Hinduism and LGBTQ topics

Hindu views of homosexuality are diverse, as Hinduism is a heterogeneous religion with no central doctrinal authority. Same-sex relations and gender variance have been represented within Hinduism from Vedic times through to the present day, in rituals, law books, mythical narratives, commentaries, paintings, and sculpture. The extent to which these representations embrace or reject homosexuality is disputed.

The Hindu Third Sex

Any discussion of homosexuality and Hinduism would not be complete without mentioning the Hindu concept of a third sex or gender, known in Sanskrit as tritiya-prakriti. This category refers to a wide range of people with mixed male and female natures such as transgenders, homosexuals, transsexuals, bisexuals, the intersexed, and so on. Such persons were not considered fully male or female in traditional Hinduism, being a combination of both. They are mentioned as third sex by nature (birth) and were not expected to behave like ordinary men and women. They often kept their own societies or town quarters, performed specific occupations (such as masseurs, hairdressers, flower-sellers, domestic servants, etc.) and were generally attributed a semi-divine status. Their participation in religious ceremonies, especially as crossdressing dancers and devotees of certain temple gods/goddesses, is considered auspicious in traditional Hinduism - a symbol of good luck, peace, and cultural prosperity. This custom can still be observed in India today albeit somewhat diminished since ancient times. Many Hindus believe that third-sex people have special powers allowing them to bless or curse others. In Hinduism, the universal creation is honored as unlimitedly diverse and the recognition of a third sex is simply one more aspect of this understanding.

Early European Indologists of the nineteenth century typically referred to the Hindu third sex simply as "eunuchs" or "neuters;" however, a careful examination into Sanskrit texts reveals a much wider definition that includes homosexuals and other similar types of men and women (see "Hindu texts" below). This modern view is gradually becoming more accepted by contemporary Hindus and Indologists, although many still cling to the latter definition.

Third-Gender Sects

Below are listed some of the most common third-gender sects found in Hinduism. There are an estimated half million crossdressing "eunuchs" in modern-day India, associated with various sects, temples and Hindu deities. Despite the misnomer "eunuch," it should be carefully noted that the vast majority of these persons (91%) do not practice castration but are more accurately associated with transgender (i.e., crossdressing) and/or homosexual behavior. In modern times, most Hindus scorn and ridicule people of the third gender; however, many have begun organizing recently and speaking up for their rights.

The Aravani or Ali

The most numerous third-gender sect (estimated at 150,000) is the aravani or ali of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The aravanis are typically transgender and their main festival, the popular Koovagam or Aravan Festival celebrated in late April/early May, is attended by thousands - including many feminine- and masculine-type homosexuals. The aravani worship the Hindu god, Aravan, and do not practice any system of castration.

The Hijra

The most well-known third-gender group in India is perhaps the hijra of northern India. The hijra is the only sect that practices castration, a custom introduced during Muslim rule around the tenth century A.D. There are an estimated 50,000 hijra in northern India and they are well-known for their crossdressing and homosexuality. 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 [intersexed] 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 - pehaps 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-devi, the Hindu demigoddess presiding over male castration and transsexuality.

The Jogappa

A lesser-known third-gender sect in India is the jogappa of South India (Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh), a group similarly associated with crossdressing, homosexuality and male prostitution. The jogappa are connected with Yellamma-devi, a popular Hindu deity of Durga, and include both feminine transgenders dressed as women as well as masculine types. Both serve as dancers and male prostitutes, and they are usually in charge of the temple devadasis (maidservants of the goddess who also serve as dancers and female courtesans). Large festivals are celebrated at these temples wherein thousands of scantily-clad devadasis and crossdressing jogappas parade through the streets. The jogappa do not practice castration.

The Sakhi-Bekhi

The sakhi-bekhis are prominent throughout Bengal, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh although their numbers have diminished in recent years. Members of this sect typically dress themselves as women in order to reinforce their identity as sakhis or girlfriends of Krishna and to attain the esteemed spiritual emotion known as sakhi-bhava. Such men are not always transgender or homosexual but in many cases they are. In modern times, the sakhi-bekhi sect was condemned as sahajiya (unauthentic) when some members began making public shows of their romantic feelings for Krishna while at the same time having illicit relations with cudadharis (men dressed up as Krishna with a crown of peacock feathers). Nowadays, most sakhi-bekhis crossdress in private and are less conspicuous. They do not practice castration.

Hindu texts

Even more so than in other religions, Hindus have disparate interpretations of the importance and meaning of various texts. The Vedas, which form the foundation of Hinduism for most, do not refer explicitly to homosexuality.

People of a third gender (tritiya-prakriti), not fully men nor women, are mentioned here and there throughout Hindu texts such as the Puranas but are not specifically defined there. In general they are portrayed as effeminate men, often cowardly, and with no desire for women. Modern readers often draw parallels between these and modern stereotypes of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sexual identities.

Historian Devdutt Pattanaik summarised the place of homosexuality in Hindu literature: "though not part of the mainstream, its existence was acknowledged but not approved."

Ruth Vanita argues that proscriptive works tend to place a negative value on sexual and gender diversity, but the narrative traditions are more positive.

In his book, Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex, Vaishnava monk Amara Das Wilhelm demonstrates how ancient expressions of Hinduism accommodated homosexual and transgender persons much more positively than we see in India today: "Early Vedic teachings stressed responsible family life and asceticism but also tolerated different types of sexualities within general society."

Manu Smriti

The Manu Smriti, an important Hindu law code probably compiled between 200 BCE and 200 CE, prescribes punishments for certain instances of male and female homosexuality. If a stri [adult woman] was found having sexual relations with a kanya [unmarried girl], for instance, her "head should be shaved immediately or two of her fingers should be cut off, and she should be made to ride on a donkey." If two kanya have sex, each "must be fined two hundred (panas), pay the double of her (nuptial) fee, and receive ten (lashes with a) rod." The same punishment of cutting off two fingers is applied to men that violate unmarried girls and it should be noticed there is no prescribed punishment for sexual relations between adult women.

For brahmanas and twice-born men, "causing an injury to a priest, smelling wine or things that are not to be smelled, crookedness, and sexual union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of caste" In the same chapter, the atonement for twice-born men is a mere ritual bath: "A twice-born man who has intercourse with a male, or with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes." Here again, it can be noticed that the proscriptions are specifically for brahmana and twice-born males; there is no mention in the Manu Smriti of punishment for homosexual behavior between males of the other classes.

The majority of sexual matters dealt with by the law books are heterosexual in nature, and the punishments prescribed for heterosexual transgressions are often more severe. For example, "A man who is not a Brahmana ought to suffer death for adultery (samgrahana)" (2.8.359).

The Manu Smriti also notes the biological origins of a third gender: "A male child is produced by a greater quantity of male seed, a female child by the prevalence of the female; if both are equal, a third-sex child [napumsaka] or boy and girl twins are produced; if either are weak or deficient in quantity, a failure of conception results." (MS 3.49)

Narada Smriti

The Narada Smriti, written around 400 CE, forbids the marriage of homosexual men (mukhebhaga - men who perform oral sex on other men) to women: "These four [irsyaka, sevyaka, vataretas, and mukhebhaga] are to be completely rejected as unqualified for marriage, even for a woman who has been raped." (NS 1.12.15)

The Narada Smriti also lists fourteen different types of panda or men who are impotent with women (see below).

Kama Sutra

While not considered a religious text, the Kama Sutra is the earliest and most important work in the Kama Shastra tradition of Sanskrit literature. It is thought to have been compiled by the philosopher Vatsyayana at around 4th century from earlier texts, and describes homosexual practises in several places, as well as a range of sex/gender 'types'.

The author describes techniques by which masculine and feminine types of the third sex (tritiya-prakriti), as well as "wanton women," perform fellatio. The Second Part, Ninth Chapter of Kama Sutra specifically describes two kinds of men that we would recognize today as masculine- and feminine-type homosexuals but which are mentioned in older, Victorian British translations as simply "eunuchs." The chapter describes their appearances--feminine types dressed up as women whereas masculine types maintained muscular physiques and grew small beards, moustaches, etc.--and their various professions as masseurs, barbers and prostitutes are all described. Such homosexual men were also known to marry, according to the Kama Sutra: "There are also third-sex citizens, sometimes greatly attached to one another and with complete faith in one another, who get married together." (KS 2.9.36) In the "Jayamangala" of Yashodhara, an important twelfth-century commentary on the Kama Sutra, it is also stated: "Citizens with this kind of [homosexual] inclination, who renounce women and can do without them willingly because they love one another, get married together, bound by a deep and trusting friendship."

After describing fellatio as performed between men of the third sex, the Kama Sutra then mentions the practice as an act between men and women, wherein it is mostly scorned, especially for brahmanas. (KS 2.9.37)

The Kama Sutra also refers to svairini, who are "independent women who frequent their own kind or others" (2.8.26) — or, in another passage: "the liberated woman, or svairini, is one who refuses a husband and has relations in her own home or in other houses" (6.6.50). In a famous commentary on the Kama Sutra from the 12th century, the Jayamangala, explains: "A woman known for her independence, with no sexual bars, and acting as she wishes, is called svairini. She makes love with her own kind. She strokes her partner at the point of union, which she kisses. Once she has won the girl's trust, the svairini practices the acts mentioned above, pitilessly, ill-treating the girl's pubis" (Jayamangala on Kama Sutra 2.8.13). The various practices of lesbians are described in detail within the Second Part, Eighth Chapter of the Kama Sutra.

Other Hindu Texts

There are other ancient Hindu/Sanskrit texts that refer to homosexuality. The Sushruta Samhita, for example, a highly-respected Hindu medical text dating back to at least 600 B.C., mentions two different types of homosexual men (kumbhika - men who take the passive role in anal sex; and asekya - men who devour the semen of other men) as well as transgenders (sandha - men with the qualities, behavior and speech of women). It also states that men who behave like women, or women who behave like men, are determined as such at the time of their conception in the womb. (SS 3.2.42-43)

Other texts list the various types of men who are impotent with women (known in Sanskrit as sandha, kliba, napumsaka, and panda). The Sabda-kalpa-druma Sanskrit-Sanskrit dictionary, for instance, lists twenty types, as does the Kamatantra and Smriti-Ratnavali of Vacaspati (14th century). The Narada Smriti similarly lists fourteen different types. Included among the lists are transgenders (sandha), the intersexed (nisarga), and three different types of homosexual men (mukhebhaga, kumbhika and asekya). Such texts demonstrate that third-sex terms like sandha and napumsaka actually refer to many different types of "men who are impotent with women," and that simplistic definitions such as "eunuch" or "neuter" may not always be accurate and in some cases totally incorrect. In his article Homosexuality and Hinduism, Arvind Sharma expresses his doubt over the common English translation of words like kliba into "eunuch" as follows: "The limited practice of castration in India raises another point significant for the rest of the discussion, namely, whether rendering a word such as "kliba" as "eunuch" regularly is correct..."

Hindu religious narratives

The Hindu god Shiva is often represented as Ardhanari, with a dual male and female nature. This sculpture is from the Elephanta Caves near Mumbai.

In the Hindu narrative tradition, stories of gods and mortals changing gender are common. Sometimes they also engage in sexual activities as different genders. Homosexual and transgender Hindus commonly identify with and worship the various Hindu deities connected with gender diversity such as Ardhanarisvara (the hermaphrodite form of Shiva); Aravan (a hero whom Krishna married after becoming a woman); Ayyappa (a god born from the union of Shiva and Vishnu); Bahuchara-devi (a goddess connected with transsexuality and eunuchism); Bhagavati-devi (a Hindu goddess associated with crossdressing); Bhagiratha Maharaja (an Indian king born of two female parents); Caitanya Mahaprabhu (an incarnation of Radha and Krishna combined); Chandi-Chamunda (twin warrior goddesses); Gadadhara (an incarnation of Radha in male form); Ganesha (the elephant-headed god associated with queerness and unusual beings); Gangamma-devi (a goddess connected with crossdressing and disguises); Harihara (Shiva and Vishnu combined); Kartikeya; Vallabhavardhana, Yellamma-devi and countless others. There are also specific festivals connected to the worship of such gender-variant deities, some of which are famous in India for their crossdressing devotees and homosexual undertones. These festivals include the Aravan Festival of Tamil Nadu, the Ayyappa and Chamaya-Villaku Festivals of Kerala, the Bahucara-mata Festivals of Gujarat and the Yellamma-devi Festivals of Karnataka, among others.

Mahabharata

In the Mahabharata, the hero Arjuna takes a "vow of eunuchism" [Old English] to live as the third sex for a year: "O lord of the Earth, I will declare myself as one of the "neuter" sex. O monarch, it is, indeed difficult to hide the marks of the bowstring on my arms. I will, however, cover both my cicatrized arms with bangles. Wearing brilliant rings on my ears and conch-bangles on my wrists and causing a braid to hang down from my head, I shall, O king, appear as one of the third sex, Vrihannala by name."

Another important character, Sikhandi, is born female, but raised as a boy. Sihkandi's father, King Drupada, had begged the god Mahadeva to give him a son, to which Mahadeva replied: "Thou shalt have a child who will be a female and male. Desist, O king, it will not be otherwise." When Sikhandi comes of age and marries, Sikhandi's wife "soon came to know that [Sikhandi] was a woman like herself." Fleeing from the unnamed wife's enraged father, Sikhandi encounters a male Yaksha (nature spirit) in the forest, and they agree to swap sexes. Now in a male body, Sikhandi proves to his father-in-law that he is truly male, after the latter sends "a number of young ladies of great beauty" to Sikhandi to test him. They report back that he is "a powerful person of the masculine sex," and Sikhandi becomes a skilled and famous warrior, playing a pivotal role in the war.

Religious art

File:Kajuraho homoerotic sculpture - India - Danielou - auparashtika.jpg

Hermit monk performing auparashtika on a princely visitor. Temple of Chhapri, Central India, 12th century CE. Khajuraho

Medieval Hindu temples such as those at Khajuraho depict sexual acts in sculptures on the external walls. The meaning of the erotic images is disputed. Some of these scenes involve same-sex sexuality:

• An orgiastic group of three women and one man, on the southern wall of the Kandariya Mahadeva temple in Khajuraho. One of the women is caressing another.

• A similar group, also on the southern wall, shows a woman facing the viewer, standing on her head, apparently engaged in intercourse, although her partner is facing away from the viewer and their gender cannot be determined. She is held by two female attendants on either side and reaches out to touch one of them in her pubic area.

• Also at Khajuraho, a relief of two women embracing one another.

• At the Lakshmana temple in Khajuraho (954 CE), a man receives fellatio from a seated male as part of an orgiastic scene.

• At the Shiva temple at Ambernath, constructed in 1060 CE, a badly weathered relief suggests an erotic interest between two women.

• At the Rhajarani Temple in Bhuveshvar, Orissa, dating from the 10th or 11th century, a sculpture depicts two women engaged in oral sex.

• A 12th century Shiva temple in Bagali, Karnataka depicts a scene of apparent oral sex between two males on a sculpture below the sikhara.

• At Padhavli near Gwalior, a ruined temple from the 10th century shows a man within an orgiastic group receiving fellatio from another male.

Contemporary Hindu society

Sexuality is rarely discussed openly in contemporary Hindu society, and in modern India, sex between men is illegal. Homosexuality is largely a taboo subject — especially among the strongly religious. Professor of women's studies and world religions Paola Bacchetta argues that "queerphobia is one of the pillars of Hindu nationalism".. However, this peroration does not take into account the notable support for Hindu Nationalism by India's leading LGBT rights activist, Ashok Row Kavi, who has expressed some sympathy with the Hindutva movement, particularly when he condemned the lenient approach of the left-wing politicians towards Pakistan. Deepa Mehta's 1996 film Fire, which depicts a romantic relationship between two Hindu women, was banned for "religious insensitivity" after Hindu Nationalists attacked cinemas where it was being screened on the grounds that it denigrated Indian culture, not on the grounds of homophobia per se, grounds for which stand confirmed by feminist Madhi Kishwar[1]. Similar protests occurred in 2004 against the lesbian-themed film Girlfriend — even though the portayal of lesbianism was this time distinctly unsympathetic. Several human-rights groups such as the People's Union for Civil Liberties have asserted that sexual minorities in India face severe discrimination and violence, especially those from rural and lower caste backgrounds. Hijras, who are usually seen as a third gender, mostly live on the margins of society.

Most modern Hindus who reject homosexuality do so on the basis that Hindu dharma generally requires men and women to marry and produce progeny. Such Hindus are usually not aware, however, that some persons (the "third sex") are not advised to marry the opposite sex or beget children according to their own nature. As a result, nearly all homosexual Hindus today, especially in India, are forced into opposite-sex marriages and have secretive same-sex liaisons on the side. Men that are too effeminate or transgendered to marry women are commonly rejected by their families and forced to join third-gender groups such as the hijra.

In a 2004 survey, most — though not all — swamis said they opposed the concept of a Hindu-sanctified gay marriage. Some liberal Hindu reform movements, especially those in the West, publicly support social acceptance of lesbians and gays.

Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar writes that Hindus are more accepting of "deviance or eccentricity" than are Westerners, who treat sexual variance as "anti-social or psychopathological, requiring 'correction' or 'cure'". Hindus, he argues, believe instead that each individual must fulfil their personal destiny as they travel the path towards moksha (transcendence).

At the end of the twentieth century, modern gay and lesbian Hindu organizations began appearing in large Indian cities and in 2004, plausible calls were made for the first time to repeal India's outdated and nontraditional laws against homosexuality.

See also

• Homosexuality in India

External links

• The Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association - Information and support for LGBT Vaishnavas and Hindus.
• Why should homosexuality be a crime? - An article in The Times of India advocating tolerance of homosexuality in present day India.