Kanjirottu Yakshi

Born into the Mangalathu household at Kanjiracode and known in some accounts as Chiruthevi (also Sreedevi), she was a celebrated courtesan at court. After being murdered (accounts identify betrayal by a palanquin-bearer) and suffering extreme marana-vedana (death-throes), she was reborn as a yakshi. Legend says she initially took up residence in a massive Kanjiram (Strychnine tree) — the place-name element 'Kanjirottu' is said to derive from that tree. As a yakshi she seduced and terrorized men and drank their blood; in several variants she was later constrained by ritual negotiation, oath, or clerical intervention and became associated with temple ritual life, ultimately believed in some traditions to reside in Vault B of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Traditional accounts emphasize that she appears as an exceptionally beautiful courtesan; sources state she 'magically transformed into a bewitchingly beautiful woman moments after her birth' as a yakshi. Temple paintings at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy shrine portray both 'enchanting and ferocious' forms of the yakshi, reflecting attractive and fearsome aspects in local iconography.

Narratives attribute seduction and deadly predation to her: she seduces men, terrorizes them, and is said to drink their blood. She may pursue specific individuals from her human life (stories cite persistent harassment of the still-living Kunjuraman, whom she desired). Variants record that she was capable of entering into binding oaths (she 'swore on ponnum vilakkum') and could be tamed or reformed by ritual specialists or by becoming a temple devotee, after which she was represented within temple ritual geography.