The Tale of Kalliyoor Odiyan: A Dark Legend of Revenge

Have you ever heard of a man who can turn into animals such as a bull, dog or crow? A man who can walk in the dark without making any sound, with his glowing eyes? A man who could scare an entire village?

Here is a terrifying tale that I was told by my grandmother. But this story had a different line as I researched it. In ancient times, there were many stories of men who could turn into animals using their special powers. These men were called Odiyans. But when people hear about Odiyan of Kalliyoor, they fear him a lot. This was not only a tale of black magic but also betrayal, revenge and injustice. A man who wanted to punish evil turned into something much more terrifying.

The Tale of Odiyan Kunjiraman

Once, long ago, before the roads were full of chariots and the hills were lit with fire torches, when our villages had many superstitions, the villagers even believed that there were mysterious creatures that roamed during the night and that the boundary between the world of spirits and the world of the living was very thin.

A boy in Kalliyoor worked with his father as a day labourer in the fields of a wealthy Nair landlord, along with his mother. He had a younger brother too. One day, it is said that his father stole coconuts, so the Nair's guard beat him to death on the Nair's orders. Later, they fabricated that he hung himself in a tamarind tree. The boy was just 12 to digest this, and he roamed like a body. Each day he used to stare at the tree and the bats at night. He didn't speak with anyone and roamed around the forest at night. The villagers believed he had gone mad after seeing his father's death.

In the forest, he saw a saint-like person who approached the boy and said about the gate between the sprits at human world.

The boy wanted revenge on Nair, so he learned all the lessons from the saint. On a new moon night, after many years, he gained the desired power. As per the story told by the villagers, they had heard a scream of a man who cried in pain like his bones were broken when he was alive. Some said they went inside the forest during the day and saw some 7 mud lamps and skulls and bones, with some ashes of bones. They also found a most venomous snake that died there.

The villagers belived that the boy had not died and met one of the evil brothers of Chathan who had given him the power of Odiyan. The villagers belived that Odiyan is more powerful than any other, as it gains power during twilight and transforms into any form it wishes. They knew that to kill Odiyan required a person with some extreme power, or it must die of its own will. After that day, they found him as Odiyan roaming around the village.

Why is the Legend of Odiyan so Mysterious?

A great thing about this story is its ability to combine supernatural beliefs with old magic, revenge, and real-life situations of normal people versus landlords. But after turning into Odiyans, he went to the Nair house at night, stood outside and scared him. He didn't want to kill him, as he believed it was a sin to do God's duty. One day, he saw that his mother was killed and came to know it was Nair's guards. From that night, Nair's guards were found dead, hanging in the same tree where his father was hanged.

It was said that Nair went to the king and said that they sent a force to kill the Odiyans and arranged prayers and homa to power the weapon.

Odiyans had the most power, but this boy was different. First of all, he was an innocent boy losing his father. When his mother was killed, his younger brother was left an orphan. He decided not to show mercy then usinf his all power to kill a common man was sin.

But when I read more, this story left me more uncomfortable when you push a normal human to his limits, and if he becomes evil, he will be at such a level that no one could stop him. Then came the birth of such a monster, who turned out to be hideous.

The sages in the kingdom said the boy gained power in the same star constellation during Hiranyakashipu's death, so they needed one of his blood relatives' bones to make a weapon. So it was said that they killed his younger brother and made the weapon.