Malabar saga 8

By twilight the windows of Plathottathil tharavad are closed to deny entry to the Yakshis roaming around.Yakshis are celestial enchantress from the outside world with a vengeful spirit. Achamma Kuttimalu says Yakshis have jet black long hair, wears anklets and emerges out from the ‘sarpakavu ‘ pond after a long bath and walks by the backyard of the house thirsty for human blood. No living soul confronts it out of fear.Thus Women and girls in general , are not allowed to meander in the darkness.

Ammu was perplexed and brooding over this curious case of myth and reality. Is it a conspiracy by the patriarchy to deny power and demand powerlessness from women in the ordinary morbid life that they created the ‘yakshi myth’ ? Is it a magnanimity from the patriarchy to suppress the reality of the ‘real ‘ power of women that they gave too much power to the celestial shapes ‘yaksh’ and ‘pretha’ and denied the same power to women in the broad daylight.