Uttaranallur Nangai (Tamil: உத்தரநல்லூர் நங்கை) was a Tamil Paraiyar poet who lived in the 15th century CE.[1][2] She is best known for her strong views against the caste and gender hierarchies of her time. As a Dalit herself, she passionately expresses these views in her only surviving work, the Paichalur Padigam.[3]
Her name, Uttaranallur Nangai, is a combination of Uttaranallur (her birthplace) and Nangai (meaning maiden). Being a Dalit and a woman, she was forbidden from studying the Vedas during her time. In spite of that, she studies the Vedas from a Brahmin boy in secret. Eventually, she falls in love with that Brahmin boy and marries him as well.[4]
For her dual transgression of reading the forbidden sacred texts and breaking caste taboos, she was sentenced to death by being burned alive by the elders of the Paichalur village.[5] When the elders came to the Paraiya street to carry out the sentence, she composed the work Paichalur Padigam addressing them.[6] A verse from that work is quoted below:
Neem and sandalwood smell distinct when they burn,
But the smell of the burning Brahmin, you cannot tell.
Does fire smell different when the unwashed Pulaya¹ burns?
The stuff that burns and the flames that burn - how do they differ,
O elders of Paichalur?
— Poem 9, Paichalur Padigam[7]
¹ Pulaya refers to a Dalit caste
சந்தனம் அகிலும் வேம்பும் தனித்தனிக் கந்தம் நாறும்
அந்தணர் தீயில் வீழ்ந்தால் அவர்மணம் வீசக் காணோம்
செந்தலை புலையன் வீழ்ந்தால் தீமணம் வேற தாமோ?
பந்தமும் தீயும் வேறோ பாய்ச்சலூர்க் கிராமத் தாரே!
— பாடல் 9, பாய்ச்சலூர் பதிகம்[8]