Thinking Outside of the Box
Jul 10, 2017
This is part of the story of Puu itself, but it also functions as a sort of vent comic; I grew up in a very abusive, homo/transphobic, Islamophobic, and casteist brahmin family–and I internalized a lot of their ideas growing up. However, during a pilgrimage trip to southern India I took seven years ago, I learned about Thulukka Nachiyar and how she was a Muslim princess who married the Hindu deity Vishnu and thus became revered as a Hindu saint. (Her shrine contains only a mirror–a formless image–because the priests who’d originally installed it in SriRangam wanted to respect her religion and its emphasis against image-worship, though she has also been depicted in statues and paintings, just not for the purpose of worship.) After that trip, I reevaluated practically everything my parents had taught me, took up Islam, embraced my non-cishet identity, and renounced the concept of caste.
*Note: “Thulukka” (Turkic) fits this description because Thulukka Nachiyar is actually of Turkic origin. However, in a modern sense, “Thulukka” can be used as a slur against Tamil Muslims for the purpose of othering them, so using it outside of its original meaning is highly inconsiderate.
dogwithalaptop
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Oh, dude, I'm sorry you had to endure that as a kid. You've incorporated your experience and the message you are trying to send really well in your story, though, and in a really beautiful way. Thank you for sharing Puu as well as your own story with us!
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