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Rahel Ipe

One of the novel’s protagonists. Much of the novel shifts between Rahel’s perspective as a seven-year-old girl and as a thirty-one-year-old woman. Rahel has a male fraternal twin, Estha. She shares an unconscious connection with Estha and they often share the same thoughts. She grows up in Ayemenem, and later enrolls in an architecture program in Delhi, but leaves the school to move to the United States with her husband, Larry McCaslin, whom she later divorces. When Rahel learns that her brother has returned to Ayemenem, she finally leaves the United States to join him.

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Estha Ipe

One of the novel’s protagonists. Estha is Rahel’s male fraternal twin. Estha stopped talking as a child, and he leads a solitary life walking outdoors and doing housework. He never was interested in college, much to the dismay of his family. He is twice sent away to live with his father, Babu, a manager at a tea estate. When Estha returns to Ayemenem, he is considered crazy by his family.

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Ammu

Rahel and Estha’s mother. As a willful teenager, she married Babu on a whim to escape her family. She divorces Babu later once she learns he is an alcoholic and he tries to force her to sleep with his boss at the tea estate in Assam to keep his job. Ammu has an affair with family friend Velutha, an “Untouchable,” or member of the Paravan caste. She dies at the age of thirty-one while interviewing for a job out of town.

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Baby Kochamma

Rahel and Estha’s grandaunt. Baby Kochamma develops an infatuation with a monk, Father Mulligan, while young and joins a convent to win his affection. When that fails, she ends up bitter about love. Baby Kochamma is manipulative and vindictive and worries that Rahel and Estha will steal the family home. She has a degree in ornamental gardening, and for a while she keeps a garden at the house before settling into a lazy, sedentary life watching television with the servant, Kochu Maria. She pressures the twins into testifying against Velutha to save herself.

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Velutha

An “Untouchable,” a member of the Paravan caste. Even though Velutha is of a lower caste, Mammachi welcomes him into the home to do special chores because of his skills. He develops a close relationship with the twins and has an affair with Ammu. Velutha is used as a scapegoat by Baby Kochamma which eventually leads to his death.

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Mammachi

Rahel and Estha’s grandmother. Mammachi is a hard-working and resolute woman who starts the family’s pickle business all by herself. She is beaten by her husband, Pappachi, every night with a brass vase until her son, Chacko, forces Pappachi to stop. Mammachi develops an unhealthy bond with Chacko in return. Mammachi plays the violin and is partially blind. 

Pappachi

Rahel and Estha’s grandfather. Pappachi holds a post as an Imperial Entomologist at the Pusa Institute in Delhi. He discovers a new species of moth but is never recognized for his discovery, which leaves him a bitter man until his death. Pappachi buys himself a blue Plymouth that he doesn’t allow anyone to drive once Chacko forces him to stop beating his wife.

Chacko

Rahel and Estha’s uncle, and Mammachi and Pappachi’s son. Chacko is an academic like his father. He meets his wife, Margaret Kochamma, while on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford in London. Their marriage crumbles once she discovers how lazy he is. Chacko’s daughter is Sophie Mol.

Sophie Mol

The daughter of Chacko and Margaret Kochamma. Chacko only gets to see Sophie Mol twice in his life: once as an infant and once again when she is nine years old. After Sophie Mol’s stepfather Joe dies, she and her mother return to Ayemenem to grieve. Her death is at the center of the novel. 

Margaret Kochamma

Sophie Mol’s mother and Chacko’s ex-wife. Margaret is a waitress at a café when she meets Chacko. A self-reliant and independent woman, she leaves Chacko once she discovers how lazy he is. Margaret is left devastated once Sophie Mol dies, and regrets bringing her back to Ayemenem.

Babu

Rahel and Estha’s father. Babu is an alcoholic and an assistant manager at a tea estate in Assam. First, he insists that Ammu send Estha to live with him after she moves back to Ayemenem and divorces him, but then sends Estha back home to Ammu when he moves to Australia and refuses to take Estha with him.

Vellya Paapen

Velutha’s father. Vellya has a false eye and is on good terms with Mammachi until he reveals Velutha and Ammu’s affair. He comes to her house drunk and during a rainstorm to tell her, and even offers to kill Velutha for his transgression, but Mammachi sends him away.

Kuttapen

Velutha’s older brother, who is paralyzed from the waist down. He stays in the family hut and calls to the young kids who pass him every day. He tells Estha and Rahel how to fix their boat one day, and warns them about the river.

Father Mulligan

The priest Baby Kochamma falls in love with. Originally an Irish monk, he leaves his religion to become a follower of Vishnu. Father Mulligan is not interested in Baby Kochamma romantically, but he does keep a friendly correspondence with her until his death.

Kochu Maria

The servant who lives with Baby Kochamma in the Ayemenem house. She is short and pudgy and joins Baby Kochamma in watching television all day.

Mr. Hollick

Babu’s boss at the Assam tea estate. Mr. Hollick offers to let Babu keep his job if he sends Ammu to his house every night to sleep with him. His offer is the catalyst for Ammu and Babu’s divorce.

Larry McCaslin

Rahel’s ex-husband, an American scholar. Their relationship ends once he realizes Rahel cannot emotionally connect to him.

Joe

Margaret Kochamma’s second husband. When Joe dies in an accident, Margaret goes to Ayemenem with her daughter, Sophie Mol, to grieve with Chacko. 

Comrade K. N. M. Pillai

The leader of the Communist Party in Ayemenem. He has a son named after the Marxist leader, Lenin. Comrade Pillai doesn’t want to align himself with Velutha, who is a member of the Communist Party as well, because Velutha is a Paravan. Comrade Pillai notably does not come to Velutha’s defense the night of his death. He is the last to see Velutha alive.

Kochu Thomban

A ritual elephant the townspeople feed coconuts to. Kochu Thomban is at the temple the night Rahel and Estha watch a Kathakali performance together.

Orangedrink Lemondrink Man

A man who sells concessions at the Abhilash Talkies theater. He molests Estha in the lobby while the rest of the family is inside the theater. The incident haunts Estha for the rest of his life.

Inspector Thomas Mathew

The police inspector who sends his men to beat Velutha after Baby Kochamma makes a false statement against Velutha. He only mildly regrets Velutha’s death, mostly because it makes his force look bad.

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