The Henna Artist

Lakshmi is living in the large city of Jaipur. She has managed to succeed on her own as a talented henna artist for the rich women of the town. Now prosperous, she has hired a Muslim street urchin named Malik to fetch and carry her supplies for her. Lakshmi brings in additional money by dispensing herbal remedies to her clients.

One day, Lakshmi calls on a customer named Parvati Singh, who is well-connected to the ruling elite of the city. The henna artist is intent on arranging a marriage for Parvati’s son with a girl of a different caste. Being a matchmaker would bring more money to Lakshmi so that she could finish building her fine new home. Not knowing her parents are dead, Lakshmi dreams of one day bringing them to live with her, undoing the shame she brought on her family by running away from her husband.

Parvati offers to get Lakshmi an introduction to the maharani—the wife of the local ruler. With important contacts like this, Lakshmi could grow her business. However, Parvati wants Lakshmi to arrange her son’s marriage for free. The two women haggle politely and come to terms. As she leaves Parvati’s house, Lakshmi encounters Parvati’s husband, Samir, who is known to carry on affairs with other women. Lakshmi slips him some contraceptive sachets for his mistresses. He pays her and gives her the address of an Englishwoman who needs her services. The two are surprised by the arrival of Samir’s friend from Oxford, Dr. Kumar.

That night back at her apartment house, Lakshmi learns that a man with a facial scar has come searching for her. She realizes that her husband, Hari, has tracked her down and is waiting across the street from her home. She sends a neighbor out with a note for Hari to meet her later at her new house.

Lakshmi waits in her darkened house, which is still under construction. She is carrying a knife just in case her husband tries to attack her. When Hari arrives, he is accompanied by a girl Lakshmi has never seen. Much to her dismay, she discovers that the girl is her sister, Radha, and that her parents are dead.

Hari wants to reconcile, but Lakshmi demands a divorce. She is finally able to get him to leave her house by giving him some money. She expects he will continue to extort cash from her to keep quiet about her past. After he leaves, Lakshmi takes Radha home with her, her thoughts full of plans for how to take care of her new little sister.

The following morning, Lakshmi scrubs the dirt off Radha and gives her fresh clothing to make her look presentable. She also offers numerous instructions on how to behave in a civilized fashion. Malik arrives, and after some errands, Lakshmi tells Malik and Radha to prepare food while she pays a call on Samir’s English lady friend, Mrs. Harris.

The foreign woman says she is four months pregnant. The father might be her own husband, but she fears the baby may be Indian and wants to abort it. Lakshmi cautions her about the dangers of a late abortion but gives her three sachets of cotton root bark and explicit instructions on how to use the preparation.

Upon returning home, Lakshmi settles down to prepare various herbs, ointments, and oils for her customers. She learned this skill from her mother-in-law, or saas, who was the village healer. Lakshmi tells Radha about Hari’s abuse and why she left Ajar, while Radha talks about the shame brought on the family after Lakshmi disappeared. Their father, a schoolteacher, lost his post for defying the British, and the family sank into poverty.

After midnight, the sisters are awakened when Samir and his doctor friend, Kumar, arrive with Mrs. Harris. She has overdosed on the abortifacient and may die. Samir leaves to arrange a private hospital bed for her while Lakshmi and Kumar try to save her. Despite Kumar’s initial objections, Lakshmi applies a remedy that seems to help. After the two succeed in stabilizing the English woman’s condition, Samir reappears to take her to the hospital. Later, Radha asks Lakshmi why she helps women get rid of babies. Lakshmi says, “In the end, I repeated my saas’s words. ‘They have no one else to turn to’” (76).