Krithika P. Shah

Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture

Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Aru Shah and the City of Gold

**Krithika P. Shah** is a professor and a historian, along with being a member of the Panchkanya and the curator of the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. She is the biological mother of Aru Shah and, as revealed in the latest book in the series, Aru Shah and the City of Gold, also the biological mother of Kara. She is also Suyodhana's former lover. Despite of having less screen time in all the four books, she plays a major role in the main plotline, since she was the person to trap the Sleeper into the Diya of Bharata.

## History

### Early Life

Krithika grew up presumably in the Otherworld as a member of the Panchakanya, with her father, who she often had conflicts with, solely because of their different opinions on the duties of a Panchakanya.

### Giving Birth to Kara

At one point when Krithika was a teenager, she met and fell in love with an unnamed person, who later died in a car crash. Due to this unfortunate mishap, Krithika was left young, naïve and scared with Kara in her womb. When she was born to Krithika, Krithika was, as mentioned before, too young and too scared to keep her and handle her as her own child. Since she was pretty naïve at that time, she decided to go to the edge of the Otherworld, where the *yakshas* were capable of keeping people frozen in a moment of time. As a promise, the *yakshas* vowed to keep Kara frozen in time for approximately ten years, but if Krithika didn't come back in that period of time, the *yakshas* would place her with someone who would take care of her and raise her as their own. But what happened after that turned Krithika's life upside down.

### Meeting Suyodhana

At some point of time, Krithika P. Shah had a romantic relationship with Suyodhana. The two once strolled along the banks of a river, laughing and occasionally stopping to kiss, the two even had a daughter named Aru who was also the reincarnation of Indra's son, Arjuna. As soon as she was born, Krithika said "I love you both" to the ceiling and said she was doing this to free everyone. But Suyodhana was destined to become the Sleeper and awaken Shiva who will perform the cosmic dance and destroy the world. So before she opened her Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, Krithika imprisoned him in the Diya of Bharata. She tearfully apologized saying that she will bind him with her heart, she vows to find a way to free both him and Aru.

Krithika came early to her father's for the Diwali celebrations. She told him it has happened, but she didn't want to choose between him and Aru. She believed that the world could be different and that their destinies aren’t chains around their necks, but wings that give them flight. But her father says that this path will jeopardize her family, defeat the purpose of the Panchakanyas, and she'd never set foot in the house again.

## The Pandava Quintet

### Aru Shah and the End of Time

Krithika is shown to be talking busily on the phone, and ignoring her daughter when the story begins. She is later frozen in time by the Sleeper when Aru lights the Diya of Bharata, and is only reawakened after Aru and Mini go on their quest and complete it.

### Aru Shah and the Song of Death

Krithika helps Aru pack for the quest. It is said that she now spends more time with her daughter and that her new favourite subject is 'feelings' She tries to talk to Aru about the "Acharyas' son down the street", but Aru replies by saying that she'd rather "walk in front of a bus" She then tells Aru the story of Ekavalya's thumb and bids her goodbye for her quest, after giving her a hug.

### Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Krithika tells Aru more about Suyodhana and how he gave her the songbird and how he lost himself after his quest finding Kalpavriksha.

## Physical Appearence

Krithika is a beautiful woman who doesn't focus on her appearance too much and wears practical clothes. Her hair smells like jasmine. It is said that she has delicate eyebrows and a tinkling laugh.

## Personality

Despite being a member of the Panchakanya and knowing about his fate, Krithika befriended Suyodhana, which refers to the fact that she is open-minded. She is a hard-working woman, who has been pretty much working herself to exhaustion to discover a way to have the Sleeper and Aru coexist without killing each other. She is shown to be a loving and caring, although sometimes absent mother.

Despite that, Krithika is kinda awkward, since she isn’t very good at communication with Aru.

## Abilities and Tools

### Panchakanya Abilities

* **Pandava Parturition:** Krithika was destined to give birth to a Pandava of her generation.

### Natural Abilities

* **Wisdom:** Krithika is shown to be very wise and knowledgable, since she is a Professor.

## Relationships

### Family

#### **Arundhati Shah**

Krithika loves Aru a lot, but she’s so busy, they were distant from each other for a lot of Aru’s life, although they did share good memories together. After Aru discovers she’s a Pandava, they spend more time together, which Aru likes, except for the fact that her mom is trying to talk about emotions with her, especially about the "Acharya's son down the street"

#### **Unnamed Father**

Krithika seems to have a very rocky relatioship with her father, often disagreeing with what he says and ultimately leaving their household.

### Romantic Partner

#### **Suyodhana**

The Sleeper and Krithika appear to have had a close relationship; in the vision Aru saw in the Pool of the Past they were strolling along a river and kissing. They shared similar thoughts of how one could escape destiny. It seems as though Krithika was meant to make him fall in love with her by her family, but she fell in love as well. However, influenced by the devas, she thought as she looked at Aru and the Sleeper that he would be forced to wake Shiva, whether or not he didn’t want to -- so she imprisoned him in the diya and began searching for a way to change his destiny. Even after the Sleeper was released, she’s still searching, but she doesn’t like to talk about him. For the Sleeper’s part, he’s still angry at Krithika, although he still wants to tell her how he feels; he wants vindication.

## Etymology

* **Krithika**, in Hindi, is the name of a star (Nakshatra Kritika) meaning "Well Starred"

## Trivia

* Krithika uses jasmine shampoo.
* She usually goes on trips across the globe, leaving Aru behind.
* She has gone to Paris twice.

## ReadRiordan's Article On Her

Sadly, ReadRiordan doesn't yet have an article on her. But, she does have a description article from another website.

### PBC's Book Reviews' Description On Her

*"Dr. Krithika Shah is an archaeologist and museum curator for the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture.  She and her daughter have living quarters on site, and Aru’s favorite exhibit is the Hall of the Gods, filled with a hundred statues of various Hindu deities.”*