NANGELI THE LEGEND

 

why we all should know about NANGELI?

The village-legend of Nangeli is about an Ezhava woman who lived in the early 19th century at Cherthala in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in India and supposedly, cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against a caste-based “breast tax”.

Story about a brave Girl

Dalit women were not given the option of covering their bosom in public unless they paid taxes. This is worst example of social discrimination.

it is one of the first feminist acts in India started by a strong powerful woman called Nangeli who was born in a low caste

she went create the history that will forever be remembered.

was forced during her younger years to be taxed. This woman was already in the shackles of poverty. The village inspector came to find out that Nageli was not abiding by the rules. He went to her house to collect the money. He forced her to pay up.

She proclaimed in order to cover her dignity she was not going to throw money to protect it. She just cut her breasts of her body with a sickle knife, her two lumps of bleeding meat in a palatine leaf and she handed it to him. Her husband found her bled to death on the floor. At the pyre funeral, the husband out of emotions jumped into the flames of her funeral and died.