Odiyan, Yakshi and Potti – the Killer Sorcerers of Kerala Folklore

Temporary Transition of Man to Buffalo through practice of Occult (ODIYAN) in Kerala Decades Ago
Image Courtesy: https://valluvanadtimes.com/2009/12/25/odiyan/

Most often , when the cellular representation of a movie based on a popular book we’ve read or a story we’ve heard doesn’t match up, we feel disappointed.

“Odiyan,” one of the popular Malayalam movies of superstar Mohanlal, (based on occult practices that was prevalent in some parts of Kerala) was released a couple of years back. During my childhood, stories of Odiyan and Yakshis were fed to us by our “Karyasthan” (manager of our landed properties and other affairs), leaving an indelible impression in our young minds. This movie ruined the images of my fantasizing escapades as a child.

I must have been barely nine or ten years old when we moved to a small town from our ancestral house in the village where my siblings and I were born. My Father’s job in the city kept him away from home most of the time. Since we were new to the place, it was arranged that our “Karyasthan” at the village “Raman Ezhuthachan” (Ezhuthachan is a caste name. Caste system was rampant then) would come in the evening and stay for the night to make us feel safe. We were very fond of the middle-aged man because he used to enthrall us with Odiyan and Yakshi stories, some of them, he claimed, were his own experiences.

“Odi” can be categorized as an occult, practiced by the tribal community in Kerala and the practitioner is called an Odiyan. As a matter of fact, “Odi” could be construed as a weapon in the hands of the lower caste against the upper caste. At the same time, the upper castes used to hire Odiyan’s services to settle scores with their enemies – for a good amount of money and favors of course.

Odiyans‘ best kept secret was their ability to change into any form as per their wish. Usually the forms chosen were a jackal, a bison or a dog. They could easily be identified by a missing limb or a tail. For changing the form from human to animal, they prepared a concoction from human fetus. Pregnant women were lured out of their houses and their fetuses taken out to make the magic potion. This potion applied on the practitioner’s body while chanting some secret mantras did the trick. To get back to their original form, wives or trusted friends waited for their return and threw warm water over their bodies chanting counter mantras. Sometimes, these trusted people decide to settle scores and leave Odiyans in their animal form by not doing their assigned duty. In such cases, Odiyans were doomed to live the life of a disabled animal for the rest of their lives.

Pregnant women were guarded with utmost care and forbidden to step out after sunset. But “Odi” practitioners could bring out their selected victims in spite of all impediments.

Those were the days before electricity lit up the houses and streets in the villages. Everything was pitch dark after sunset and the new moon phase brought a surreal atmosphere which was ideal for “Odi” practitioners to create an illusion to their advantage. I strongly believe that everything done in the name of “Odi” must have been an illusion with a bit of crude hypnotism and magic. Anyone with a weak heart and mind was sure to meet his end quite easily under such circumstances.

Our “Karyasthan” Velu Ezhuthachan was a hero to us. We were in his care, be it for a doctor’s visit, Utsavam at the temple, or to go for a matinee cinema at the local primitive movie hall. After dinner, the three of us – my two elder brothers and I (my younger brother was far too young to enjoy the narrative) would offer him a generous supply of “Paan” and wait impatiently for him to get into the mood for that evening’s adventure.

“You won’t believe it, but this happened to me,” he would start with great authority. “I had to stay late at work and was walking back home through a desolate area. I had to cross a bridge to get home, but just couldn’t locate it. That was when I noticed a dog on three legs looking intently at me.”

We all huddled close together to disguise our growing fear. Velu Ezhuthachan, satisfied with the effect he was making on us, went on. “I realized it was the work of that farmhand I rubbed the wrong way a few days ago. I was very nervous and started shouting out apologies frantically. The bridge reappeared from nowhere and I crossed it safely. Thank God! I had the presence of mind to ask for forgiveness.” Ezhuthachan summed up with intense emotion. Every evening he succeeded in conjuring up images of ultimate fantasy in our young minds.

Another of his favorite stories used to be about ” Yakshis.”

“They are spirits who can take up the form of beautiful damsels, lure lone travelers and suck their blood,” he declared. According to Velu Ezhuthachan, iron is the only thing that repels Yakshis.

“They always ask for betel leaf and lime from their prey, and you should have the presence of mind to offer lime on an iron knife. That is the only way to safeguard yourself if you have to venture out at an unearthly hour and encounter the amorous advances of a yakshi in the form of a breathtakingly beautiful damsel.”

It sent shivers down our spine when he came up with this particular anecdote.

“I have seen ‘Potti‘ (another occult character) breathing fire near your compound wall.” He was referring to our ancestral home spread over an acre of land where we spent our summer vacations. Being our “manager,” he lived in the outhouse. Apparently, during hot and sultry summer nights, when he was unable to sleep, he used to stand near the window for some fresh air. On one such occasions, around midnight, he noticed that a small fire would start near the far end of the compound very slowly, rise to a height of a few feet, go down on its own slowly, and would finally get extinguished. There was no trace of burned residue when he checked the area the next morning.

Later my mother confirmed that she had been a witness to this queer incident. My adult mind analyses it as a phenomenon in which some minerals, abundant in the unexplored virgin land in certain areas of the compound, emitting a luminous gas during hot summer months.

As for Odiyans, the proponents might well have been practicing some trickery that our modern day magicians and hypnotics practice, though in a crude form.

With the whole village plunging into darkness after sunset, it is easy to scare to death any weak-hearted soul and blame it on Odiyans.

The movie Odiyan by VA Shrikumar was a pale shadow of my childhood fantasy about Odiyans. Books and stories give you the freedom to create your own magical world whereas movies offer you the director’s imagination or the lack of it.

I anytime prefer mine.