physically identified as male or female. The interesting feature of this deity. Several other rarity of this psychosexual type is such that deities who belong to the third gendered we were excited to discover depictions of the community, such as Sri Pitchandavar and neutrois theme in in the guise of Veerabathra, are represented here. Kala Samhara. This deity, typically with a Another interesting sculpture we found male-like body, is represented without any represents the deity Arjuni with a moustache sexual organs and represents a MTN (male but also with breasts. This kind of gender to neutrois) person. variation exists in the real world as intersex § A sculpture of particular interest is one people who have both male and female traits that depicts autosexuality. Autosexuals are biologically. In the statue, the characteristics characterized by the lack of interest in sex of the tri-gender (திரினர் in Tamil) type of with other people, preferring to engage ex- person can be seen. Arjuna as a male is Ar- clusively in sexual activities such as mas- juna, as a female is Arjuni, and as a third gen- turbation and auto-fellatio. A sculpture of a dered person is Brihanalla. Thus the Arjuna lion in the temple depicts this auto-fellatio serves as a vivid example for the Tri-gender activity. position in the genderqueer complex. § Sanishwara, who is well-known as a Meenakshi Amman herself represents transgender deity, can be seen in the temple, another aspect in this complex, as symbol- an excellent example of gender variance. ized by her three-breasted condition. She § The Ardanarishwara represents the inter- was born in the Putra Kameshwari Yaga, sex condition known as gynandromorphism, and she was raised as a male. In contempo- and this statue is the depiction of both the rary language we could think of this repre- male and female elements in a clear way. An- Arjuni with mustache and breasts sentation in terms of genderqueer butch or other deity is the Shankara Narayana which is and transmen imagery. The deity displays a combination of male combined. The combination of both male elements is quite an and female elements that make it hard to say for sure; but at the same time the face displays a predominantly masculine or butch expression. Moreover, according to some critics, the ap- pearance of three breasts is a way of representing two breasts and a phallus, thus giving a transwoman imagery to the Meenakshi Amman deity. The crucial point is that gender variants were so well woven into the mythological narratives of India that we should never feel estranged from them, even if today the dominant genders have tried to expel them from cultural awareness. Hindus are generally conservative today, but in ancient India they cele- brated sexuality and gender diversity as a positive and even nec- essary part of life.

“Purusha Mirugham” was a mythological seer-beast whose milk was consid- ered holy. A staunch Shiva devotee, this being’s milk was needed for Yudhishtra to fulfill his Rajasuya Yagna in one of the folk versions of Mahabharatha tale. Sri Meenakshi with three breasts

26 The Gay & Lesbian Review / WORLDWIDE