In 'The Satanic Verses', which character transforms into a goat?

In The Satanic Verses, Saladin Chamcha transforms into a goatlike devil figure. Salman Rushdie’s novel begins with Chamcha and Gibreel Farishta surviving the explosion of a hijacked aircraft over the English Channel. Their miraculous survival is followed by supernatural changes: Farishta takes on aspects of the archangel Gabriel, while Chamcha develops horns, hooves, and goatlike legs.

The transformation reflects Chamcha’s fractured identity. He is an Indian expatriate who has embraced Englishness and distanced himself from his heritage, and his monstrous appearance becomes an outward expression of alienation, anger, and the hostility he experiences in Britain. He is also subjected to police brutality and treated as an illegal immigrant despite his professional life as a voice artist.

A common mix-up is to assign the goatlike transformation to Gibreel Farishta because Farishta is the character associated with the angelic transformation. Ayesha is a visionary figure in one of the novel’s embedded narratives, while Rosa Diamond appears in another subplot. Chamcha eventually returns to human form after confronting his resentment toward Farishta.