மஹ்திதாசன்

  Note: I do not consider this any sort of “formal” research but rather my reflections upon a legend I grew up with and have learned to re-contextualize through my participation and journey through two very different communities. A lot of this is from the oral stories I encountered and was raised with. Nonetheless, I have still listed a number of sources at the end of the post.  THE BLUE-SKINNED GOD AND HIS IN-LAWS In the Bay Area, it was Ramanuja’s 1000th birth year—for about the second or third time, because no one seemed to be in agreement about when exactly he was born.  The theater hall was damp and packed with tilakam-wearing mamis as well as thiruman-wearing mamas who adjusted their poonuls under their office shirts. There were youngsters too, some of course bored out of their minds, while others were wide-eyed and transfixed on the play before them: Onstage was a proud Muslim princess, her twin braids dancing and her sequined, “turkish-inspired” outfit glimmering ...