Puan Sri Janaki Athi Nahappan, also known as Janaky Devar, is a founder member of the Malaysian Indian Congress and one of the earliest women involved in the fight for Malaysian (then Malaya) independence.

Janaky was only 18 when she heard Subhash Chandra Bose's appeal to Indians to give whatever they could for their fight for Indian independence. Immediately she took off her gold earrings and donated them. She was determined to join the Indian National Army. There was strong family objection especially from her father. But after much persuasion, her father finally agreed.

She is among the first women to join the Indian National Army organised during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia to fight for Indian independence with the Japanese. Having been brought up in a well-to-do family, she initially could not adapt to the rigours of army life.

However, she gradually got used to military life and her career in the Regiment took off when she ranked first in the officer’s examinations. She became Second in Command of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, which was the women's wing of the Indian National Army. She later came to be the author of a book on the unit.

Athi is a settlement in Kenya's Eastern Province.