Anila

**Anila Rao** is Brynne Rao's estranged mother, and a member of the Panchakanya. Although she does not physically appear in the books, she is mentioned multiple times throughout the Pandava Quintet and plays a large part in Brynne's character development.

## History

### Early Life

Not much is known about Anila's early life, though it can be assumed she grew up somewhere in the Otherworld. When she was at a young age, she met and fell in love with an Irish musician.

### Brynne's Birth

Anila gave birth to her daughter, Brynne, at a young age. Anila was presumably unaware that she had given birth to the reincarnation of the Pandava Bhima. Being so young, Anila wasn't able to properly take care of her daughter. Once, Brynne spent hours working on a fancy dinner after hearing that Anila was coming over, but Anila never showed up. Another time, she chose to grab her purse and prevent boiling water from spilling on it rather than pushing Brynne away from the spill. The two are now estranged, and Brynne currently lives with Gunky and Funky, her uncles.

## The Pandava Quintet

### Aru Shah and the Song of Death

Anila is mentioned a few times whenever Brynne stonily brings up the topic of her biological family.

Later, in the Grove of Ratri, when Brynne and Aiden Acharya are reliving their worst fears, in Brynne's vision, Aru Shah sees an elderly angry-looking woman, whom she realizes to be an older Anila, who still dissaproves of her daughter.

### Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes

Anila is mentioned by Brynne when she tries to console Aru after she sees the vision of her father, the Sleeper, in a wooden eagle. Brynne says that she knows how Aru feels, adding that Anila used to be a very nice person before Brynne was born, and that she wonders why Anila couldn't be nice to her as well.

Anila is mentioned once again in the Chakora Forest when the Potatoes are forced to say their secrets out loud. When it is Brynne's turn, she mentions that she once stole from Anila so that she would come back to Gunky and Funky's house to retrieve the thing and stay for a bit longer with Brynne.

its also revleaded brynne has a pink burn scar because once when she was cooking she spilt broiling hot water and anilia leaped into action not to save her daughter but to make sure her designer purse didn't get ruined the scar serves as a reminder of her "mother's" selfishness.

### Aru Shah and the City of Gold

Brynne mentions Anila yet again, when she recalls one of her birthdays, when Anila completely ignored her and didn't arrive for her birthday dinner.

## Personality

Anila appears dismissive of her daughter and inconsiderate of her feelings. She was shown to care more about saving her purse from a pot of broiling water than Brynne.

Being irresponsible and young when she had Brynne, Anila didn't want to take responsibility for raising the girl, and so passed her off when she was younger to go live with her brother and his husband.

Anila visits Brynne occasionally, but often doesn't interact with her whatsoever unless it seems that Brynne has done something she approves of. As Brynne sees it, when she wins at sports or events, Anila shows up to congratulate her and appears to be proud of her. However, when Brynne doesn't win, Anila rarely shows up or seems proud of her.