Kuyili was a commander in the army of Madurai’s freedom fighter queen Velu Nachiyar. Kuyili was born in the 18th century at Kudanchavadi, near Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu. Long before the Revolt of 1857, Kuyili led a battalion of 4000 women who fired cannons against a British fort in the region. Further, she is considered the first woman suicide bomber and martyr in India’s freedom struggle. She applied ghee and oil on her body, set herself ablaze and jumped into the armoury of the East India Company, thus securing victory for Rani Velu Nachiyar.