The village-legend of Nangeli is a fictional story about an Ezhava woman who lived in the early 19th century at Cherthala in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in India and supposedly, cut off her breasts in an effort to protest against a caste-based “breast tax”. According to the popular narrative, in the early years of the 19th century, the village officer of Travancore came to Nangeli’s home to survey her breasts and collect the breast tax. Nangeli revolted against the harassment; chopping off her breasts and presenting them to him in a plantain leaf. She soon died of blood loss.