page_title: Hinduism and LGBT topics
section_title: The Hijra
hierarchical_section_title: Hinduism and LGBT topics / Third-gender Hindu sects / The Hijra
caption_attribution_description: English: Michael Garten, Self Made work, for use please contact garten.mike@gmail.com
context_page_description: Hindu views of homosexuality, and LGBT issues more generally, are diverse and different Hindu groups have distinct views. Although a few Hindu texts contain injunctions against homosexuality, a number of Hindu texts have portrayed homosexual experience as natural and joyful, the Kamasutra affirms and recognizes same-sex relations, and there are several Hindu temples which have carvings that depict both men and women engaging in homosexual acts. There are also numerous Hindu deities that are shown to be gender-fluid and falling into the LGBT spectrum. Same-sex relations and gender variance have been represented within Hinduism from Vedic times through to the present day, in rituals, law books, religious or so-called mythical narratives, commentaries, paintings, and sculpture. In 2009, the Delhi High Court legalised homosexuality in India, but the Supreme Court of India subsequently overturned the high court's decision.
context_section_description: The hijras are a third-gender group in the Indian subcontinent. Some of them undergo castration, which is connected to Bahuchara Mata who is identified with the earth goddess. According to legends, she cut off her breasts in order to avoid rape by a group of bandits. The operation is termed by them nirvan. They compare it with tapas which consists of avoiding sex. Also used to justify emasculation is a creation myth of Shiva who emasculated himself. The aravanis also undergo castration. Hijras also use Arjuna becoming a eunuch during exile as a result of a curse as a justification for castration. Despite this, all the seven major hijra clans are claimed to have been established by Muslims.
  There are an estimated 50,000 hijra in northern India. After interviewing and studying the hijra for many years, Serena Nanda writes in her book, Neither Man Nor Woman: The hijras of India, as follows: "There is a widespread belief in India that hijras are born hermaphrodites [intersex] and are taken away by the hijra community at birth or in childhood, but I found no evidence to support this belief among the hijras I met, all of whom joined the community voluntarily, often in their teens." Nanda also states: "There is absolutely no question that at least some hijras – perhaps even the majority – are homosexual prostitutes. Sinha's (1967) study of hijras in Lucknow, in North India, acknowledges the hijra role as performers, but views the major motivation for recruitment to the hijra community as the satisfaction of the individual's homosexual urges..." The hijras especially worship Bahuchara, the Hindu goddess presiding over transsexuality.
caption: A Hijra
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