Lokah: Yakshi from Kerala - Karnataka via Sweden trials

 Seductress, Slave, and Spirit

Spread across lands and seas

“Yakshi” is all over the Indian subcontinent. Yakshi or Yakshini and the male peer Yaksha are tutelaries of wealth. Kubera is known as their king. They’re guardians to Jains and Buddhists of South to East Asia. We find a yaksha in Mahabharat testing the Pandavas. 

Yakshi is especially the guardian of women, pregnancy, infants, and fertility. She is associated with groves and trees like Ashoka and Sal. Yakshi is found in lore of Northeastern India,  Kashmiri Muslims, and Sikhs.

Nature-fairy Yaksha and Yakshi in some instances take on haunting roles. Kerala Yakshis live atop Milkwood Devil’s tree (pala) and Palmyra palm (pana), which appear like castles on occasions. 

We’ll see…

Tales 

Most Malayalis grew up hearing about pretam, Yakshi, Vatayakshi, Jalayakshi, Kanjirottu Sreedevi, and yes, the most iconic Kalliyankattu Neeli. 

You see why Sunny faints the moment he gets Chandra’s name right? She is the scariest legend he’s ever heard. Naslen did it right!

In 1967, Malayatoor Ramakrishnan's novel Yakshi set a whole new wave. The Yakshis came to drink men’s blood once a year from a world…

their world as having a blue sun, carpets of crimson grass, streams of molten silver, and flowers made of sapphires, emeralds, garnets, and topaz. In the novel, young yakshis fly around on the backs of giant dragonflies. — Quoted from the Wikipedia article on Yakshini

Kerala lore Yakshis can possess people, especially women. Most are vengeful spirits of women who suffered a violent or unjust death with unfulfilled desires. They inhabit deserted areas and forests, seduce men, and kill them. Horror apart, they’re still sexualized!

Devi - White, Red, Black

Moving to South Kerala, I found that Yakshi Amma is a deity often in Devi temples. She protects women, children, and pregnancies and cure menstrual problems. She is offered black glass bangles, cradles, and kumkum.

In Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, I found Neelapilla Ammal. She is the spirit of a lady who met with injustice and violent death. Apparently, people access her to take revenge.

But I believe Yakshis were exceptional spiritual practitioners of Tantra or Atharva Veda occult - not intending to harm, but to achieve great feats within them.

When women get powerful, disregard social norms, jab with the gab, and are not easy victims, society brands them witches. Society began to teach that a woman's only path to mukti (ultimate liberation) was by serving men. 

Witches, Unite! Or you will burn at stakes like in the West.

I do not consider Yakshis supernatural either. They weren’t violating natural laws.

They’re supranatural, transcending natural order to access higher-order laws. They were divine beings.

Also, Yakshis are said to speak “in tongues”. In the timeline of Kottarathil Sankunni’s collection, Prakrit may have been erased from Kerala. They must have been chants or incantations.  

Yakshi in Prakrit is Yakhini. In Sanskrit, it’s Yakini, a yogini associated with the Sahasrara chakra in Lalita Sahasranama. Yakshi could just be a Yogini, or Yagini who did fire rituals.

Why Aithihyamala shines till date?

Pearls in the Aithihyamala shine by reflecting various aspects of Yakshi. She is sometimes a femme fatale seductress or enslaved spirit at othertimes. She is paramour, partner, witch, or outright vengeful vampire. 

I’ll put some of the stories here.

Lokah got it all!

Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra is one of the best versions of vampires. I loved Dracula Untold (2014) more than Twilight. 

I really am not biased as a Malayali here. I don’t use enough social media and didn't know what to expect with the movie. I thought it was a gangster movie!

And I was prejudiced too. While the underestimation helped enjoy the movie, it also pushed the movie to the top for me. 

Chandra comes from Sweden to Bangalore

Sweden has its own dark history of witch hunts - larger and brutal than the Salem trials everyone knows - the Great Noise!

The Scandinavia Sweden bears spirits called “Draugr”, risen from the grave.

In Bangalore, Chandra briefly looks at the remains of the tree where she worshipped as a child. Fitting, considering the Yakshagana connection of Karnataka. The “tongue” that Yakshis speak could just be an ancient version of Kannada.

Lokah perfectly weaves a web of Aithihyamala stories, erased witches, pop culture, and the divine, letting us revel. The oft demonized female force is a saviour.

The goth blacks, ghostly whites, powerful red, all share the spotlight. 

Goddess vs villainess, seductress vs cursed with attractiveness, Neeli vs Kathanar, slavery vs friendship - Chandra got it all!