used as batons by Indian police.

The Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi.

Her son the airline pilot
Indira’s son, Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv was at school (Doon) with Amitabh Bachchan, and went to the hospital when Amitabh was injured in the real-life incident that this part of Gibreel’s life-story is based upon. (David Windsor) Information about the Doon School.

Page 29

lamb pasandas
Scallops of lamb cooked Mughal-style in a rich yogurt sauce.

[30]

forbidden foods
Pork is forbidden to Muslims. This scene has its roots in Rushdie’s life. He writes:

God, Satan, Paradise and Hell all vanished one day in my fifteenth year, when I quite abruptly lost my faith. I recall it vividly. I was at school in England by then. The moment of awakening happened, in fact, during a Latin lesson, and afterwards, to prove my new-found atheism, I bought myself a rather tasteless ham sandwich, and so partook for the first time of the forbidden flesh of the swine. No thunderbolt arrived to strike me down. I remember feeling that my survival confirmed the correctness of my new position. I did slightly regret the loss of Paradise, though. The Islamic heaven, at least as I had come to conceive it, had seemed very appealing to my adolescent self. I expected to be provided, for my personal pleasure, with four beautiful female spirits, or houris,, untouched by man or djinn. The joys of the perfumed garden; it seemed a shame to have to give them up.

From that day to this, I have thought of myself as a wholly secular person, and have been drawn towards the great traditions of secular radicalism–in politics, socialism; in the arts, modernism and its offspring–that have been the driving forces behind much of the history of the twentieth century. But perhaps I write, in part to fill up that emptied God-chamber with other dreams. Because it is, after all, a room for dreaming in.

(Rushdie: “In God We Trust” 377)

Page 30

How did Gibreel lose his faith?

Page 31

yahudan
Jew (Arabic).

brief encounter
Title of a 1945 movie about a frustrated love affair that develops when two commuters meet on a train. Information about the film.

ships that pass
An allusion to the common expression “ships that pass in the night,” meaning people who just barely miss meeting each other or have only the most fleeting of encounters. From Longfellow’s “Tales of a Wayside Inn” (1877).

[32]

Bostan
See above, note on Bostan.

Page 33

What characteristics do Saladin and Gibreel have in common?

[34]

a man with a glass skin
First reference to a repeated image, which may have been suggested by a passage in one of Rushdie’s favorite novels, Laurence Stern’s Tristram Shandy (1760, Vol.1, Chapter 23). Further comment and the passage in question. See also below, p. 169 [174].

Page 34

Achha, means what?
Bombay-talk for “Okay, what do you want?” (Hindi)

[35]

‘les acteurs ne sont pas des gens”
“Actors aren’t [real] people.” Quotation from Les enfants du paradis (The Children of Paradise), a famous French film about the theater, directed by Marcel Carné (1945). Info on Carné. Additional note by David Windsor: Contrary to what Saladin thinks, it’s not Frederick who says the lines “les acteurs ne sont pas des gens,” but Lacénaire. The complete speech is: “Des gens. Les acteurs ne sont pas des gens. Toute le monde et personne à la fois”–“People. Actors aren’t people. They’re everyone and no one at the same time.”

Page 35

Why does Saladin react the way he does to the migrant laborer’s refusal to fasten his seat belt?

Scandal Point
See above, p. 13 [14].

Page 36

Changez Chamchawala
His first name suggests that of one of the greatest plunderers in history: the early 13th century Mongol Genghis (or Chingis) Khan. Encyclopedia Britannica article on Genghis Khan.

Richard Burton
English adventurer and orientalist (in both the traditional and new senses of the term), responsible for the most popular translation the Arabian Nights into English as well as for other translations conveying a sense of the “exotic” (that is to say, erotic) East, such as the Kama Sutra of Vatasyayana and The Perfumed Garden of Sheikh al-Nefzawi. The original edition of his translation of the Arabian Nights (Benares, 1885-1888) was in 16 volumes, but there have been several subsequent editions in various formats.

Page 37

Grant Road
Now renamed “M. Shuakat Ali Road.” In the Kamathipura red light district.

Yellamma cult
Worship of a goddess similar to Kali. In the south Indian state of Karnataka, hundreds of young women are given away as “godly slave girls” in the Bharata Poornima festival. They become temple prostitutes or servants of the prostitute cult called “Servants of the Goddess Yellamma.” Many young women have been sold into Bombay brothels under the belief that they were serving the Goddess Yellamma. More information about the cult of Yellamma. Information about prostitution in India.

Dancers in the more prosaic temples of the flesh
There was a historical connection of temple dancing with prostitution, so that temple dancing was eventually forbidden by the government. Information on temple dancing.

Page 38

folly
A term used to describe an elaborate structure, often meant to imitate some ancient architectural style. Links to information on famous follies.

Triumphal arch of Septimus Severus
Dated 203 CE. In Saladin Chamcha’s paternal home in Bombay there’s a reproduction of the triumphal arch of this Roman Emperor. It draws together two themes: one, the conquest of England (Severus put down a rebellion in the colony), and two, the battle between father and son–Severus’ son Bassianus Caracalla Antonius plotted to kill him, Severus accusing him of “want of filial tenderness.” When Severus eventually died, Caracalla married his mother, and then murdered thousands of the citizens of Alexandria when they started making Oedipus jokes about him. (David Windsor) See also note on Septimus Severus, below, p. 292 [301]. A picture of the arch.

dhoti
Typical garment made of folded cloth, worn by men below the waist (Hindi).

Page 39

[40]

tinkas
Straws, slivers (Hindi).

Op Art
An art movement of the sixties characterized by geometric abstraction involving carefully chosen colors which have powerful optical effects when used together. Information on op art.

Page 40

[41]

Asimov’s Foundation
The first volume in Isaac Asimov’s extremely popular and influential series of novels depicting the decline and fall of a future galactic empire modeled on ancient Rome. Rushdie has a well-known interest in science fiction: his first published novel, Grimus, is science fiction. Information about Isaac Asimov.

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles More about Ray Bradbury.
One of the best-selling of all SF novels, published first in 1950, and depicting the pollution and genocide brought to Mars by human immigrants from Earth.

brave new world
Refers to the title of Aldous Huxley’s famous dystopian novel. More information on Aldous Huxley.

Page 41

Tyburn tree
The gallows where executions were formerly carried out, an ominous geographical reference for Saladin’s first experience in London. The story of Changez’ surly treatment of his son in the city reflects Rushdie’s own experience with his father when he was first taken to London to school (Hamilton 94) when they stayed at the Cumberland Hotel, at Marble Arch.

Describe how Changez treats his son while they are in London and try to explain why he behaves as he does.

Page 42

The Pure Hell of St Trinians
One of a series of popular comic films about fiendishly mischievous young girls wreaking havoc in an English public school, based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle.

Chanakya
Vishnugupta (his personal name) Chaanakya (son of Chaanak) Kautilya (of the kutila gotra, a descendent of Kutila). He is reputedly the author of the Arthasastra, and a legendary advisor to princes, including Chandragupta (the first emperor of that name). In the Kathasaritsagar, an 11th-century work by Somadev, the first story in the “Madanamancuka” section, tells how the Buddhist king of Taxila, Kalingadatta, makes Ratnadatta perform a deed similar to the one described here. Ratnadatta is the Hindu son of a Buddhist father. Ratnadatta criticizes his father for renouncing the Vedas and hanging out with low-caste people; the father complains to Kalingadatta; Kalingadatta threatens to kill Ratnadatta in two months time; Ratnadatta discovers fear, and requests Kalingadatta to teach him how to attain liberation from fear, and Kalingadatta then gets him to carry round the bowl of oil, to teach him the proper concentration one should give to religion (David Windsor). More information on Chanakya

Page 43

Chicken-breasted
This is a pun on “pigeon-breasted,” since the phrase usually refers to a man with a small or underdeveloped chest.

 A boulder pressing down upon his chest
A repeated motif in the novel, derived originally from the torment imposed on the slave Bilal by his master, trying to get him to renounce Islam. When he continued to recite “God is one, God is one” under this torture, Abu Bakr bought and freed him (Haykal 91 and Armstrong 121). See Introduction, note on Bilal.

Page 44

kipper
This smoked herring is a standard part of a classic English breakfast. Rushdie claims that this story happened to him, and is “one of the very few stories I’ve used in fiction which needed no embellishment at all” (Hamilton 94; see also Lawson 58).

William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror was the leader of the Norman invasion which conquered England in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. The French-speaking Normans became the new English nobility and imported much of their culture with them. Much that we think of as characteristically English, including the language itself, was shaped by this historical encounter. As a “post-colonial” immigrant Rushdie likes to remind the English that they also have been colonized in the past. See below, p. 129 [133].

Page 45

flame of the forest
Botanical name: Butea frondosa, also known in India as Dhak, Palas or Tesu.

chhooi-mooi touch-me-not plants
“Chhooi-moi” is literally, in Hindi, “touch-die,” or “touch-me-not,” the plant Mimosa pudica; which is not the European “touch-me-not” (or noli-me-tangere), used as the name of two different plants, both of whose seed-pods burst when touched. The Indian “touch-me-not” is harmed when touched, and its symbolic meaning is “someone who is very frail and fragile, sensitive.” The European ones (the most important is used for is the yellow balsam, Imapatiens noli-tangere) don’t die; its symbolic meaning gives more of a sense of a certain pride and aloofness. (David Windsor)

[46]

fauntleroy
A pampered, sissifed boy, somewhat unfairly derived from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1886 novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy about a waif who discovers he is actually their heir to a British title. The text of the novel.

grand panjandrum
Conceited fool. See note below, on “panjandrum,” p. 435 [450].

war with Pakistan began
After a prolonged series of border skirmishes over Kashmir, full-blown war erupted in late August of 1965 and again in 1971.

Page 46

[47]

khali-pili khalaas
Literally “destroyed just like that, for no reason.” Common Bombay slang expression (Hindi).

Rejoice . . . for what is lost is reborn.
A variation on Luke 15:9 in which an old woman who has lost a precious coin says, “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.”

Page 47

[48]

he knows not what he does
Humorous reference to Christ’s words on the cross as he is being tormented by his executioners: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Page 48

hoosh
“Hoosh” (sometimes spelled “hoos”) is a wild, uncouth person (nothing demonic, just a very rural person). An interesting word, of unknown etymology in Hindi. It could be possibly linked to the “hush” (not pronounced as the English “hush,” but rather with the short version of the vowel in “hoosh”), the word of command used to get a camel to stand up, or to scare away birds or other animals. In nineteenth-century Australian slang “hoosh” was used as a derogatory term for the Indian cameleers, based on this word. (David Windsor)

Shaitan
Muslim (Arabic) name for Satan, and amalgamated with the Jewish/Christian Satan in the novel, though the Islamic figure is considerably less imposing. See Armstrong, pp. 114-115.

Note that the description of Saladin’s parents’ attitude toward Islam matches that which Rushdie attributes to his own parents. See above, Introduction.

Page 49

Prospero Players
A theatrical troupe named after the magician-hero of Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest. Because the play is set on a Caribbean island and features a savage, beastly native, it is often referred to by writers from Britain’s former colonies as reflecting imperialist prejudices.

The Millionairess
This Shaw play actually features an Egyptian doctor rather than an Indian one. Furthermore, according to Shaw, he “speaks English too well to be mistaken for a Native” (Shaw 922). However, in the 1960 movie adaptation, Peter Sellers played the doctor role with his patented Indian accent. See also note below, for p. 49 [50], on Peter Sellers. Rushdie would seem not have remembered the play accurately, though he makes a point of having Zeeny acknowledge, “Song is not in drama” (p. 51) Shaw’s Egyptian doctor winds up engaged to the millionairess of the title, who is almost as fierce and destructive as Pamela Chamcha. Information on the movie.

What is Rushdie saying about the nature of self-invention among immigrants?

[50]

wore bandannas
Seeking to identify with the peasant women they claimed to be supporting.

Trotskyist actresses
Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) (1879-1940), after helping Lenin lead the Russian Revolution, broke with his successor Stalin and advocated from exile a more radical and idealistic version of revolutionary politics than the new leader was working out in the Soviet Union. After he was assassinated in Mexico, his Fourth International continued to campaign for his ideas. Trotskyist organizations tend to present themselves as the purest of the pure revolutionaries. The most famous Trotskyist actress is Vanessa Redgrave, whose political activities have been the target of much criticism.

Peter Sellers
English comedian (1925-1980) perhaps best remembered now for his role as Inspector Clousseau in the Pink Panther movies, but also known for performing various roles as an Indian. “Goodness Gracious Me” was a nonsense-song hit from the film of The Millionairess (see above) featuring Sellers singing with Sophia Loren, but of course the song is not performed in the original G. B. Shaw version in which Gibreel is starring. Sophia Lyrics of the song.

Page 51

[52]

Zeeny Vakil
Her first name (Zeenat) may be a tribute to Bombay star Zeenat Aman, who got her start in films in 1973 in Hare Rama Hare Krisha, playing a character much like the younger Zeeny Saldin remembers on the next page.

wogs
Insulting British term for people of other races, used here defiantly as an assertive label for Indians who refuse to be assimilated to Britain.

Page 52

In what ways does Zeeny criticize Saladin’s loss of Indian identity?

Quant hairstyle
Mary Quant was a leading fashion designer in London’s swinging sixties, this refers to her cap-like hairstyle.

Bhopal
Site of the worst industrial accident in history. On December 3, 1984, the Union Carbide Plant there released clouds of methyl isocyanate into the air which killed 2,500 people and grievously harmed many others. Union Carbide’s handling of the aftermath was widely viewed as cynical and grossly inadequate. The Bhopal disaster.

The Only Good Indian
General Philip H. Sheridan, speaking at Fort Cobb in 1869, commented “the only good Indians I ever saw were dead” usually misquoted as “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” A brief biography of Sheridan. Zeeny puns on the phrase in the title of her book to argue that rigid stereotypes–even good ones–of Indians should be avoided, rejecting the strictures of Hindu fundamentalists who seek to censure (and censor) “bad” Indians like Rushdie. As Margareta Petersson points out, “She looks upon Indian history as based on the principle of borrowing the clothes that fit, Aryan, Mughal and British. . . . It appears that she functions here as a spokeswoman for Rushdie, since he brings forth her ideas and examples in his own name in an essay where he asserts that he always has understood Indian culture as consisting of a rich mixture of traditions” (“Minority Literatures in a Multi-Cultural Society,” Petersson 298)

[53]

long pork
Reputed South Pacific cannibal term for human flesh.

Page 53

Angrez
English (Hindi).

[54]

Binaca smile
Advertising slogan of a popular breath freshener.

kurta
Traditional long shirt worn by Indian men (Hindi, Urdu).

George Miranda
Perhaps named after the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a favorite play for deconstruction by writers from formerly colonized nations who view it as an allegory of imperialism. Of course, Miranda’s most famous speech is “O brave new world/That has such people in’t!”(Act V, Scene i, ll. 183-184) used ironically by Aldous Huxley for the title of his dystopian novel, Brave New World. Thus Miranda’s idealistic Marxism may be alluded to in his name. The name also reminds us of Bombay’s Portuguese heritage.

Bhupen Gandhi
His name may be a tribute to the famous Indian painter, Bhupen Khakhar, who painted Rushdie’s portrait which is now in London, at the National Portrait Gallery. The story of both these paintings is told in the 1995 BBC film “Salman Rushdie and the Lost Portrait” (Kuortti).

Asians
Zeeny ironically uses the careless generalized label by which British speakers refer to all manner of people from Asia.

like a bloody lettuce
To Zeeny the name “Saladin” suggests “salad.”

Page 54

Dalda
Clarified butter (Hindi, Urdu), ghee, widely used as a cooking oil in India.

wogs
See note above, on p. 51 [52].

tinkers
Pot-menders.

our heads end up in Idi Amin’s fridge
The monstrous dictator of Uganda was known to store the body parts of some of his victims for cannibalistic dining. When he came to power, he targeted the many Indian residents of the country, especially those active in trade.

Columbus was right
Columbus mistakenly dubbed the people he met in the Caribbean “Indians” because he believed he had reached the Indies. The name stuck even after it was obvious that he had been mistaken, and the islands were named the West Indies.

[55]

Mister Toady
See note on Saladin Chamcha’s name above. A “toady” is an obsequious yes-man; but the term also puns on the name of Mister Toad, comic hero of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908). The text of Wind in the Willows. Farrukh Dhondy in his novel Bombay Duck writes, “The Moghul emperors had a man to feed them, to hold the spoon and bring it to their mouths. He stood to the left of the throne and was known as the ‘Chamcha,’ the spoon” (p. 74).

Hindustan
The Hindustan Ambassador is Indian-manufactured luxury car based on the British classic Morris Oxford Series II, little changed in style from the 50s original. The Hindustan Home Page.

Amazonic hijra got up like an Indian Wonder Woman
Hijras are technically transsexuals whose male genitals have been transformed into female ones through a crude operation. The Amazons of myth were women who dressed and fought as men, the opposite sort of transsexual to the hijras. The comic book character of Wonder Woman is supposedly an Amazon, though she is extremely womanly in appearance. Information on Wonder Woman.

Page 55

bustees
Slums (Hindi).

Shiv Sena
Right-wing nationalist political party, Maratha/Hindu supremacists, often responsible for “communal” violence. Its leader, Bal Thackeray, objected to what he took to be a satirical portrait of himself in Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh under the guise of “Raman Fielding.” William Thackeray and Henry Fielding were both famous English novelists.

Interview with Vijaya Nagarajan in Whole Earth (Fall 1999) in which Rushdie talks about the influence of Shiv Sena in modern Bombay.

Datta Samant
Militant Bombay labor leader.

[56]

Wonderland, Peristan, Never-Never, Oz
Note how the childhood home of Saladin is lumped in with fantasy lands by Lewis Carroll, James Barrie, and L. Frank Baum.

According to Zeeny, what was the difference between the Bombay Saladin remembers from his childhood and the real Bombay?

the saints were in plastic bags
Jains do not worship gods, but they do venerate saints, and decorate temples with their images.

Page 56

crowded dhaba
A tiny hotel, almost a hut.

Thums Up Cola
An Indian imitation of Coke. It is appropriate that Zeeny is drinking it as she denounces the common taste for “goods from foreign;” but she wouldn’t have had any choice since India banned both Coca-Cola and Pepsi until very recently.

[57]

Mr. Rajiv G.
Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91). Indian politician, the eldest son of Indira Gandhi. After she was assassinated in 1984, he replaced her as Prime Minister until 1989. He was in his turn assassinated in 1991 during an election campaign. George seems to share Rushdie’s own low opinion of Gandhi. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Information on Indira Gandhi.

Assam
In March of 1985, thousands of Islamic refugees from Bangladesh were massacred by Hindus in the Indian province of Assam. Most news reports focused on the involvement of ignorant peasants, but in fact better-educated Hindus, including college students, were also involved.

What is the point of the argument between George and Bhupen?

Page 57

we cracked your shell
Combined with the phrase about stepping through the looking-glass on the top of the next page, this image relates to the theme of the glass-encased body which recurs throughout the novel.

Page 58

India’s Babel
In Genesis 11:1-9 God prevents the completion of the skyward-reaching Tower of Babel by multiplying the languages of the builders so that they can accomplish no more. India has scores of languages which have been the cause of much strife, often bloody. Rushdie had used the same metaphor in Midnight’s Children, pp. 191-192.

seven-tiles and kabbadi
Both street games. In Seven Tiles one team’s objective is to stack seven stones inside a small circle while the other team tries to prevent them by hitting them with a rubber ball (Sudhakar). Kabbadi (Hindi) is a sort of tag played by two teams of nine each. A story about kabbadi.

a nikah ceremony 
Muslim marriage ceremony (Hindi, Urdu). Information about Muslim wedding customs.

[59]

Dark skin in north India.
The dark-skinned Dravidians who predominate in southern India are traditionally considered inferior by the lighter-skinned Aryans of the north. Matrimonial ads often specify “wheatish complexion;” but she acknowledges that Saladin is right in refusing to attribute her single state to her skin coloring.

Page 59

[60]

nawabs
Upper-class people, nabobs (Hindi, Urdu).

Why I shouldn’t employ?
A typical Indian expression of the sort Saladin has worked so hard to purge from his speech.

Page 60

the Man of a Thousand Voices and a Voice
Echoes the traditional title of The Arabian Nights: The Tale of a Thousand Nights and a Night and The Man of a Thousand Faces.

crisps
British for what Americans call “chips,” which is turn what the British call American “fries.”

[61]

Juliet
Shakespeare’s inexperienced thirteen-year-old heroine, naive though passionate. See note below on “balcony,” p. [384].

Mae West
Raunchy actress famous for her risqué jokes and bawdy, hard-living characters. Her classic film is perhaps I’m No Angel 1933). The Mae West Home Page.

we could be the United Nations
Margareta Petersson points out that Saladin is also compared to the United Nations on p. 192 [198] (Petersson 273).

‘You’re the one who’s circumcised.’
Muslim men as well as Jewish ones are circumcised.

looked like a Michelin poster
Chubby, like the bulging Michelin man used by the French tire company as its symbol (see below, p. 271 [280]) His name is “Bibendum.”

Page 61

dark stars
Alludes to collapsed stars which emit no light, but have enormous gravitational fields. The largest become black holes. Black Holes FAQ.

Botticelli Venus
Sandro Botticelli’s most famous painting is his “Birth of Venus” (c. 1482) depicting an idealized nude woman and imitating classical sculptures from ancient Greece.

Olympia
A famous 1863 painting by Edouard Manet of a nude woman of doubtful virtue, parodying the 1538 Venus of Urbino by Titian. She represents a later ideal of the feminine form. Information on Olympia, with a reproduction of the painting.

Monroe
Marilyn Monroe is the most modern in this series of ideally-formed women.

upheavals of Armenian-Jewish history
The more familiar Jewish history of exile and genocide is here joined to that of the Armenians, who have seldom ruled over a homeland of their own, being overrun and subjected in turn by Iranians and Turks. The latter massacred them wholesale in the late 19th century and at the end of World War I. Mimi is the ultimate exile, seeking neurotically to buy the roots she did not inherit. But she plays in turn the part of an invading imperialist, as the protesting ghosts in the houses she buys make clear.

a sea-coast in Bohemia
A literary joke. Bohemia has no seacoast; but Shakespeare, ignorant of that fact, famously set Act 3, Scene 3 of The Winter’s Tale in “Bohemia. A desert country near the sea.”

[62]

the babu part
Literally a clerk; but usually derogatory for a “pidgin” English speaker (Hindi).

Page 62

Pygmalien
A pun on the name of Pygmalion, the classical Greek sculptor who fell in love with his own creation and brought her to life. Hence the name is appropriate for a piece of rock which has come to life. The myth is in turn the source for the title of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion in which a professor transforms a cockney waif into the toast of London by teaching her how to speak like a lady, a theme closely related to the themes of The Satanic Verses. The play was transformed in 1956 by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe into the musical, My Fair Lady.
My Fair Lady film Web site. A retelling of the Greek myth.

Matilda, the Australien
Pun on “Australian’ and “alien,” connected to the name “Matilda,” of Australia’s most famous song, Waltzing Matilda.

Alien Korns, maybe because you could lie down among them
From John Keats” “ Ode to a Nightingale,” stanza 7:

Perhaps the selfsame song that found a path
through the sad heart of Ruth when sick for love,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn.

“Corn” here means “grain,” probably wheat. The original ties in with the theme of immigration (Ruth was a foreigner in Israel), but Rushdie implies the Alien Korns derive their name from their propensity for sleeping with groupies.

[63]

Ridley
An allusion to the name of the director of Alien (1979) Ridley Scott. More information about Scott.

Signourney Weaver
Star of Alien.

Francis Bacon
British painter famous for grotesque portraits. Art by Francis Bacon.

Kermit and Miss Piggy
Hosts of The Muppet Show.

Maxim and Mamma Alien
Puns on “Maximilian,’ and “mammalian” as well as Mimi Mamoulian’s name.

Page 63

once the video-computers had gone to work–made them look just like simulations
This accurately describes the technique used to create the 80s briefly famous satirical television character, Max Headroom.

[64]

Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan, see note above, in Introduction.

Page 64

re-invented
Azfar Hussain on this word:

Rushdie’s characterization of the Bombay film industry as endlessly reinventing Western films is a postmodernist kind of parodic-ironical-satirical play on words: “re-invention” does not so much imply “creativity” as it does “fetishizing,” “stereotyping,” or, as Baudrillard puts it, the “commodified re-production of images”–images of the folkloric, mythical pursuit; comic resolutions of apparent conflicts and confrontations through highly artificial compromises including the crossing of class boundaries and culturally and religiously sanctioned hierarchical gender roles. Other commonly reworked themes besides the dying heroine, are the misunderstood heroine, the sacred heroine, “pati-seba,” (the husband-nursing/adoring his wife), the struggle against parents who oppose the relationship. But none of these forms of struggle confront the conflict between the base and superstructure of the semi-capitalist, semi-feudal, male-dominated society that these Bombay love-story films endlessly depict; understandably, these films endlessly erase the possibilities of class struggles.

The Magnificent Seven
Already an imitation, being a John Sturges remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. So Indian filmmakers are imitating an American who was imitating a Japanese filmmaker. Both concern a band of fighters who join to clean up a town dominated by thugs. There were also three American sequels to the Sturges film. A new (2016) American film was released as a remake. (2016 The Magnificent Seven)

Love Story
Hugely popular 1970 sentimental movie ending in the death of the heroine from leukemia. Several Bombay film titles allude directly to it, such as Arek Prem Kahini (A New Love Story). (Love Story, 1970).

dacoits
Bandits.

crorepati penthoused wretch
Ten million equals one crore, hence millionaire, a very rich person (Hindi). Changez is being compared specifically to the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes, who spent the latter part of his life secluded in a Las Vegas penthouse.

[65]

Gargoyles
Technically, the grotesque sculpted heads which serve as downspouts on the roofs of Gothic churches, but more generally any such grotesque decorative sculpture. Changez’s tendency to transform his face in monstrous ways foreshadows his son’s similarly monstrous transformations. More information about and pictures of gargoyles.

a high-walled compound nicknamed the Red Fort
Elaborate complex built in Delhi by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the mid-17th century, Lal Qual’ah. More on the Red Fort.

Page 65

Dresden ballerinas
Valuable figurines of the kind known as “Meissen porcelain” produced in the eastern German city of Dresden beginning in 1710. Both they and the glass bulls are frozen in time, like the room they occupy.

[66]

Vallabhbhai
Using an intimate form of address to Vallabh (Hindi).

Pages 66-67

[67]

Popeye-forearms and Bluto belly
Cartoon characters with, respectively, enormous forearms and a swollen belly. Popeye’s comic strip enemy was originally named Brutus, but he was renamed Bluto in the animated cartoons. Popeye the Sailor information.

Page 68

[69]

pooja
A general term which comprises sacrificial offerings, prayers, and many other reverential acts in Hinduism (Hindi). More commonly spelled “puja.”

Page 69

Old Man of the Sea
Refers not to Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, but to an episode in Sinbad’s fifth travel (83-84 nights). Sinbad helps an old man cross a river. As he sits on Sinbad’s shoulders, the old man nearly throttles him with his legs. Sinbad eventually shakes off his burden by getting the old man drunk. He smashes his head with a big stone. Sinbad learns from the sailors who rescue him that he has killed the Old Man of the Sea. The image recurs when Gibreel is forced to bear “the old man of the sea” (in this case, the 1) on his shoulders (212 [218]). (Note by Martine Dutheil)

I don’t explain you any more.
What does this sentence mean? Why is it important? What does it tell us about this father/son relationship?

Hamza-nama cloths
Illustrating scenes from the 16th-century Dastan-e-Amir Hamza (Urdu). Hamza is the uncle of the Prophet; the Dastan-e-Amir Hamzah is a collection of stories of the life of this man, but is largely concerned with his adventures before he met the Prophet. The particular version of the romance that was executed at Akbar’s court is now largely vanished; only a few hundred cloths remain of an original 14,000 (it would have been the greatest of all illuminated manuscripts). The particular cloth that is described on p. 70 [71], showing the giant trapped in a well, is in the holdings of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their collection of these manuscripts is primarily made up of ones found covering windows in Srinagar. (Note by David Windsor.)

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Hind
See Introduction, note on “Hind.”

Uhud
A battle in which Muhammad was defeated (March 21, 625 CE, 3 AH). After the battle “Hind carved open Hamza’s breast, tore out the liver of the man who had killed her father at Badr, chewed it up and spat it out.” (Rodinson 181 and Armstrong 186-189). See note in Introduction on Hind.

[71]

Chandela bronzes
See note above on Chandela period p. 12.

Ravi Varma
Raja Ravi Varma Koil Tampuran of Kilimanoor (1848-1906) came from an aristocratic family that had a strong interest in art. Raja Ravi Varma laid the foundations of oil painting in India; he was the first to follow European realistic styles, though he never studied overseas, being afraid of thereby losing caste. He was enormously popular, particularly for his paintings of religious subjects, but suffered the fate of other realistic painters throughout the world with the advent of modernism in art and became sneered at. (David Windsor)

Jaisalmer lattices
See above, note on p. 26 [27].

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Nandi bulls
Nandi is the vehicle of Shiva: a white, humped bull. He is always portrayed in temples of Shiva, sometimes as anthropomorphic. His veneration is related to the general respect for cows in Hinduism. A sculpture of Nandi.

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[74]

padyatra
Pilgrimage undertaken on foot (Hindi). See below, p. 488 [502].

to Assam
Where they may be massacred. See above, p. 56 [57].

M G R
Marudur G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu’s Ronald Reagan, who made numerous Robin Hood movies in which he defended the common man from various villains. As a result, he was, even before Ronald Reagan became President of the U.S., elected Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in early 1980. He made “mythologicals” like the kind Gibreel Farishta stars in (note by Srinivas Aravamudan, see also Avramudan “Being God’s Postman” 9).

N. T. Rama Rao
Starred in Hindu “mythologicals” (in the novel called “theologicals”) and was elected head of Andhra Pradesh. (See Avramudan: “Being God’s Postman” 9.)

Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan, see note above, in Introduction.

Information on Bachchan.

Durga Khote
Brahmin film star whose appearance in Ayodhyecha Raja (1932) helped to legitimize respectable actresses performing in films. Before this time, female roles had been played by boys. Her politics were liberal, but anticommunist.More on Durga Khote.

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[76]

Fancy-a-Donald T-shirts
Warning: this is an “R-rated” note, minors and easily-offended persons should skip it. First a short lesson in Cockney rhyming slang. A word is rhymed with another word which is part of a word phrase, of which only the non-rhyming part is usually spoken. Clear? OK, here’s a simple example: “head” rhymes with “bread,” which is part of the phrase “loaf of bread;” so the word “loaf” comes to mean “head,” as in the expression, “Use your loaf!” Another more racy example: “fart” becomes “rasberry tart” which leads to “razz.” To “razz” people was originally to make a farting sound at them. In the present instance, in the question, “Fancy a fuck?” (American equivalent: “Wanna fuck?”) “fuck” has been linked to “Donald Duck” and “Donald” substituted for the word. Print up a t-shirt with the words “Fancy a” followed by a picture of Donald Duck and a question mark, and you have a Fancy-a-Donald T-shirt of a cheerful vulgarity likely to appeal to the members of the Prospero Players who probably safely assume their fellow Indians at home will not get the joke. An English/Cockney Rhyming Slang Dictionary.

natyam dancers
Traditional Indian temple dancers who make a characteristic movement of their heads from side to side without turning their faces (Sanskrit, Hindi).

Benarsi saris
Saris in the style of Benares, or Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh.

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‘rail roko’ demonstration
A type of protest in which railroad lines are blocked by the demonstrators (Hindi).

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Mr Charles Darwin
The founder of modern evolutionary theory, rejected by Biblical literalists like Dumsday. Evolution: Theory and History. Joel Kuortti suggests Dumsday’s first name, Eugene, may ironically refer to eugenics, systematic breeding which artificially imitates the process of evolution. See also note on Lamarck, above, p. 5.

Christian guard
Christian God: Dumsday (=doom, dumb) speaks with a thick Texas accent.

What characteristics of Dumsday do you think Rushdie considers peculiarly American?

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God-ridden
Haunted by thoughts of God. Darwin began his career as a theist, and wrestled for years with his doubts as the evidence against the existence of the Biblical Creator mounted. He was not, as fundamentalists like Dumsday often suppose, a dogmatic atheist whose evolutionary beliefs were designed to reinforce his skepticism; rather he tried repeatedly to accommodate religious sensibilities in his work.

Beelzebub
A traditional name for the devil (see, for instance, Matthew 10:25) (Hebrew). See note below on “Baal,” p. 97 [100] and p. 167 [173], where the manticore calls Saladin “Beelzebub”.

Asmodeus
A Hebrew demon featured in the deuterocanonical book of Tobit (3:8), associated in Jewish tradition as well with Solomon.

Lucifer
Isaiah 14:12 addresses the conquered king of Babylon as Lucifer “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” This verse was interpreted by early Christians as referring to Satan. The name originally refers to the planet we call Venus (see p. 131 [135]); but because of its use in this verse has come to be connected with the tradition of Satan’s fall from Heaven. More information on Lucifer.

Rotary Club
International businessmen’s organization founded in Chicago in 1905, promotes peace and community work. Generally viewed as a conservative organization which Rushdie presumes might welcome a speaker such as Dumsday. The Rotary International home page.

[78]

Vasco da Gama
Portuguese navigator, first European to sail around Cape Horn to find a sea route to Asia in 1498, was appointed Viceroy to India in 1524, but died and was buried only three months after he arrived, in Cochin, where Dumsday has just been speaking.

hashish
A drug made, like marijuana, of hemp.

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one hundred and eleven days
This prolonged ordeal is modeled on 1985 TWA hijacking discussed above in the note on p. 4.

What effect does it have on the novel that the hijackers are Indians? Discuss.

Shelley Long and Chevy Chase
The film would seem to be “Foul Play,” a 1978 preposterous detective caper film involving a plot to assassinate the Pope set in San Francisco, though Chevy Chase’s costar was not Shelley Long, but Goldie Hawn. Information about the film.

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[79]

Dara Singh Buta Singh Man Singh
Sikhs are traditionally named “Singh.” Several notorious incidents involving Sikh separatists had happened in the period preceding the publication of the novel, including the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The bandits’ pseudonyms are taken from the following celebrities: Dara Singh is a wrestler turned movie star; Buta Singh is a prominent politician; Man Singh was a bandit who joined forces with Phoolan Devi (see note on Phoolan Devi, below, p. 263 [272]).

Tavleen
Tavleen Singh is a well-known journalist who writes about political issues.

the oasis of Al-Zamzam
Named after a famous spring; see note below on p. 91 [94].

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[82]

Hijras! Chootias!
Eunuchs! Fuckers! See note on “Amazonic Hijra,” above, p. 54 [55] (Hindi, Urdu).

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[83]

funtoosh
Done (Hindi).

single unified force
See note on “unified field theory” above, on p. 24.

djellabah
A loose hooded gown, worn especially in North Africa (Arabic).

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[84]

Xixabangma Feng
Also known as Kao-seng-tsan-Feng (Gosainthan) and Shisha Pangma, located in Tibet. Most of the heights of these mountains recited by Chamcha differ slightly from later measurements, the last two are listed in the wrong order, and two are omitted from the sequence: Cho Oyu, 8153 meters and Lhotse, 8,501 meters (Kuortti). Peaks of the Himalayas.

Annapurna
This Nepalese mountain has several peaks,the highest of which is now believed to be slightly higher than the figure Gibreel recites. See Peaks of the Himalayas. Photos from the Annapurna circuit.

Chomolungma
Tibetan name of Mt. Everest, located in Nepal and Tibet.

K2
Also known as Mt. Godwin Austen, Dapsang, and Chogori, located in Pakistan.Information on K2.

Kanchenjunga
Also called Kangchenjunga and Kinchinjunga, or (in Nepali) Kumbhkaran or Lungur. Located in Nepal-Sikkim. A photo of Kanchenjunga.

Makalu
Also known as Kangshungtse. Located in Nepal and Tibet. Information and pictures.

Dhaulagiri
In Nepal. Information and pictures.

Manaslu
In Nepal. Information and picture.

Nanga Parbat
Located in the Indian part of Jammu & Kashmir. Photograph of Nanga Parbat. The Nanga Parbat Continental Dynamics Project.

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Dalai Lama
In Tibetan religious belief he is an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the guardian bodhisattva of Tibet. When the current Dalai Lama dies, a new one is sought among recently born babies. The 14th one is Tenzin Gyatso (1937-), who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989; after the 1959 Chinese occupation of Tibet he was exiled in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India, where he created an alternative democratic government (Kuortti). In The Court Of His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

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[86]

The Old Gramsci chestnut
Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937). The closest thing to this quotation I have found is “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born” (Gramsci 276). Rushdie comments, “So many variations of the phrase were common in the conversation of both Indian and British leftists that I felt free to describe it as an old chestnut. It may be less of a chestnut than I thought. . .” (personal communication from Salman Rushdie).

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shorn Sirdarji
Devout Sikhs never trim their beards or hair (Hindi).

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albatross
[88]

Reminiscent of the albatross in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” which tells the story of a ship whose crew almost all died at sea, as the passengers of this jumbo jet are about to die. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

and the walls came tumbling down
Refrain of an old African-American spiritual by H.T. Burleigh retelling the story of Joshua’s miraculous destruction of the city of Jericho (see Joshua 6). Since the story in the Bible is presented as a victory, the image is appropriate for the upbeat twist Rushdie gives the bombing. More information about Burleigh.

Next chapter
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Defoe contends that whereas Milton’s Satan, after falling through Chaos for nine days–which inspires the snide remark “a good poetical flight, but neither founded on Scripture or philosophy” (71)–is swallowed up and locked into Hell, the Devil is more likely to be set free in the atmosphere and wander among us. The image of a wandering Devil is found in Ephesians (ii. 2), I Peter (v. 8), and Job (i. 7):

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.

Whereas Defoe claims to pit biblical authority against Milton’s mythopoetic universe, he actually misreads Paradise Lost, since Milton’s Satan is far from being confined to hell. Defoe nevertheless substitutes for Milton’s “deficient, if not absurd” (72) scheme the suggestion that “he is more a vagrant than a prisoner; that he is a wanderer” (73). The next paragraph develops this idea, which Rushdie uses in a truncated form in the epigraph. Following the standard doctrine, Defoe’s unexpurgated text reads:

Satan being thus confined to a vagabond, wandering, unsettled condition, is without any certain abode; for though he has, in consequence of his angelic nature, a kind of empire in the liquid waste or air, yet this is certainly part of his punishment that he is [continually hovering over this inhabited globe of earth, swelling with the rage of envy at the felicity of his rival, man, and studying all the means possible to injure and ruin him; but extremely limited in his power, to his unspeakable mortification: this is his present state,] without any fixed abode, place, or space allowed him to rest the sole of his foot upon. (73-4)

(For a discussion of the relations between Defoe’s The History of the Devil and Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, see my “The Epigraph to The Satanic Verses: Defoe’s Devil and Rushdie’s Migrant”, forthcoming). Martine Dutheil. See Dutheil, pp. 53-61 for a much fuller discussion of this theme.