Alli is a character of the Tamil Mahabharata and she is exclusive to this interpretation of the Mahabharata.
She is described as an Amazonian warrior queen who ruled over a state where women occupied important positions in administration and governance.
In the original story, Alli sends elephants and snakes to kill Arjuna and she is impressed by his feats of strength and courage when he survives both and returns unscathed.
The original version of Alli despite being such a total badass queen was depicted to be a heartless woman whose heart softened only because she fell in love.
I personally felt like that was not a justified interpretation of Alli’s character. I did not want her entire character development to be centred around a male character, Arjuna. It seems odd to reduce such an ambitious woman to one who has character development because she fell in love.
Hence, I decided to go for a wider interpretation where Alli has many shades and her affection is divided to many other important people in her life and not just Arjuna.
Alli had a life of her own before Arjuna entered it and she continues to have one after he left, I wanted this to be the core theme of my retelling of this classical tale.
