Philip GuedallaCritic
A critic who describes Bahadur's novel as an uncomfortable amalgam of an Islamic allegorical poem and a detective novel.
Mir Bahadur AliAuthor
A Bombay attorney who wrote the novel 'The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim', publishing it originally in 1932 and later as an illustrated, highly allegorical edition in 1934.
Bahadur
John H. WatsonFictional Doctor
Mentioned comparatively as a standard for detective novels.
Mr. Cecil RobertsCritic
A critic who detected the dual influence of Wilkie Collins and Farïd al-dïn Attar in Bahadur's book.
Wilkie CollinsAuthor
Cited as a literary influence on Mir Bahadur Ali's detective novel.
Farïd al-dïn AttarPersian mystic poet
A twelfth-century Persian poet and mystic, author of the 'Conference of the Birds', who was murdered by the soldiers under Tuluy when Nishapur was sacked.
Farïd al-dïn Abï Hämid Muhammad ben IbrahimAttãrperfumer
Dorothy L. SayersAuthor
Author who wrote the foreword for the 1934 Victor Gollancz reprint of Bahadur's novel.
The Law StudentProtagonist
An unnamed free-thinking law student from Bombay who renounces his Islamic faith, gets involved in a religious riot, possibly kills a Hindu, and embarks on a quest across Hindustan to find Al-Mu'tasim.
The Corpse-robberThief
A filthy man hiding in a tower who steals gold teeth from Parsi cadavers and directs hatred toward a female thief, inspiring the student's quest.
filthy manthief
A malka-sansiWoman of the caste of thieves
A woman in Palanpur who is the object of the corpse-robber's hatred and imprecations, leading the law student to seek her out.
Blind astrologerMinor Character
A character who dies in a cesspool in Benares during the student's pilgrimage.
The SaintHoly man
A figure in the ascending progression of souls who precedes the bookseller in the law student's search.
Persian BooksellerMerchant
A man of great courtesy and felicity who immediately precedes Al-Mu'tasim in the student's ascending progression of encounters.
Al-Mu'tasimThe Sought / Concept
A mysterious unseen figure emitting clarity and brightness, the ultimate object of the law student's search, later revealed as an emblem of God.
He who goes in quest of aid
Black Jew from CochinPilgrim
A man who describes Al-Mu'tasim as having dark skin.
A ChristianPilgrim
A person who recalls Al-Mu'tasim standing upon a tower with his arms outspread.
A red lamaPilgrim
A figure who recalls Al-Mu'tasim seated like an image carved from yak ghee that he worshipped in Tashilhumpo.
Dr. JohnsonHistorical Figure
Quoted by the narrator regarding authors not liking to owe anything to their contemporaries.
James JoyceAuthor
Mentioned for the repeated points of congruence between his 'Ulysses' and Homer's 'Odyssey'.
HomerAncient Poet
Mentioned as the author of the 'Odyssey', which Joyce's 'Ulysses' parallels.
Rudyard KiplingAuthor
Author of the story 'On the City Wall', which has analogies to the first scene of Bahadur's novel.
T.S. EliotCritic / Poet
Recalls that the heroine Gloriana never once appears in Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene'.
Eliot
Edmund SpenserAuthor
Author of the unfinished allegory 'The Faerie Queene', noted for the omission of its heroine.
Spenser
GlorianaFictional Queen
The absent heroine of Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene'.
Richard William ChurchCritic
Criticized Spenser's work for the omission of Gloriana.
Isaac LuriaKabbalist
A sixteenth-century Kabbalist in Jerusalem who revealed the concept of ibbûr (metempsychosis), cited by the narrator as a possible precursor to the novel's ideas.
TuluyMilitary Leader
Son of Genghis Khan; his soldiers murdered the poet Attar when Nishapur was sacked.
Genghis KhanHistorical Conqueror
Father of Tuluy, mentioned in the context of the sacking of Nishapur.
SïmurghMythical Entity
The distant King of the Birds in Attar's poem, eventually revealed to be the birds themselves.
King of the Birdsthirty birds
PlotinusPhilosopher
Cited for his 'Enneads' regarding a paradisal extension of the principle of identity.
Garcin de TassyTranslator
Translated Attar's 'Mantiq al-tair' into French.
Edward FitzGeraldTranslator
Translated Attar's 'Mantiq al-tair' into English.
Richard BurtonAuthor / Translator
Author whose '1001 Nights' was consulted by the narrator.
Margaret SmithScholar
Author of the 1932 study 'The Persian Mystics: Attar'.