Mohun Biswas
The protagonist of the story, Mohun Biswas, is an Indian born in rural Trinidad and is pronounced unlucky by the pundit at his birth due to the presence of six fingers and because he was born in the wrong way. Mohun goes through a series of life changes as his father dies and his family moves away. He finds a number of jobs throughout his lifetime and finds a passion for writing. Mohun likes to think of himself as a modern man with no belief in orthodox Hindu practices, but he feels greatly victimized when he is not paid any dowry for marrying. He is easily duped but, he doesn't listen to his wife's advice, out of spite for her family.
Shama
Shama is the wife of Mr. Biswas. He sees her in her family shop one day and writes her a note. Soon, he is made to marry her. Though they have little in common and do not even really like each other, she stays with him out of duty. She comes from a family of many daughters. The daughters are usually ignored and married to prospects simply because of their caste. She is apologetic throughout the novel for the aggression of her husband.
Anand
He is the only son of Mohun and Shama. He is found to be brainy and is enrolled in exhibition classes, in which he excels. Later in the novel, Mr. Biswas grows quite fond of him.
Savi
She is the eldest child. She is naughty yet resourceful. Although she is older than Anand, she is given less importance than Anand.
Raghu
Father of Mr. Biswas, he is considered a miser. He is extremely superstitious about Mr. Biswas because he suffers a number of mishaps around him. He dies of drowning while searching for Mr. Biswas in a pond.
Bipti
Mother of Mr. Biswas, she remains a strange figure to him as he is constantly out of touch with her due to his multiple vocations. She is a weak character who always tried to please her sister, Tara.
Pundit Jairam
The pundit to whom Mr. Biswas goes for education in scriptures and rituals. A pompous and suspicious man, he makes Mr. Biswas eat a bunch of bananas as punishment for eating two of them without asking him for permission.
Tara
Bipti's sister. She's married into a rich family but is childless; she takes care of Bipti and her children after Raghu's death.
Ajodha
Tara's husband. He is shrewd and a good person. He is obsessed with keeping one's body fit.
Mrs. Tulsi
The head of the Tulsi family, she is a widow with 2 sons and 14 daughters. She places importance on her sons and marries her daughters off to people she hardly knows, simply because of their caste.
Seth
He is the husband of Mrs. Tulsi. He takes care of the estate and other businesses. He is a shrewd person and later grows apart from the family.
Dehuti
Mohun's sister. She managed to marry a low-born boy, Ramchand, thereby going against the whole society.
Pratap and Prasad
Brothers to Mohun Biswas. They didn't support Mohun Biswas when he was in need.
Dhari
Neighbor of Raghu who gave Mohun the job to take his calf for grazing. The calf drowned due to Mohun's negligence.
Lokhan
When Raghu died in an attempt to find Mohun in the stream, Lokhan took out Raghu's body from the stream.
F.Z. Ghany
He provided fake legal certificates to people.
Bhandat
He is the brother of Ajodha who owns a wine shop. He is very much afraid of Tara. She keeps a close eye on the shop.
Miss Logie
She is the head of the Community Welfare Department where Mohun worked. She is a young lady who features prominently in the novel.
Sushila
Widowed daughter of Mrs. Tulsi; she takes care of Mrs. Tulsi all the time, while remaining personally neglected.
Chinta
Another daughter of Mrs. Tulsi. She is a weak character and remains unresponsive whenever her husband, Govind, beats her.
Owad
Younger son of Mrs. Tulsi. He went abroad to be a doctor and married a cousin of Dorothy.
Shekhar
Elder son of Mrs. Tulsi who lives with his wife, Dorothy.
Dorothy
The wife of Shekhar represents modernity. In the novel, she is as a free woman and performs the work traditionally assigned to men, like selling tickets at the cinema. She compelled her husband to live with her in her own house. She breaks values, wears frocks, and dresses in ways objectionable to her society.
Myna and Kamla
Younger daughters of Mohun Biswas.
