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A Yakshi Tale
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It’s a warm summer’s night. The full moon now high up in the night sky, shines brightly, it’s rays bursting through the canopy of the trees, cutting through the dense darkness and finally coming to rest on the forest floor, casting silvery light upon the simple pala flowers that lay tranquilly. Cautiously placing his feet as he makes his way on the dry forest path, a unexpected sound of a woman’s anklets alarms the young boy. He raises the torch closer and moves on. With great dread he inches forward. His feet land on a damp patch. The light of the torch reveals a pool of blood. He follows the trail and his eyes land on a woman with long hair, blood on her lips and her hands soaked in the dark liquid.
His terrified stare moves towards the lifeless body of a Namboothiri lying on his back and blood flowing out of his neck. In great fright he screams out, “YAKSHI!”.
It’s a cool summer day, Ragini, a tall beautiful woman in her early thirties is waiting outside an untidy looking shed. A few moments later a man cautiously emerges from the doorway of the shed, bowing his head to avoid hitting the frame. His sweaty body is draped in a dirty mundu. He has with him a something wrapped in an old newspaper.
He approaches Ragini. His fingers wrapped tightly around the package as he is handing it over. Ragini stretches out to her hand to receive the package, as the man seeks his chance at feeling the touch of her skin against his fingers. The sly man in the dirty mundu gets his little pleasure. Disgusted, Ragini turns and walks away hurriedly with her parcel as the man watches her leave.
The sun is setting on the day by the time Ragini reaches her house. She unlocks the door to enter and walks quietly with the package held safely in her hand. She approaches a table on which lay a betel box and some pala flowers bunched up in a small pile. She keeps the parcel by the pala flowers and goes to sit on the bed. For a few moments she stares at the parcel on the table, then rests her head on the bed as she stares wide eyed into the nothingness above.
After a long time, she slowly falls to sleep. It’s a dreamy sunlit early morning, a little girl picks pala flowers off the ground, counting them as she places them in her hand. A tall hefty fellow creepily approaches the girl and bears down. Pushed against the wall, unable to escape the frightened little girl is restrained by this strange man as he closes in on her.
Ragini wakes up in fright and quickly sits up on her bed. She stands up and walks hurriedly to the table on which the parcel lay. Carefully she unwraps the packaging, to reveal a brand new shiny knife. She holds the small knife firmly in her hand and stares at it for a moment. She opens the betel box lying nearby and cautiously places the knife within. She steps back and begins to undress. She firstly takes off her jewelry and places it back on the dressing table. She picks up a neatly folded white saree and having draped herself in it she stands back to view her reflection in the mirror. A beautiful woman draped in a plain white saree bereft of adornment stares back at her. She quickly makes herself a betel paan and consumes it before she leaves. She leaves clutching the betel box with the knife tucked safely inside it. The sun has long set and the full moon gleams on the horizon as Ragini walks quietly into the darkness of the forest.
The light of a distant lamp emerges from the deep abyss of the forest. The light reveals the features of the same Namboothri from the dream. His sly smile made sinister by the light from the kerosene lamp. He lays down the lamp gently on the dry forest floor. Little flies dance around the warm lamp to soon meet their end as the light casts a glow from below, on the only two human figures in the dark forest. Namboothri grabs Ragini tightly and begins to kiss her frantically. The grip on the betel box is lost, it falls to the ground, but the knife is still firmly in her hand. Ragini swisesh the knife to stab the man, but the huge figure refutes her attempt and manages to throw the knife off her hand, choking her with the other.
He manages to pin her to the ground when suddenly, there is an unexpected stab in his neck from behind. His head drops down to reveal the knife bearer, the little girl from the dream. Her plain white dress is changing to the colour of the Namboothri’s blood, as she looks in the direction of Ragini. Ragini grabs the shivering little girl by the arms.
“RUN!”, shouted Ragini to the child. The child turns and runs away, the dense darkness engulfing her.
A young traveler with a torch makes his way through the darkness. An unexpected sound of a woman’s anklets alarms him. His eyes land on a woman with long hair, blood on her lips and her hands soaked in the dark liquid.
His terrified stare moves towards the lifeless body of a Namboothiri lying on his back and blood flowing out of his neck. In great fright he screams out, “YAKSHI!” and runs away into the forest.
The young traveler, now with a bunch of people, walks hurriedly in torchlight through the quiet forest. They spot Ragini and surround her ominously. A young Namboothri begins praying, a key held tight in his joint hands. He throws the key in Ragini’s direction. Upset, she begins to cry loudly, gets up to run into the depths of the forest. The little girl emerges from among the people gathered.
By the light of the kerosene lamp one evening, an old lady tells her bright eyed grandson, “Don't go that way alone at night, it's haunted by a YAKSHI!”
