She Became 'Muthu Master' After One Frightening Night And Lived As A Man For 37 Years

Even Petchiammal's child learnt the truth only years later. From shaving her head to learning to smoke beedis as part of the disguise, Muthu Master spent decades maintaining a male identity that she says gave her courage, respect and protection.

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Muthu Master: A mother's 37-year fight to raise her daughter safely

For nearly four decades, people in a small Tamil Nadu village knew Muthu Master as a quiet, hardworking man who wore a white shirt and dhoti, smoked beedis and took up physically demanding jobs in the fields.

Villagers respectfully called Muthu 'Annachi', a Tamil term commonly used for an elder brother. Few had any reason to question the identity of the person living alone in a small house near a temple in Kattunaickkanpatti village of Thoothukudi district.

But behind the name Muthu Master was a secret known only to a handful of people.

Muthu was born Petchiammal, a woman who began living as a man decades ago after widowhood, motherhood and a frightening encounter that left her worried about her safety.

For Petchiammal, the change was not simply about clothes or appearance. She has said it became a way to protect herself, earn a living and raise her daughter without constantly fearing harassment.

"This attire has given me dignity and helped me raise my daughter," she told the Times of India, looking back at the life she built as Muthu.

Husband died just 15 days after wedding

Petchiammal’s life changed dramatically when she was still very young.

According to the TOI report, she married her husband Shiva when she was around 20. But just 15 days after their wedding, Shiva died following a heart attack.

Soon afterwards, Petchiammal discovered that she was pregnant.

Suddenly widowed and expecting a child, she had to find a way to support herself. She later gave birth to a daughter and began working to provide for the two of them.

She took a job at a charcoal factory in Thoothukudi. The work was hard, but it gave her an income at a time when she had few options.

Then came an incident that she says changed the direction of her life completely.

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Encounter with truck driver changed everything

Petchiammal recalled that she was walking towards the factory one evening when a truck driver stopped near her. She told TOI that the driver tried to force her into his vehicle. When she resisted, he abused her before eventually driving away.

Petchiammal managed to escape, but the incident left her terrified.

She said she spent that night at work repeatedly thinking about what had happened and questioning how she could protect herself while continuing to earn a living as a young widow.

By the next morning, she had made a decision.

Petchiammal went to a market and bought a shirt and dhoti. She then travelled to Tiruchendur, shaved her head and visited the temple.

When she came out, she was dressed as a man.

"That was the end of Petchiammal. I became Muthu," she said.

How Petchiammal became 'Muthu Master'

The name 'Master' was added later when Muthu began working at an eatery in Thoothukudi.

The name stayed, as did the male appearance.

Muthu later worked as a cook and moved to Chennai. After spending around three years there, Muthu returned to Thoothukudi district with her daughter and eventually settled in Kattunaickkanpatti.

The village did not know Petchiammal. It knew only Muthu Master.

There, Muthu began working as a farm labourer and became known for handling demanding physical jobs using tools such as a spade and axe.

The hard work helped Muthu earn respect among villagers. People began calling Muthu whenever labour was needed, and the identity remained largely unquestioned.

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Even daughter learnt the truth years later

Petchiammal’s daughter, Shanmugasundari, also had an unusual childhood shaped by her mother’s circumstances.

Accounts about exactly when she learnt the full truth differ in the reports provided. One account says she came to know about her mother's identity when she was seven, while Shanmugasundari later told The New Indian Express that she had grown up in her aunt Laxmi’s house and moved in with her biological mother after her aunt died, when she was around 10.

"I grew up in my aunt Laxmi's house and I thought she was my mother," she told the publication.

After moving in with Petchiammal, the child also had to protect the secret.

In front of villagers, she referred to her mother as Muthu Master rather than revealing their relationship.

நான் ஆம்பள ஆளுன்னு சொல்லி தான் வேலை பார்த்தேன் 🥺| Master muthu | thoothukudi | mastermuthustory | Emotional | #Mastermuthu #pechiyamma #thoothukudi#galattatamil pic.twitter.com/Hxn8pwNDNV

— Galatta Media (@galattadotcom) August 30, 2026

Only close relatives and the daughter knew the truth, while most people around them continued to believe Muthu was a man.

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Why a beedi became part of the disguise

Living as a man involved far more than changing clothes. Muthu also learnt to smoke beedis because she believed it helped make the disguise more convincing.

"The beedi has been a good cover for me," she told TOI.

She recalled once returning home late when a drunk man approached her. Muthu immediately lit a beedi. The man asked for a match and addressed Muthu as 'brother', apparently accepting the male appearance without question.

Such moments strengthened Petchiammal's belief that presenting herself as a man offered a level of protection she did not feel she had as a lone woman.

Still, maintaining the identity brought its own difficulties.

Public toilets, crowded spaces and situations where men were expected to remove their shirts required constant caution.

Muthu still visits the Tiruchendur temple, according to the report, but does not enter the sanctum because male devotees have to remove their shirts.

Hiding periods became another struggle

For years, Petchiammal also had to hide menstruation while working and living among people who believed she was a man.

She described it as difficult and said she had to remain especially careful every month.

She took tablets to manage pain and continued working so that nobody would suspect anything was different.

According to her account, menopause came early, at around 40.

For Petchiammal, all these difficulties were part of the choice she had made.

“When you make a choice, shouldn't you do everything it demands?” she said.

Her decision, she has repeatedly explained, was driven by survival rather than a wish to make a statement about gender identity.

She wanted to remain a widow, work and raise her daughter independently.

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'Where is the safety for women?'

Looking back at the circumstances that forced her to change her life, Muthu has questioned the safety available to women living alone.

“What safety can society guarantee me? Where is the safety for women?” she asked in her conversation with TOI. She also questioned whether a woman who suffered harm would receive justice without first being blamed.

Those fears shaped decades of her life.

For Petchiammal, men's clothing became a form of protection in workplaces, on roads and in a society where she believed a lone widow was especially vulnerable.

What began as an emergency measure slowly became permanent.

Daughter calls her mother tough and independent

Today, Shanmugasundari runs a provision store in a nearby village. She remembers her mother's life as one long struggle.

"Life was a battle all along," she said, describing her mother as tough, independent and deeply committed to self-respect.

She said Petchiammal worked every day for her and rarely asked anything from her daughter in return.

Even after Shanmugasundari grew up, married and became settled, Petchiammal did not abandon the identity of Muthu Master.

After 37 years, it was no longer merely a disguise worn for immediate safety. It had become the life she knew.

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'I want to continue living as Muthu'

Petchiammal has said she no longer plans to return to living publicly under her birth identity.

“Now, I want to continue living as Muthu till I die because this look gave me courage and protection when I was vulnerable,” she told The New Indian Express.

Her story is therefore not simply about a woman dressing as a man for decades.

It is also the story of a young widow who lost her husband weeks after marriage, raised a daughter while working difficult jobs, survived fear and harassment, and created a new identity because she believed it offered safety.

To the villagers around her, she was Muthu Master or Annachi (brother).

Behind that familiar figure was Petchiammal, a mother who says the identity she adopted to survive eventually gave her the dignity, independence and security she needed to build a life for herself and her daughter.