Madurai is not just Meenakshi, of course
And so, I add the less-known myth of Alli Arasani, another warrior-goddess to the myth.
The legend of Alli is deeply rooted in the cultural and political landscape of Pandyamandalam, with Madurai as its mythic and historical center. This setting is no accident. Madurai’s storied past—its dynastic struggles, sacred geography, and gendered mythologies—foregrounds the power politics that shaped the Alii narrative. Unlike other regions where male sovereignty was unquestioned, the Pandian kingdom has long associated women with political authority. Oral traditions speak of a woman founding the dynasty. The Mahavamsa, a Buddhist chronicle, refers to a Pandian queen who married Vijaya of Sri Lanka. Historian Nilakantan Shastri even suggests a link between this queen and Alli’s marriage to Arjuna, also known as Vijaya.
More central to the gendered imagination of Madurai is the myth of Meenakshi, the divine queen whose birth and rule are chronicled in the Tiruvilayadal Puranam, the city’s sthalapurana. Born with three breasts after a putra kameshti yaga, Meenakshi was told by Siva that one breast would vanish upon meeting her destined consort. Until then, she was to be raised as a son and crowned as ruler. This myth reflects the uneasy tension between Brahmanical prescriptions and indigenous Tamil traditions. Meenakshi’s third breast, a symbol of her deviation from normative femininity, paradoxically marks her fitness to rule.
The marriage of Meenakshi to Siva—Sundaresvarar—symbolizes the fusion of cosmic and secular power. Kulasekhara Pandya’s construction of Madurai on a sacred Siva linga site further cements this alliance. Yet even within this divine union, gendered hierarchies persist. Wedding guests joke about whether Meenakshi will rule in her household or defer to Nataraja, the male deity who dominates the sacred space of Chidambaram. It is within this mythic and political framework that the legend of Alii must be understood.The Story of Alli
Alli’s tale has circulated in Tamil culture for over 1,500 years—sung as ballads, staged as dramas, and adapted for print and screen. The sixteenth-century poet Pughazhendi Pulavar authored Alii Arasani Malai, Pavazhakkodi Malai, Pulandaran Kalava Malai, and Eni Etram, each offering a variation on her myth. In the early twentieth century, Chennai’s B. Ratna Nayakar & Sons staged Alii Natakam, later published by Tirumagal Press in 1967.
Alli was born of an alii flower at the conclusion of a putra kameshti yaga—a ritual performed by the childless Pandyan king and queen. Her immaculate conception, like that of Perarasiyar (Purushan Devi) from the Trivandrum region, signals a mythic deviation from normative female sexuality and dependence. Both women reject conventional roles of marriage and reproduction, and their divine births mark them as socially nonconformist.
Raised in a gurukula like a prince, Alli mastered martial arts and horsemanship. Her training parallels that of Meenakshi, who is still depicted in Madurai wearing trousers—an attire deemed masculine, yet befitting a sovereign. Alli’s political ascent begins with battle. She defeats Neenmugan, a usurper to the Pandyan throne, and is crowned ruler of Madurai. Neenmugan’s own birth is mythic and morally ambiguous: he is the son of a waterfowl, once a prostitute in a previous life, transformed into a pregnant woman by Siva and Parvati. Adopted by the Pandyan king, Neenmugan later betrays the royal couple and seizes the throne.
When Neenmugan declares war on the small principality ruled by Alii’s maternal grandfather, demanding tribute, Alii leads the army against him. According to Alii Kadai (Canto I, verse 45), she defeats the tyrant and restores justice. Madurai’s glory is said to have been born from her valor. The myth clearly favors the female heir over the illegitimate male usurper. Alii’s story begins with her reclaiming power from a corrupt claimant. Yet as the legend unfolds, her unbridled authority is gradually absorbed into the patriarchal fold. The land, once terrified of its queen, is pacified. As Pavazhakkodi Malai suggests, Alii’s reign, though glorious, is ultimately tempered—her radical autonomy folded back into tradition.
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The obit of a Tamil writer Arshia, superbly written by Kavita Muralidharan reminds us.
“In mainstream Tamil cinema and literature, Madurai has almost always been defined by clichés. It is either the exotic temple city characterised by colourful festivals for each ancient street or the rustic locale that offers a perfect environment for bloody gang wars. Tamil literature owes some of its most-varied depictions of the different facets of Madurai to Syed Hussain Basha, also known as Arshia.
When 59-year-old Arshia died on April 7, he left a vacuum that is hard to fill. He almost singularly put a Madurai that went beyond its stereotypes on the Tamil literary map. In Arshia’s world, Madurai was not just populated by Meenakshi and her devotees, it was also home to a variety of other communities that coexisted in harmony. His oeuvre includes seven novels, two short story collections and an essay collection. A fine translator, Arshia also has six books to his credit as translator.
The variety of life
In Ezharai Pangali Vagaiyara – his first novel – Arshia writes about Ismailpuram – the little-known part of Madurai, populated by Muslims, where he grew up. In Poikaraipatti, Arshia speaks about the onslaught of real estate business on pristine Madurai. Another novel, Abbasbai Thoppu,is again a testimony to the finesse with which Arshia could paint the life of Muslims in Madurai.
Chottangal, Arshia’s last novel, revolves around the life in Goripalayam Dargah. Even if it is not as celebrated as its counterpart Meenakshi Amman temple, the Goripalayam Dargah in Madurai has a life and culture of its own. It is a silent witness to the various possibilities of human life – from manipulative politicians to conniving real estate brokers, destitute women, men who fall in love with the wives of others, men who lust after properties that are not theirs. The Goripalayam Dargah sees them all in all their rawness. Through a varied cast of characters, Arshia vividly weaves the history of the thirteenth century dargah. In the process, he brings alive the Madurai that once was – a Madurai that witnessed the bitter rivalry between fans of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, a Madurai that was resilient to a devastating flood in the 1990s.
Political and perceptive
Arshia’s love for Madurai and its various aspects finds their full expression in all his works – his short stories too have consistently documented Muslim life in Madurai, a facet that has hardly found its rightful place in Tamil literature. His words explored a Madurai that not many outsiders knew. “His knowledge of Madurai and its history was astounding. When you read him, it is as if he is holding your hand and leading you across Madurai – rich, haunting, varied and yet largely unknown” said Eniyan, a cultural activist and a friend of Arshia’s.
“Almost all his works had a very sharp political clarity” said N Murugesa Pandiyan, a veteran Tamil critic. “He wrote of harmony among Hindus and Muslims that was not forced, that was very organic. Even now I see burqua-clad women worshipping at the Pandi Muni temple in Madurai and destitute Hindu women seeking refuge in Goripalayam Dargah. Arshia brought them into Tamil literature with such impeccable candour.”
In his foreword to Chottangal, Arshia speaks about how Madurai has transformed. “There used to be (Hindu) festivals and various aspects of it happening almost every day. Every street would have some kind of ritual and every community was part of it. But Madurai has changed in all ways…There are of course festivals happening, richer than before. But they are not the same. Every sub-caste now is readying to have its own festival” he writes. It is perhaps this change and the Madurai that once was that Arshia had sought to relentlessly document in all his works.A journalist and novelist
Before he became a writer, Arshia was a journalist and had worked with the now-defunct investigative magazines Tharasu and Kazhugu. His experiences as a journalist between 1987 and 1994 will soon be published as a book and his publisher Karthik Pugazhendhi said the work will be as “racy as his fiction”.
Despite being a prolific writer Arshia was shy of being called one. His Facebook page defines him as a journalist turned agrarian. “The times we are living in made me write. I am a mere instrument in the hands of times. I still cannot introduce myself as a writer anywhere” he once wrote.
But it is as a writer that Arshia will be most missed. As Pandiyan said: “In Tamil literature, he built an honest and sensitive narrative about Muslims that took on the false narratives spun by an irresponsible mainstream media. In the times we are living in, polarized more than ever before, Arshia will be missed more for just that.””