Hijra (South Asia)

In South Asia, hijra are transgender, intersex, or eunuch people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as the guru–chela system. They are also known as aravani and aruvani, and, in Pakistan, khawaja sira. Hijra is officially recognised as a third gender throughout countries in the Indian subcontinent, being considered neither completely male nor female.

The word hijra is a Hindustani word. It has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite", where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition". However, in general, hijras have been assigned male at birth, with few being intersex. Hijras' identity originates in ancient Hinduism and evolved during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and Mughal Empire (1526–1707).

In the 21st century, many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by a guru. Over generations, these communities have consisted of those who are in abject poverty or who have been rejected by or fled their family of origin. Some hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirvaan, which involves the removal of the penis, scrotum, and testicles. Many of them are sex workers.

Today, Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have all legally accepted the existence of a third gender, with India, Pakistan, and Nepal including an option for them on passports and certain official documents.

Terminology

The Hindi word hijra may alternately be romanized as hijira, hijda, hijada, hijara, or hijrah. Another such term is khasuaa (खसुआ) or khusaraa (खुसरा). These terms are generally considered derogatory in Urdu and the term khwaja Sara is used instead. Khwaja Sara is sometimes seen as a more respectable term and has been reclaimed by the community given its precolonial origins and more accepted status within Pakistani society.

A number of terms across the culturally and linguistically diverse Indian subcontinent represent similar sex or gender categories. While these are rough synonyms, they may be better understood as separate identities due to regional cultural differences. In Odia, a hijra is referred to as hinjida or hinjda, in Tamil as ali, aravanni, aravani or aruvani (often considered derogatory, and have been supplanted by in-community terms rejecting the concept of hijra for a broader trans identity, such as thirunangai (; "respected woman"), thirunambi (; "respected man") and thirunar (; "respected person") for trans woman, man, and person, respectively), in Punjabi as khusra or jankha, in Kannada as mangalamukhi (), in Sindhi as khadro (), and in Gujarati as pavaiyaa (). In Bengali, hijra is called hijra (), hijla, hijre, hizra, or hizre. In Konkani, they are known as hizddem or hizdô.

In North India, the goddess Bahuchara Mata is worshipped by pavaiyaa. In South India, the goddess Renuka is believed to have the power to change one's sex. Male devotees in female clothing are known as jogappa. They perform similar roles to hijra, such as dancing and singing at birth ceremonies and weddings.

The word kothi (or koti) is common across India, although kothis are often distinguished from hijras. Kothis are regarded as feminine men or boys who take a feminine role in sex with men, but do not live in the kind of intentional communities in which hijras usually live. Additionally, not all kothis have undergone initiation rites or body modification steps to become a hijra. Local equivalents include durani (Kolkata), menaka (Cochin), meti (Nepal), and zenana (Pakistan).

Hijra used to be translated in English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite", although LGBT historians and human rights activists have sought to include hijras as transgender. In a series of meetings convened between October 2013 and January 2014 by the transgender experts committee of India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, hijra and other trans activists asked that the term "eunuch" be discontinued from usage in government documents, as it is not a term with which the communities identify. The term has been compared to those of mustarjil and mukhannath.

Gender and sexuality

A common misconception of many in Indian society is that all hijra are intersex, asexual, and impotent. This is not fully accurate, as many hijra are sexually active, in relationships, or partake in sex work. In India, some Hijras do not define themselves by specific sexual orientation but rather by renouncing sexuality altogether. However, these notions can come in conflict with the practical, which is that hijras are often employed as prostitutes. Furthermore, in India a feminine male who takes a "receptive" role in sex with a man will often identify as a kothi (or the local equivalent term). While kothis are usually distinguished from hijras as a separate gender identity, they often dress as women and act in a feminine manner in public spaces, even using feminine language to refer to themselves and each other. The usual partners of hijras and kothis are men who consider themselves heterosexual, as they are the ones who penetrate. These male partners are often married, and any relationships or sex with "kothis" or hijras are usually kept secret from the community at large. Some hijras may form relationships with men and even marry, although their marriage is not usually recognised by law or religion. Hijras and kothis often have a name for these masculine sexual or romantic partners; for example, panthi in Bangladesh, giriya in Delhi, or sridhar in Cochin. Many transfeminine activists in Indian communities reject being considered as a third gender, saying that it's a term that is assigned to trans women even if they do not consider themselves a third gender.

History

Ancient era

The ancient Indian erotic book Kama Sutra mentions the performance of fellatio by feminine people of a third sex (tritiya prakriti). This passage has been variously interpreted as referring to men who desired other men, so-called eunuchs ("those disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females"), male and female trans people ("the male takes on the appearance of a female and the female takes on the appearance of the male"), or two kinds of biological males, one dressed as a woman, the other as a man. Furthermore, in the Puranas, three kinds of devas, or divine beings of music and dance, were identified. These included apsaras, gandharvas, and kinnars, with the former two referring to female and male, while the latter refers to 'neuters'. Additionally, the early writings of the Manu Smriti explained the biological origin of the sexes, identifying a third sex that could result if there was an equal prevalence of male and female 'seed'.

Franciscan travelers in the 1650s noted the presence of "men and boys who dress like women" roaming the streets of Thatta, Sindh (in what is now modern Pakistan). The presence of these individuals was taken to be a sign of the city's depravity.

It is important to note, while hijras today refer to males that identify as women and hence voluntarily castrate themselves, the hijras/eunuchs who served the sultanates and empires were often slaves that were forcibly or coercively castrated. The number of such eunuch slaves was always few, as the eunuchs were considered the most expensive and elite kinds of slaves that exclusively met the demand of Royalty and Nobility. though the government never defined the term.

thumb|Male, female and hijra [[public toilets in India]]

Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word "hijra" is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. The Indian lawyer and author Rajesh Talwar has written a book, titled The Third Sex and Human Rights, highlighting the human rights abuses suffered by the community. Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from performing at ceremonies (toli), begging (dheengna), or prostitution ('raarha')—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially those who are prostitutes, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes. As with transgender people in most of the world, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories.

Community

The hijra community is made up of large groups of hijras from different areas forming hierarchical lineages or gharanas. A naayak is the head and primary decision maker for a gharana, determining policies for the community. Falling under naayaks are gurus (lit. "teachers"). Gurus are above community members and regulate daily life in their space (known as a dera). The followers of a guru are called chelas. Traditionally, teachers and their disciples use these terms in many domains such as religious learning; however, they bear specific meaning in hijra communities as being about cultural learning—hijra chelas are taught about hijra customs by their guru. These communities reflect similarities to Western notions of found family.

In these communities, the hijras usually refer to each other in feminine terms. Thus, they refer to their relations as sisters with those who fall around their age range or aunt with those older than them, and so on.

Healthcare

The social status of hijra in society plays a part in their difficulty accessing healthcare services as physicians will turn hijra clients away, saying their presence will disturb other clients. Hijra have to hide their identities or can not disclose illnesses such as STIs. Most medical practitioners are also not well educated and informed enough on hijra or sexuality, further contributing to this issue. Social exclusion of the hijra also has some severe consequences for their health.

Hijra in Dhaka, Bangladesh were found to have the highest syphilis rates out of all at-risk groups in the city. The general prevalence of HIV among the adult Pakistani population is estimated at 0.1%.

The aforementioned social inequalities and medical negligence also make hijra sex workers a more vulnerable population to HIV. Sex work increases the worker's vulnerability to violence, and protection is not usually used in coerced sex, increasing the risk of direct exposure to HIV. 40% of the sample in a Pakistani study on HIV reported experiencing forced sex or abuse. Additionally, of this sample, 58% of participants had STIs, the most common being syphilis and gonorrhoea.

An Indian study consisting of 68 transgender participants reported that respondents expressed having intense feelings of low self-worth, shame, depression, and suicidal thoughts, internalizing the negative views the society around them holds. Many hijra experience a lack of a support system, facing rejection from family members or difficulties in terms of maintaining steady relationships with romantic partners. This rejection from society contributes to struggles with mental health as well as trans sex workers feeling obligated to accept the violence and stigmas they are subject to. On 6 September 2018, the Supreme Court overturned India's Section 377, which criminalized anal and oral sex.

Education and employment

In an ethnographic study on the hijra experience in Bangladesh, many hijra recounted childhood experiences of facing abuse and isolation from their peers for presenting as feminine males. Additionally, many hijra reported facing abuse and humiliation from their teachers as well, making school an unfriendly and uncomfortable environment for them. These experiences ultimately resulted in their reluctance to attend school or continue education. This lack of education ends up playing a role in unemployment rates of Hijra. Hijras in Bangladesh also experience sexual harassment and abuse at work, being removed from their jobs when outed as hijra or denied jobs in general. They face accusations of disturbing the workplace environment. On 15 April 2014, in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India ruled that transgender people should be treated as a third category of gender or as a socially and economically "backward" class entitled to proportional access and representation in education and jobs.

Language

The hijra community developed a secret language known as Hijra Farsi. The language has a sentence structure loosely based on Hindi Beyond the Urdu-Hindi speaking areas of the subcontinent, the vocabulary is still used by the hijra community within their own native languages.

In politics of South Asia

thumb|Hijras protesting in [[Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan]]

The governments of both India (1994) and Pakistan (2009) have recognised hijras as a "third sex", thus granting them the basic civil rights of every citizen. In India, hijras now have the option to identify as a eunuch ("E") on passports and on certain government documents. They are not, however, fully accommodated; in order to vote, for example, citizens must identify as either male or female. There is also further discrimination from the government. In the 2009 general election, India's election committee denied three hijras candidacy unless they identified themselves as either male or female. In 2013, transgender people in Pakistan were given their first opportunity to stand for election. Sanam Fakir, a 32-year-old hijra, ran as an independent candidate for Sukkur, Pakistan's general election in May.

In April 2014, Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India.

Justice Radhakrishnan said that transgender people should be treated consistently with other minorities under the law, enabling them to access jobs, healthcare, and education. He framed the issue as one of human rights, saying that, "These TGs, even though insignificant in numbers, are still human beings and therefore they have every right to enjoy their human rights", concluding by declaring that:

In the 1990s, about 10,000 people belonged to a national organisation called Treetiya Panthi Sanghatana (TPS). As of 2003, the president was Kajal Nayak. A younger Kajal Nayak, who was 27 years old in 2019, is the president of Jajpur's Transgender Association.

In religion

thumb|right|upright|The Indian transgender hijras, or Aravanis, ritually marry the Hindu god [[Iravan|Aravan and then mourn his ritual death (seen) in an 18-day festival in Koovagam, India.]]

Many practise a form of syncretism that draws on multiple religions; seeing themselves to be neither men nor women, hijras practice rituals for both men and women.

They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, Shiva, or both.

Bahuchara Mata

Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess with two unrelated stories, both associated with transgender behavior. One story is that she appeared in the avatar of a princess who castrated her husband because he would run in the woods and act like a woman rather than have sex with her. Another story is that a man tried to rape her, so she cursed him with impotence. When the man begged her forgiveness to have the curse removed, she relented only after he agreed to run in the woods and act like a woman. The primary temple to this goddess is located in Gujarat, and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahuchara Mata as a patroness.

Ardhanarishvara

One of the forms of Shiva is called Ardhanarishvara, a composite representation with one half of the form featuring Parvati. Ardhanarishvara has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.

In the Ramayana

In some versions of the Ramayana, when Rama leaves Ayodhya for his 14-year exile, a crowd of his subjects follow him into the forest because of their devotion to him. Soon Rama notices this, and gathers them to tell them not to mourn, and that all the "men and women" of his kingdom should return to their places in Ayodhya. Rama then leaves for 14 years. When he returns to Ayodhya, he finds that the hijras, being neither men nor women, have not moved from the place where he gave his speech. Impressed with their devotion, Rama grants hijras the boon to confer blessings on people during auspicious inaugural occasions like childbirth and weddings. Specifically, hijras will perform and bestow their blessings when a son is born. This boon is the origin of badhai, in which hijras sing, dance, and give blessings.

In the Mahabharata

thumb|upright|Kuttantavar festival in [[Koovagam ]]

The Mahabharata includes an episode in which Arjuna, a hero of the epic, is sent into exile. There he assumes the identity of a eunuch-transvestite and performs rituals during weddings and childbirths that are now performed by hijras. Reddy also documents an example of how this syncretism manifests: in Hyderabad, India, a group of Muslim converts were circumcised, something seen as the quintessential marker of male Muslim identity.

In films and literature

India

Hijras have been portrayed on screen in Indian cinema since its inception, historically as comic relief. A notable turning point occurred in 1974 when real hijras appeared during a song-and-dance sequence in Kunwaara Baap ("The Unmarried Father"). The Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) features hijras who accompany one of the heroes, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor), in a song entitled "Tayyab Ali Pyar Ka Dushman" ("Tayyab Ali, the Enemy of Love").

In Soorma Bhopali (1988), Jagdeep encounters a troupe of hijras on his arrival in Bombay. The leader of this pack is also played by Jagdeep himself.
One of the main characters in Khushwant Singh's novel Delhi (1990), Bhagmati, is a hijra. She makes a living as a semi-prostitute and is wanted in the diplomatic circles of the city.
One of the first sympathetic hijra portrayals was in Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995). 1997's Tamanna starred male actor Paresh Rawal in a central role as "Tiku", a hijra who raises a young orphan. Pooja Bhatt produced and also starred in the movie, with her father, Mahesh Bhatt, co-writing and directing.
The 1997 Hindi film Darmiyaan: In Between, directed & co-written by Kalpana Lajmi, is based on the subject of hijras, with a fictitious story of an actress bearing a son that turns out to be neuter.
Kishor Shatabai Kale's novel Hijara Ek Mard (Eunuch, a Man) was adapted for the stage in 1998. The play was titled Andharyatra.
In the 2000 Tamil film Appu, directed by Vasanth and a remake of the Hindi film Sadak, the antagonist is a brothel-owning hijra played by Prakash Raj. (In Sadak, the brothel-owning character was played by Sadashiv Amrapurkar under the name "Maharani".)
In Anil Kapoor's Nayak (2001), Johnny Lever, who plays the role of the hero's assistant, gets beaten up by hijras when he is caught calling them "hijra" (he is in the habit of calling almost everyone who bothers him by this pejorative, and no one cares much, except this once ironically, as the addressees are literally what he is calling them.)
In the 2004 film Bride and Prejudice, directed by Gurinder Chadha, a group of hijras makes an appearance during the "A Marriage Has Come to Town" number, in which they dance and sing the following lyrics: "Who can tell you more about Yin & Yang?/Sharing one spirit between woman and man/Marriage is the path taken by he and she/May your new life be kissed by harmony."
Deepa Mehta's controversial film Water (2005) features the hijra character "Gulabi" (played by Raghubir Yadav), who has taken to introducing the downtrodden, outcast widows of Varanasi to prostitution.
Vijay TV's Ippadikku Rose (2008), a Tamil show conducted by postgraduate-educated transgender woman Rose, was a very successful program that discussed various issues faced by youth in Tamil Nadu, where she also gave her own experiences.
In addition to numerous other themes, the 2008 movie Welcome to Sajjanpur by Shyam Benegal explores the role of hijras in Indian society.
Jogwa, a 2009 Marathi film, depicts the story of a man forced to be a hijra under certain circumstances. The movie has received several accolades.
The 2011 film Queens! Destiny of Dance tells the story of an upmarket hijra community that is headed by their queen, Guru Amma, played by actress Seema Biswas.
The 2011 comedy-horror Kanchana features an unemployed man who is possessed by a transgender woman seeking revenge against her murderers.
The 2017 novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy features a storyline involving a Muslim hijra character named Anjum.
The 2020 comedy-horror Laxmii, based on Kanchana, features the actor Akshay Kumar, a cisgender man who usually plays hypermasculine roles, in the role of a Muslim man who begins crossdressing because he is possessed by the ghost of a transgender woman.
The 2012 novel Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil features a hijra named Dimple as a main character
The 2010 novel Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi features a storyline involving a hijra character.
The 2022 film Gangubai Kathiawadi directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali features a hijra sex worker named Raziabai (played by Vijay Raaz), who rules with an iron fist over the prostitutes of Kamathipura, until her rule is challenged by the titular character in the annual presidential election held among brothel madames.
Monkey Man (2024) features a commune of hijras who aid the main character.

Malayalam

In the Malayalam movie Ardhanaari, released on 23 November 2012, director Santhosh Sowparnika depicts the life of a transgender person. Manoj K Jayan, Thilakan, Sukumari, and Maniyanpilla Raju perform leading roles.

Njan Marykutty is another Malayalam film about the troubles and challenges of a trans woman in Kerala.

Tamil

Vaadamalli by novelist Su. Samuthiram is the first Tamil novel about the Aravaani community in Tamil Nadu, published in 1994.

Transgender activist A. Revathi became the first hijra to write about transgender issues and gender politics in Tamil. Her works have been translated into more than eight languages and act as primary resources on gender studies in Asia. Her book is part of a research project for more than 100 universities. She is the author of Unarvum Uruvamum (Feeling and Form), the first of its kind in English from a member of the hijra community. She acted in and directed stage plays on gender and sexuality issues in Tamil and Kannada. The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story is part of the syllabus for final year students of The American College in Madurai.

"Naan Saravanan Alla" (2007) and Vidya's I Am Vidya (2008) were the first autobiographies of trans women.

Pakistan

The 1992 film Immaculate Conception by Jamil Dehlavi is based upon the culture clash between a Western Jewish couple seeking fertility at a Karachi shrine known to be blessed by a Sufi fakir called 'Gulab Shah' and the group of Pakistani eunuchs who guard it.

Murad (, but the film's English title was Eunuch's Motherhood) was an award-winning biographical telefilm drama made by Evergreen Media Europe for Pakistan's television channel Indus TV that aired in 2003. It featured some of the country's top male television actors—Sohail Asghar, Nabeel, Qazi Wajid, and Kamran Jilani playing the roles of hijras. It was directed by Kamran Qureshi, written by Zafar Mairaj, and produced by Iram Qureshi. It won both Best TeleFilm and Best Director awards at the 2003 Indus Telefilm Festival. The story revolves around Saima, a transgender woman, who adopts a child named Murad. For the first time, influential male actors showed their support for hijra rights during interviews, pointing out that in Pakistani English at that time eunuch was the term to describe a transgender person, and khwaja sara had not yet replaced what is now considered a derogatory term due to decades of heckling and name calling.

In 2004, Kamran Qureshi directed Moorat (, released in English under the title Eunuch's Wedding). It is a 33-episode series produced by Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani with more than a dozen cast members. It was nominated for Best Drama Serial, Abid Ali for Best Actor, and Maria Wasti for Best Actress at the Lux Style Awards 2005. The show was credited with making people understand the pain and abuse that hijras constantly endure when people make fun of the way they look or dress. The story involves a young lady who is engaged to be married. It turns out her husband is transgender. The story unfolds the trans community and their deprived and isolated world. It portrays eloquently how they, too, are not far away from human emotions and feelings, and their world is not much different from the heterosexual community. Even though they are in plain sight, they are taboo subjects and are not taken seriously. This makes them suffer endlessly in silence wrapped in slurs. The 33-episode series therefore touches on transgender abuse, abuse against women, poverty, the immorality of arranged marriages, and child abuse.

Bol (Urdu: بول meaning Speak) is a 2011 Urdu-language Pakistani social drama film. It concerns a patriarch, Hakim, who is a misogynist, a domestic abuser, a bigot, and a zealot who forces religion on his family. They face financial difficulties due to Hakim wanting a son. He rejects his intersex child, Saifi, as he wanted an heir, and she identifies as a girl. Saifi is deeply loved by the rest of her family. As she grows up, men want to take advantage of her, and she does not understand at first. However, her oldest sister intervenes and teaches Saifi about what kind of touching is inappropriate. As Saifi grows older, she is not allowed to leave the house. She finds her sister's dresses compelling and tries them on, revealing her gender identity. A neighbour, played by famous Pakistani singer Atif Aslam, who is in love with one of the sisters, gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks, with the blessing of Saifi's sisters and mother. Saifi dresses like a boy; however, other boys sense her lack of self-esteem and eventually gang-rape her. She is saved when a transgender person, played by Almas Bobby (a transgender actor), finds her and takes her home. Hakim overhears Saifi telling her mother and Zainab what happened. When everybody is asleep, Hakim locks the room and suffocates Saifi for the "shame" he would have to bear if the story got out. It received several positive reviews from critics and went on to win the Best Hindi film award at the IRDS Film awards 2011 by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS).

Outside the Indian subcontinent

In the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, the protagonist, Zam, is adopted by a group of hijras.
In the TV comedy Outsourced (2011), a hijra is hired by Charlie as a stripper for Rajiv's "bachelor party", much to Rajiv's utter horror.
Hijras feature prominently in John Irving's 1994 novel A Son of the Circus.
Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man, features a community of hijras who provide aid and refuge to Patel's character.
In Megha Majumdar's debut novel A Burning, a hijra named Lovely is one of the main POV characters.

Documentaries

Middle Sexes (2005 HBO documentary) includes a segment on modern hijra.
Shabnam Mausi (2005) based on the life of politician Shabnam Mausi.
Showgirls of Pakistan (2020 documentary) includes a segment on modern hijra.

Notes

References

Citations

General and cited references

External links

Human Rights Violations against the Transgender Community , summary of a 2003 report by the Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka
Aamr C. Bakshi of The Washington Post on Pakistan Drag Queen talk show host Begum Nawazish Ali
Collected BBC articles on Hijras
India's eunuchs demand rights, BBC News, 4 September 2003
The Works on Hijra in Indian Sub-Continent – Photographs (Link to most recent archived version at Archive.org.)
Why are Indian eunuchs warned about unsafe sex?
World Press: Pakistan's Hijras
Sangama – Leading Hijra Human Rights Organisation in India
Eunuch MP takes seat – BBC world news- News on Shabnam Mausi, Hijra MP

Hijra (South Asia)

Terminology

Gender and sexuality

History

Ancient era

Community

Healthcare

Education and employment

Language

In politics of South Asia

In religion

Bahuchara Mata

Ardhanarishvara

In the Ramayana

In the Mahabharata

In films and literature

India

Malayalam

Tamil

Pakistan

Outside the Indian subcontinent

Documentaries

See also

Notes

References

Citations

General and cited references

Further reading

External links

Terminology

Gender and sexuality

History

Ancient era

Social status and economic circumstances

Community

Healthcare

Education and employment

Language

In politics of South Asia

In religion

Bahuchara Mata

Ardhanarishvara

In the Ramayana

In the Mahabharata

In films and literature

India

Malayalam

Tamil

Pakistan

Outside the Indian subcontinent

Documentaries

See also

Notes

References

Citations

General and cited references

Further reading

External links