The Story of Neeli

Neeli's story is the most famous 'yakshi katha' in Kerala. It unfurls through two incarnations. In the first incarnation, it is about Lakshmi the temple dancer, a 'Devadasi' of Ammappan Kovil (temple) of Pazhakainallur near Salem, in Tamilnadu.Enticed by her beautiful lasya dance (slow, enchanting and graceful movement), a 'Nambi,' (caste) Velavan by name, falls in love with her. Her greedy mother, after winning over all his wealth treacherously, forbades him from meeting her...
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Neeli's story is the most famous 'yakshi katha' in Kerala. It unfurls through two incarnations. In the first incarnation, it is about Lakshmi the temple dancer, a 'Devadasi' of Ammappan Kovil (temple) of Pazhakainallur near Salem, in Tamilnadu.Enticed by her beautiful lasya dance (slow, enchanting and graceful movement), a 'Nambi,' (caste) Velavan by name, falls in love with her. Her greedy mother, after winning over all his wealth treacherously, forbades him from meeting her daughter.Lakshmi who goes in search of Velavan, who has gone into the forest after losing all his wealth, was brutally murdered by him...In her second incarnation, she takes rebirth as the daughter of the Chola King Chempian. she kills Velavan, who has taken rebirth as Ananthan, a 'Vaniyan' (caste), and fulfill her thirst for revenge for his treachery in their previous birth...She rages on and on with wrath till she finally relents to the pleadings of Avaya at Muppandal and mellows down. With temperance and a mature mind, she settles down there, as Muppandal Devi...The story of Neeli finds its place even today in 'Vill pattu', a folk art form of a prominent branch of the Thekkan Pattukal(southern folk songs) of Kerala.'Vill pattu' is an important ritual art form in the 'Amman Kovils' (amman temples) of Kerala and Tamilnadu, which follow the Dravidian culture of worshipping Mother Goddesses.The songs are sung by striking a beat on the 'Villu', a giant bow like musical instrument; perhaps the longest musical instrument in the world.Neeli has been re-invented in various art forms like drama and cinema. In many of these, deviating from the original character, Neeli has been depicted as a heinous spirit, which causes harm to innocent people, tearing open their chests and drinking their blood. This book presents before children, a true picture of Neeli, through graphic illustrations, on the tenets of the mural art, indigenous to Kerala.