Nangeli

The fictional story of Nangeli depicts an Ezhava woman to have lived in the early 19th century in Cherthala in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in India, and supposedly cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against a tax on breast. It gained much attention since the publication of a 2016 BBC article on this subject.

Legend According to the legend, Nangeli and her husband Chirukandan belonged to the Ezhava caste and were toddy tappers, and in the early years of the 19th century, the pravathiyar (village officer) of Travancore came to Nangeli's home to survey her breasts and collect the breast tax. Nangeli revolted against the harassment; chopping off her breasts and presenting them to him in a plantain leaf.

Historicity The tale is not recognized in any of India's historical accounts. "Mulakkaram" was a term to distinguish female taxpayers from males, and "the tax was not based on the size of the breast or its attractiveness, as Nangeli's storytellers will claim, but was one standard rate charged from women". Covering breasts was not a fashion in Kerala at that time. Victorian standards of morality penetrated into the society decades later via the British colonialists, which led to subsequent class-struggles for the right of the lower caste to wear upper cloth.

In popular culture Nangeli was featured as a character in the 2022 period film Pathonpatham Noottandu, directed by Vinayan.