Author
|
Topic: The Hijras of India: neither man nor woman
|
Trespasser
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1204
|
posted 21 June 2002 02:09 PM
Paging rasmus_raven...I am reading this book by the feminist anthropologist Serena Nanda about the Indian hijras - my interest in gray areas of gender always hooks me up with cool books. I had no previous knowledge of existence of hijras, nor did I know that several other 'cultures' have their own versions of quasi-institutional third gender. That is what the hijras are, it seems - they are also a sub-culture, a caste, a vocation, a religious sect that legitimately claims an important chunk of Hindu mythology. They are widespread in North India (I read Gujarat is important in that constellation) where they attend to the temples of the goddess Bahuchara Mata, a variant of the Mother Goddess, which endows them with special powers over fertility and conception during the rite of passage that each hijra goes through and that includes their own castration. I am just reading the chapter about the procedure (which is officially illegal in India but the incidence has only gone up in recent years) - after emasculation, the prospective hijra is left to bleed and with the blood her own masculinity is leaving her for good, as well as the immediate, physical procreative powers in order for her to become a kind of a divine inseminator. Men who become hijras may happen to previously be - in Western terminology - hermaphrodites, transsexuals, transvestites, gay, or plain ol' straight but it looks like many of them share a state of acknowledged 'immediate' impotence that after becoming hijras might turn them into real masters over the forces of procreation. They often perform as dancers on weddings and after a son is born to family; they also work as prostitutes to men, though, and they really are both marginalized and feared/respected at the same time. There are photos of hijras in this book, long hair, bindis on their foreheads, dressed in saris, gorgeous creatures. Neither men nor women - or maybe both men and women. Or more accurately, something completely third.
From: maritimes | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
|
posted 21 June 2002 06:51 PM
quote: Men who become hijras may happen to previously be - in Western terminology - hermaphrodites, transsexuals, transvestites, gay, or plain ol' straight but it looks like many of them share a state of acknowledged 'immediate' impotence that after becoming hijras might turn them into real masters over the forces of procreation. They often perform as dancers on weddings and after a son is born to family; they also work as prostitutes to men, though, and they really are both marginalized and feared/respected at the same time.
William Dalrymple, an excellent English travel writer, mentions them in his book City of Djinns, which is about a year he and his wife spent in Delhi. He doesn't go into a whole lot of detail about them, for space reasons partly, but his discussion is sensitive and intriguing. Actually, I recommend this book just on general principles. He writes very well. Edited to add: Whoops! He's Scottish! Sorry, skdadl! [ June 21, 2002: Message edited by: 'lance ]
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
rasmus
malcontent
Babbler # 621
|
posted 22 June 2002 01:39 AM
For some reason, perhaps because I was cute and fresh-faced, hijras always used to like to grab and grope and fondle me as I passed in the street, and then cackle in amusement. I'm not very charitably inclined to the caste as a result. Aside from all that other stuff, the new hijra has only a 50% chance of surviving. The ceremony is not always voluntary. My most shocking encounter was not with a hijra but with a nonetheless fully castrated beggar who was begging from me when I sat on the train. Although he was completely naked, except for a thread tied around his waist, it was not until I looked directly at him that I saw, to my surprise, that he was completely emasculated. As I understood it, hijras, once castrated, live as women -- although really they live as hijras -- and then are cremated as men. They dress as women. They do perform at weddings, but this is a form of extortion. If you don't give them money, they have the power to curse you and bring ill luck to the newlyweds. Dalrymple is related to some earl with lots of blood on his hands. The hijra chapter was pretty much stock for Indian literature. I mean everyone is a bit overdrawn on that particular folklore account. My next door neighbour, the tailor, used to dress up in a sari and make-up, and wander the streets looking for action I guess, but he was not a hijra... he was just unusual. He was not allowed to sleep in the same room as his nephew. (Which in such small houses would otherwise have been normal.) OK Tresp I am not giving you high-falutin' anthropology, but I am a little stressed now.
From: Fortune favours the bold | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|