Police in Tamil Nadu in south India are on high alert for fear that millions of grief-crazed supporters will swarm out onto the streets to vent their anguish over the death today of the woman they worshipped, Jayaram Jayalalithaa, one of India's most flamboyant and controversial politicians.
Draped in a green sari (an astrologer once told her to wear only green) that covered her entirely, Jayalalithaa has been a household figure for over three decades – a goddess to her followers and an idiosyncratic egoist to critics.
Since late September when she was admitted to hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, south India, with fever and dehydration, thousands of her supporters, mainly women, stood vigil outside, alternately wailing and praying for her recovery.
On Sunday evening, though, the woman they called 'Amma' (mother in Tamil) suffered a massive heart attack and on Tuesday doctors at Apollo Hospital announced her death.
Jayalalithaa's 68 years have been tumultuous. The first part of her life, in the '70s and '80s, was spent as a successful Tamil film actress appearing in 120 films and acting in roles that included playing Hindu goddesses. She was known for her dancing and dubbed the Queen of Tamil Cinema'.
It was as an actress that the young Jayalalithaa met her political mentor, actor-turned-politican, M.G. Ramachandran or 'MGR' and under his guidance, so the story goes, became one of the handful of powerful female politicians in India.
When MGR died in 1987, the outpouring of grief was like a tidal wave. Around one million persons followed his funeral cortege, 30 followers committed suicide and thousands shaved their heads in homage.
This is the kind of frenzied behaviour that the police have been fearing ever since Jayalalithaa's condition worsened over the past week.
The past five years of her life encapsulate perfectly the peaks and troughs, triumphs and humiliations, victories and crushing defeats – usually in quick succession - that have punctuated her political career. Having already been chief minister twice, in 2011, she became chief minister again. In 2014, she was forced to step down after a court convicted her of corruption and sentenced her to four years in jail. As part of the corruption charges against her, she was found to own 2000 acres of land, 30 kilos of gold, 800 kilos of silver, 800 pairs of shoes, 90 watches, and 12,000 saris.
A year later, in May 2014, a higher court overturned the conviction and an exultant Jayalalithaa stormed back to the helm of affairs. However, she was able to savour her comeback for just three months before she fell ill.
The personality cult around her and her godlike status in her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) are legendary and part of Tamil Nadu's peculiar political culture. Supporters and cabinet ministers prostrated themselves – a full stretch, not just bending at the knees – in front of her.
On her 56th birthday, a painter used his own blood to paint 56 portraits of her. Fans have variously chopped off their fingers, cut off their tongues, nailed themselves to crosses, and walked on hot coals to demonstrate their adoration. During her rule, gigantic cut-outs of her portly figure dominated the Tamil Nadu skyline.
In person, she came across as intelligent, well-educated, articulate, and rational. Yet she consulted astrologers (she added an extra 'a' to her name to bring her luck on their advice) and encouraged sycophancy. She lived like a recluse yet could electrify a rally of millions. It was these paradoxes that fascinated Indians. Much of her popularity stemmed from her populist and pro-poor schemes. In the 2014 state election, her party manifesto promised free laptops, blenders, fans, bicycles, and gold to poor unmarried girls for their weddings.
But easily her most wildly popular scheme was also the simplest: the over 250 'Amma Canteens' all over the state where poor people can walk in and get a hot, nutritious meal, for a few cents, with endless refills until they are full.
It is this colossal popularity, coupled with the emotional volatility of many Tamil voters, that is making the police anxious about violence and unrest breaking out.
The violence during MGR's funeral left 23 people dead. It was a whole month before the unrest subsided and normality returned. The memory of this has not faded which is why during Jayalalithaa's illness, news about her condition was minutely vetted down to the last word and comma lest anything sparked unrest on the street.
Now that she has gone, the police are hoping they are prepared for the expected deluge of emotion.