MIR NIHAL
Mir Nihal is the patriarch of the novel's central family. He is a traditional man, emblematic of the values and attitudes of Muslim culture in old Delhi before Westernization. This traditionalism can make him seem stubborn or unyielding, but if he is given time, he can adjust his attitudes to the times. He is religious to the extent that he attends mosque and prays every day, but he occupies himself with many secular hobbies and interests, including pigeon flying and alchemy. He has a number of extramarital affairs, most prominently with the dancing girl Babban Jan. It is also suggested he fathered a child with Dilchain, the family's maidservant. He was born before the British siege of Delhi in 1857, and he has a deep hatred of the foreign invaders, or Farangis. Despite his opposition to British rule, he is never involved in any active resistant movements against the British, and in his old age disapproves of the Home Rule Movement. He passively observes his home changing around home as it is colonized and Westernized. He begins the novel a strong, masculine type with many friends who is respected by his community, but ends the novel weak and alone, most of his friends and family either having died or moved away.
ASGHAR
Asghar is the youngest son of Mir Nihal and Begam Nihal. He is representative of a new generation of Delhiite, less traditional and more open to English culture. His insistence on marrying out of love, outside his caste, puts him in conflict with his more traditional father. He is a sensitive soul, deeply romantic, and mercurial. His childhood was unhappy, since he was moved around a lot while his mother was suffering a mental breakdown, and he feels that nothing has gone his way in life. He has three loves throughout the novel: Mushtari Bai, the dancing girl; Bilqeece, who he eventually marries; and Zohra, Bilqeece's younger sister. The latter two women become infatuations for him, and his happiness relies on being able to be with them. However, he is easily unsatisfied, and when he ends up with Bilqeece, he finds she does not live up to his idealized expectations, and quickly tires of her. He is solipsistic, and has no concern for political matters. He is entirely focused on his relationships and other personal problems.
BEGAM NIHAL
Begam Nihal is the matriarch of the novel's central family. Like her husband, she is traditional, but with slightly more flexible attitudes. She accepts Asghar's desire to marry out of his caste more quickly than Mir Nihal does. When her children were younger, she suffered a mental break, supposedly after she discovered her maidservant Dilchain had become pregnant with her husband's bastard child. She has since recovered, and effectively fulfills the duties of a proper wife and mother, taking the lead in arranging the marriages of both Asghar and her daughter Mehro. She is also a product of pre-1857 Delhi, and has a deep hatred for the British.
BILQEECE
Bilqeece is the object of Asghar's affections throughout much of the novel, and later becomes his wife. She is very shy and fragile, and has difficulty expressing herself. She was raised by a very religious aunt who instilled her with a deep sense of shame about making her emotions known, and taught her to conduct herself like a proper woman, with the expectation that she would one day be sent off to a stranger's household to make someone a wife. Though she was not infatuated with Asghar before their marriage, she grows to love him, and even worships him like a God. When he begins to treat her coldly, she seemingly gives up on life, and becomes extremely ill. Later, after a reconciliation, she recovers, but dies a few years later of the Spanish flu.
HABIBUDDIN
Habibuddin is Asghar's older brother, and Mir Nihal and Begam Nihal's second son. It is noted that he is their favorite son, and indeed that he is the favorite among all the members of his family. He has a gregarious and generous nature, and often plays peacemaker, as when there is tension between the bride's family and the bridegroom's family at Asghar's wedding. Later on in the novel, he develops a case of tuberculosis, and dies after a long battle with the disease. His death symbolizes, for both his father and his brother, the loss of all that is good and beautiful in the world and in their country.
BEGAM JAMAL
Begam Jamal is Mir Nihal's sister-in-law, the widow of his brother Mir Jamal. She has lived with the family since her husband's death. She is a difficult woman, prone to bickering, especially with Begam Nihal. She also loves to gossip, and to cause trouble by spreading other people's business. She advises Begam Nihal about convincing her husband to consent to the marriage of Asghar and Bilqeece, but mostly because she sees an opportunity to make Mir Nihal crow, since he had always mocked the fact that Begam Jamal's cousin Ashfaq married into Bilqeece's family. Later in the novel, she interferes in Asghar's marriage plans again, which causes a rift between her and Mir Nihal. She leaves the household, which greatly disheartens Mir Nihal.
ZOHRA
Zohra is Bilqeece's younger sister, and later Asghar's lover. She is more confident and forward than her sister. She helps take care of Bilqeece and Asghar's daughter after Bilqeece dies. She develops feelings for Asghar after seeing how dedicated he is to raising his child, and how sorrowful he is about his wife's passing. Though she and Asghar carry on an affair, her mother decides to marry her off to someone else, and the last she is heard from in the novel is through a despairing letter she sends to Asghar, telling him she is to be married and will never see him again.
BEGAM WAHEED
Begam Waheed is Asghar's older sister. However, she is more like a mother to him, and took care of him when their own mother was suffering from a mental breakdown. He comes to her for help convincing his parents to allow him to marry Bilqeece, and though she agrees with her parents to the extent that she feels Bilqeece is not the right match for Asghar, she is willing to help him when she sees how desperate he is to see this match come to fruition. She moved to Bhopal, where her husband's family lives, after she got married. When her husband has died, she was made to remain there, despite being far from her loved ones and in a hostile environment where her in-laws blame her for her husband's death. She is like her mother in some ways, and helps her with organizing and planning both Asghar and Mehro's marriage.
MEHRO
Mehro is Asghar's younger sister. At the beginning of the novel, though she is only 14 years old, she is beginning to receive proposals for marriage. Like Asghar, she has a romantic nature, and dreams of being swept off her feet by a prince like the ones in the stories her mother tells her, though she is embarrassed by these desires. The man who she eventually marries, Meraj, has a disfigured face from a shooting accident, but it is too late for her or her family to reject the match. After she is married, she very seldom visits her family, largely because her husband's insecurities make him possessive of her.
