# Kalliyankattu Neeli

Yakshi Kalliyankattu Neeli is a malevolent spirit/Yekshi who appears in Kerala folk songs, Villaticchan songs and folk tales of Travancore. Neely also appears in Marthandavarma, CV Raman Pillai's historical novel. Even though she is a Yakshi (Ghost), Neeli is worshiped in a motherly form in a temple in Panchavankadu, after she is impaled by the great priest Kadamattathu Kathanar.

## Folklore

Neeli used to roam around and terrorize Panchavankadu in Thiruvananthapuram district. She is said to be a bloodthirsty ghost (yekshi) with divine beauty.
Before being a malevolent spirit, Neeli was born as Alli, the daughter of Karveni, a Devadasi, who lived in the land of Pakhakannur in the early ninth century with a fierce appearance. Her hair reached her knees, complementing her wide eyes and mesmerizing beauty. She was described as beautiful and fell in love with and married the priest of the local Shiva temple, Nambi. Nambi married her for her money and regularly cheated on Alli with other women. Disgusted with her son-in-law's promiscuity, Karveni kicked Nambi out of the house. A pregnant Alli left the house with him. On the way, Nambi killed Alli to steal her jewels. Her younger brother Ambi, who rushed to bring back Alli, committed suicide upon seeing his sister's body by hitting his head on a rock. Nambi was also later killed by snakebite.
Both Ambi and Alli were reincarnated as the Chola king's children - Neelan and Neeli, and evil spread across the country. They started to drink the blood of the cattle at night and several cattle were lost. After The Chola king realized that his children were the cause of the evil, he abandoned them at Panchavankath near Nagercoil, the southern border of the Chola kingdom. Pazhayannur village later became the children's retreat. Seventy local Uranmas gathered Nambi, a sorcerer at Nagercoil, and he was able to overpower Neelan, but he could not stop Neely. Nambi was later killed by Neely in Nagercoil for revenge for Neelan. Meanwhile, Kaveripoompattinam native Anandan, the reincarnation of Alli's husband Nambi, was about to go to Muziris via Panchavankadu for business. Neely could not touch Anandan who had a magic wand and therefore she followed him. On seeing Neely following him, he ran and reached Pazhayannur village. Meanwhile, Neeli took the form of a woman with a child and made the villagers believe that Anandan was her husband and that he was running away after quarreling with her. He cried and said that she was Neeli, but no one believed him, and the Uranmas swore that if the yekshi did anything to him, all of the Uranmas would die with him. Neeli killed Anandan in a cunning way that night. The next morning, seeing Anandan dead, the seventy Uranmas entered the fire to fulfill their promise. Having killed Anandan and the seventy Uranmas who had caused the death of her and her brother, Neeli decided to reside under a Kalipala tree and gradually became the mother goddess. According to another version, Neeli was not contained and later was impaled by Kadamattathu Kathanar.

## Popular culture

* A Malayalam horror film Kalliyankattu Neeli (1979), used Neeli as the main character.
* Kalliyankattu Neeli appears in the 1985 Malayalam horror film, Kadamattathachan
* Kalliyankattu Neeli appears in the Malayalam supernatural drama television series, Kadamattathu Kathanar
* A poem written by Ezhacherry Ramachandran about Kalliyankattu Neeli is called Neeli.
* The 2024 film Kathanar - The Wild Sorcerer based on the character stars Anushka Shetty as Neeli