Hijra (South Asia) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In the culture of South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

, hijras or chakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi

Punjabi language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

and kojja in Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

are physiological males who have feminine gender identity

Gender identity

A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...

, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

, from the antiquity, as suggested by the Kama Sutra period onwards. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

s, part gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

-liminal, part spiritual and part survival.

In South Asia, many hijras live in well-defined, organized, all-hijra communities, led by a guru

Guru

A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

. These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

" young boys who are rejected by, or flee their family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

of origin. Many work as prostitutes

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

for survival.

The word hijra is Urdu, derived from the Arabic root hjr in its sense of "leaving one's tribe," and has been borrowed into Hindi. The Indian usage has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...

" or "hermaphrodite

Hermaphrodite

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...

," where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition." However, in general hijras are born with typically male

Male

Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...

physiology, only a few having been born with male intersex variations. Some Hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirwaan, which refers to the removal of penis

Penis

The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...

, testicles and scrotum

Scrotum

In some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...

.

Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government organizations (NGOs) have been lobby

Lobby

Lobby may refer to:* Lobby , an entranceway or foyer in a building* Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians* Lobby , a thick stew made in North Staffordshire, not unlike Lancashire Hotpot...

ing for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of "third sex" or "third gender

Third gender

The terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are categorized as neither man nor woman, as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize three or more genders...

," as neither man nor woman.

Terminology

The Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

and Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

word hijra may alternately be romanized as hijira, hijda, hijada, hijara, hijrah and is pronounced ˈɦɪdʒɽaː. This term is generally considered derogatory in Urdu and the word Khwaja Saraa is used instead. In India, an older name for hijras is kinnar, which is used by some hijra groups as a more respectable and formal term. Another such term is khasuaa (खसुआ) or khusaraa (खुसरा). In Bangla hijra is called হিজরা, hijra, hijla, hijre, hizra, or hizre.

A number of terms across the culturally and linguistically diverse Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

represent similar sex or gender categories. While these are rough synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

s, they may be better understood as separate identities due to regional cultural differences. In Telugu

Telugu language

, a hijra is referred to as napunsakudu , kojja or maada . In Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

the equivalent term is Thiru nangai (daughter of god), Ali, aravanni, aravani, or aruvani. In Punjabi

Punjabi language

, both in Pakistan and India, the term khusra is used. Other terms include jankha. In Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

they are called pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા). In Urdu

Urdu

another common term is khwaaja sira .

In North India the goddess Bahuchara Mata

Bahuchara Mata

Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess. She was a daughter of a charan Bapal dan Detha. She and her sisters were on journey with a caravan when a marauder named Bapiya attacked their caravan. It was common practice in charan men and women if overpowered by their enemies, not to surrender but to kill...

is worshiped by Pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા). 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, similar to the Kathoey

Kathoey

Kathoey or katoey is a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. Related phrases include sao praphet song , or phet thi sam . The word kathoey is thought to be of Khmer origin...

of Thailand, 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

Intentional community

An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...

that hijras usually live in. Additionally, not all kothis have undergone initiation rites or the body modification steps to become a hijra. Local equivalents include durani (Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

), menaka (Cochin), meti (Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

), and zenana (Pakistan).

Hijra used to be translated in English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," although LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

historians or human rights activists have sought to include them as being transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

Gender and sexuality

These identities have no exact match in the modern Western taxonomy of gender

Gender taxonomy

The gender taxonomy is a classification of the range of different levels at which humans vary in sexual characteristics. It is mainly used by medical specialists working in the area of sex research....

and sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

, and challenge Western ideas of sex and gender. Most are born apparently male

Male

, but some may be intersex

Intersex

Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male...

(with ambiguous genitalia). They are often perceived as a third sex, and most see themselves as neither men nor women. However, some may see themselves (or be seen as) female

Female

Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...

s, feminine males

Effeminacy

Effeminacy describes traits in a human male, that are more often associated with traditional feminine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or gender roles rather than masculine nature, behaviour, mannerisms, style or roles....

or androgynes

Androgyny

Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...

. Some, especially those who speak English and are influenced by international discourses around sexual minorities

Sexual minority

A sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. The term was coined most likely in the late 1960s under the influence of Lars Ullerstam's ground breaking book "The Erotic Minorities: A Swedish View" which came...

may identify as transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

or transsexual women. Unlike some Western transsexual women, hijras generally do not attempt to pass

Passing (gender)

Passing refers to a person's ability to be regarded as a member of the sex or gender with which they physically present. Typically, passing involves a mixture of physical gender cues as well as certain behavioral attributes that tend to be culturally associated with a particular gender...

as women. Reportedly, few have genital modifications, although some certainly do, and some consider nirwaan ("castrated") hijras to be the "true" hijras.

A male who takes a "receptive" or feminine 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 masculine men, whose gender identity is as a "normal" male who penetrates. 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 recognized by law or religion. Hijras and kothis often have a name for these masculine sexual or romantic partners; for example, panthi in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, giriya in Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

or sridhar in Cochin.

Social status and economic circumstances

Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word "hijra" is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging, or sex work—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially hijra sex workers, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes. As with transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

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.

Beginning in 2006, hijras were engaged to accompany Patna

Patna

Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

city revenue officials to collect unpaid taxes, receiving a 4 percent commission.
Hijras are often encountered on streets, trains, and other public places demanding money from people. If refused, the hijra may attempt to embarrass the man into giving money, using obscene gestures, profane language

Profanity

Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

, and even sexual advances. In India for example, threatening to open their private parts in front of the man if he does not donate something. Hijras also perform religious ceremonies at wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s and at the birth of male babies, involving music, singing, and sexually suggestive dancing. These are intended to bring good luck and fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...

. Although hijras are most often uninvited, the host usually pays the hijras a fee. Many fear the hijras' curse if they are not appeased, bringing bad luck or infertility, but for the fee they receive, they can bless goodwill and fortune on to the newly born. Hijras are said to be able to do this because, since they do not engage in sexual activities, they accumulate their sexual energy which they can use to either bestow a boon or a bane.

Hijras can also come as an invitee to one's home, and their wages can be very high for the services they perform. Supposedly, they can give insight into future events as well bestow blessings for health. Hijras that perform these services can make a very good living if they work for the upper classes.

History

The ancient Kama Sutra

Kama Sutra

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by Vātsyāyana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse. It is largely in prose, with many inserted anustubh poetry verses...

mentions the performance of fellatio

Fellatio

Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...

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 transvestites ("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.

During the era of the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

, authorities attempted to eradicate hijras, whom they saw as "a breach of public decency." Anti-hijra laws were repealed; but a law outlawing castration, a central part of the hijra community, was left intact, though rarely enforced. Also during British rule in India they were placed under Criminal Tribes Act

Criminal Tribes Act

The term Criminal Tribes Act applies to various successive pieces of legislation enforced in India during British rule; the first enacted in 1871 as applied mostly in North India The Act was extended to Bengal Presidency and other areas in 1876, and finally with the Criminal Tribes Act 1911, it...

1871 and labelled a "criminal tribe," hence subjected to compulsory registration, strict monitoring and stigmatized for a long time, after independence however they were denotified

Denotified tribes of India

Denotified tribes , also known as vimukta jati, are the tribes that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 , as Criminal Tribes and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to...

in 1952, though the century old stigma continues.Recently campaigns have emerged with the intent of protecting the hijras from persecution. Raheed Patel, known locally in the hijra community as Pineapple Andy Kaid has been quite active in this quest and the push to recognize marriage amongst the hijra. A hijra polygamist himself, Mr. Kaid has lobbied in earnest for the hijra cause.

In religion

In Hindu contexts, hijras belong to a special caste

Caste

Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata

Bahuchara Mata

, Lord Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

or both. Hijra culture draws upon the traditions of several religions.

Hijras and 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 Gujarat and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahucahara Mata as a patroness.

Hijras and Lord Shiva

One of the forms of Lord Shiva is a merging with Parvati

Parvati

Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...

where together they are Ardhanari

Ardhanari

Ardhanarishvara , is a composite androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati . Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half male and half female, split down the middle...

, a god that is half Shiva and Half Parvati. Ardhanari is especially worshipped in North India and has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.

Hijras in Ramayana

In some versions of the Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

, when Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

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 and has adventures 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. This boon is the origin of badhai in which hijras sing, dance, and give blessings.

Hijras in the Mahabharata

In the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

, before the Kurukshetra War

Kurukshetra war

According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...

, Ahiravan

Iravan

Iravan , also known as Iravat and Iravant, is a minor character from the Hindu epic of Mahabharata. The son of Pandava prince Arjuna and the Naga princess Ulupi, Iravan is the central god of the cult of Kuttantavar —which is also the name commonly given to him in that cult—and plays a major role...

offers his lifeblood to goddess Kali

Kali

' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...

to ensure the victory of the Pandavas, and Kali agrees to grant him power. On the night before the battle, Aravan expresses a desire to get married before he dies. No woman was willing to marry a man doomed to die in a few hours, so Krishna assumes the form of a beautiful woman called Mohini and marries him. In South India, hijras claim Aravan as their progenitor and call themselves "aravanis."

In Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

each year in April and May, hijras celebrate an eighteen-day religious festival. The aravani temple is located in the village Koovagam

Koovagam

Koovagam is a village in the Ulundurpettai taluk in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. It is famous for its annual festival of transgender and transvestite individuals, which takes fifteen days in the Tamil month of Chitrai ....

in the Ulundurpet taluk in Villupuram district, and is devoted to the deity Koothandavar, who is identified with Aravan. During the festival, the aravanis reenact a story of the wedding of Lord Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

and Lord Aravan, followed by Aravan's subsequent sacrifice. They then mourn Aravan's death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangle

Bangle

Bangles or churi are traditional ornaments worn mostly by South Asian women in India and Bangladesh, especially Hindus. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks...

s. An annual beauty pageant is also held, as well as various health and HIV or AIDS seminars. Hijras from all over the country travel to this festival. A personal experience of the hijras in this festival is shown in the documentary India's Ladyboys, by BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

and also on the television series Taboo
Taboo (TV series)
Taboo is a documentary television series that premiered in 2002 on the National Geographic Channel. The program is an educational look into "taboo" rituals and traditions practiced in some societies, yet forbidden and illegal in others....

on the National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...

In films and literature

Hijras have been on screen in Indian cinema

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

since its inception, historically as comic relief

Comic relief

Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...

. A notable turning point occurred in 1974 when real hijras appeared in a song and dance sequence in Kunwaara Baap ("The Unmarried Father"). There are also hijras in the Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony
Amar Akbar Anthony
Amar Akbar Anthony is a 1977 Bollywood film about three brothers separated during their childhood who grew up in three homes, adopting three religions...

(1977). They accompany one of the heroes, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor), in a song entitled "Tayyab Ali Pyar Ka Dushman" ("Tayyab Ali, the Enemy of Love"). One of the first sympathetic portrayals was in Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995)

Bombay (film)

Bombay is a critically acclaimed and national award-winning 1995 Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, with music composed by A. R. Rahman...

. 1997's Tamanna starred male actor Paresh Rawal

Paresh Rawal

Paresh Rawal is an Indian actor of Gujarati background.Making his film debut in 1984, he mainly played supporting and villain roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Since 2000 he has mostly played comic roles.- Family and early life :...

in a central role as Tiku, a hijra who raises a young orphan. Pooja Bhatt

Pooja Bhatt

Pooja Bhatt is an Indian film actress and model, currently devoting time to film production and direction. She is the daughter of Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt.-Early life:...

produced and also starred in the movie, with her father Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt , is a prominent Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.Bhatt's early directional career consisted of acclaimed films, such as Arth, Saaransh, Janam, Naam and Zakhm....

co-writing and directing. A hijra (played by Raghubir Yadav), has taken to profession in introducing the widows of Varanasi, another group of down-trodden outcasts, to prostitution (the film resulted in high controversy). There is a brief appearance in the 2004 Gurinder Chadha

Gurinder Chadha

Gurinder Chadha , OBE, is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the United Kingdom. She is best known for the hit films Bhaji on the Beach , Bend It Like Beckham , Bride and Prejudice and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging...

film Bride & Prejudice, with hijras singing to a bride-to-be in the marketplace. There's also a loose reference in Deepha Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood

Bollywood/Hollywood

Bollywood/Hollywood is a 2002 film by Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta. It is lighthearted, humorous, and family-oriented in nature, as opposed to Mehta's other films , which feature very serious themes and focus on social issues.The film pokes fun at traditional Indian stereotypes, as well as at...

in the guise of Rocky or Rokini. Deepa Mehta's Water also features a hijra character by the name of Gulabi.

In the 2000 Tamil film, Appu
Appu
Appu is a Tamil film released in 2000. The movie stars Prashanth, Devayani and Prakash Raj. The film was directed by Vasanth. This movie is a remake of Sadak. The music is by Deva.-Plot:...

directed by Vasanth

Vasanth

Vasanth is an Indian film director and screenwriter, working in the Tamil film industry. Following a stint as journalist and after assisting K. Balachander, he made his directorial debut with Keladi Kanmani in 1990, which along with the trendsetting Aasai and Rhythm , are considered his finest...

, the antagonist is a hijra. The film features the hijra running a brothel and the role is played by Prakash Raj

Prakash Raj

Prakash Raj , better known by his stage name Prakash Raj, is a National Award winning actor, director and producer who has worked in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam films. Though he was born in a Tulu family he achieved fame through Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. He got introduced to...

. This was a remake of the Hindi film Sadak, in which the character of the brothel owner was famously played by Sadashiv Amrapurkar, with the name (in the movie) "Maharani."

In 2005, a fiction feature film titled Shabnam Mausi was made on the life of a eunuch politician of the same name (see Shabnam Mausi

Shabnam Mausi

Shabnam "Mausi" Bano is the first transgender Indian or hijra to be elected to public office. She was an elected member of the Madhya Pradesh State Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2003. Shabnam Mausi is born in a Brahmin family...

). It was directed by Yogesh Bharadwaj, and the title role was played by Ashutosh Rana

Ashutosh Rana

Ashutosh Rana , born Ashutosh Jaisingh Neekhra is an Indian actor working in the Hindi Film Industry and the Telugu Film Industry.-Biography:...

.

In Soorma Bhopali
Soorma Bhopali
Soorma Bhopali,, is a Hindi movie directed by Jagdeep, who previously played Soorma Bhopali in the movie Sholay. Soorma Bhopali was not a box office success.-Cast:* Jagdeep, as Soorma Bhopali/Dilwar Khan Dilwala...

, Jagdeep

Jagdeep

Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jaffry, better known as Jagdeep, is an Indian film actor known for his comic roles. He played Soorma Bhopali in Sholay , Gabbar in Purana Mandir , Chief Zabardast in Tehkhana , Hotel Receptionist in Veerana , Salman Khan's father In Andaaz Apna Apna and later directed a movie...

encounters a troupe of hijras on his arrival in Bombay. The leader of this pack is also played by Jagdeep

Jagdeep

himself.

In Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor is an Indian actor and producer who mainly appears in Bollywood films. He won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in Yash Chopra's film Mashaal ....

's Nayak
Nayak: The Real Hero
Nayak: The Real Hero is a 2001 Indian movie starring Anil Kapoor and Rani Mukerji. It was directed by S. Shankar. The film is a remake of S. Shankar's earlier released Tamil film Mudhalvan . The film's score and soundtrack, composed by A. R. Rahman, were dubbed from Mudhalvan into Hindi for the...

, Johnny Lever

Johnny Lever

John Prakasa Rao Janumala famously known as Johnny Lever is an Indian film actor and comedian. He was born to Prakash Rao Janumala and Karunamma Janumala and brought up in Mumbai. He started his career in 1984 and has acted in over 350 Bollywood films...

, who plays the role of the hero's assistant, gets beaten up by hijras, when he is caught calling them "hijra" (he is in 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.)

The 1992 film Immaculate Conception by Jamil Dehlavi

Jamil Dehlavi

Jamil Dehlavi is British film director/producer. He was born in Calcutta, India to an Indian father and French mother.-Filmography:* 1973 Guitarist* 1976 Towers of Silence* 1980 The Blood of Hussain* 1986 Born of Fire...

is based upon the culture-clash between a western Jewish couple seeking fertility at a Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

shrine known to be blessed by a sufi-fakir called Gulab Shah and the group of Pakistani eunuchs who guard it.

One of the main characters in Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh is a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, is among the most widely-read columns in the country....

's novel Delhi
Delhi: A Novel
Delhi: A Novel is a historical novel by Indian writer Khushwant Singh.-Text:The book moves backwards and forwards in time through the history of Delhi...

, Bhagmati is a hijra. She makes a living as a semi-prostitute, and is quite wanted in diplomatic circles of the city.

The novel Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes features an important subplot involving the main character's investigation of the deaths of several hijra sex workers.

The novel City of Djinns by William Dalrymple also features a chapter on hijras.

Vijay TV's Ippadikku Rose
Ippadikku Rose
Ippadikku Rose is a TV talk show hosted by Rose telecast in Vijay TV from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The talk show deals with current affairs touching a wide variety of social issues including traditions, taboos, rebels and culture. This is the first TV show in India hosted by a transgender...

, a Tamil show conducted by postgraduate educated transgender Rose is a very successfully running program that discusses various issues faced by youth in Tamil Nadu, where she also gives her own experiences.

In addition to numerous other themes, the 2008 movie Welcome to Sajjanpur by Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

explores the role of hijras in Indian society.

In the 2009 Brazilian soap opera Caminho das Índias (Portuguese for "The way to India") hijras are shown in some occasions, especially at weddings and other ceremonies where they are paid for their blessing.

In the TV comedy Outsourced
Outsourced (TV series)
Outsourced is an American television sitcom set in an Indian workplace. It was based on the John Jeffcoat film of the same name and adapted by Ken Kwapis and Universal Media Studios for NBC. The series originally ran from September 23, 2010 to May 12, 2011...

(2011), a hijra is hired by Charlie as a stripper for Rajiv's "bachelor party", much to Rajiv's utter horror.

Documentaries

Jareena, Portrait of a Hijda (1990)
Bombay Eunuch (2001)
The Hijras: India's Third Gender (2001)
India's Ladyboys (2003)
Between the Lines: India's Third Gender (2005)
Middle sexes (HBO documentary includes segment on modern Hijda) (2005)
The Hijras of India (BBC radio documentary)
Kiss the Moon (2009)

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
Hijras on glbtq.com
Glbtq.com
glbtq.com is an online encyclopedia that presents detailed biographies of notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association....
Collected Information About the Eunuchs of India Known as the Hijra
The Works on Hijra in Indian Sub-Continent – Photographs (Link to most recent archived version at Archive.org.)
In From the Outside, Timeasia.com, 18 September 2000.
The Hijras of India Research Guide
Why are Indian eunuchs warned about unsafe sex?
World Press: Pakistan's Hijras
Columbia University: Magical Stories of the Hijras
Islamic Hijras
Sangama – Leading Hijra Human Rights Organisation in India
Neelam and Laxmi – Portraits of hijras living in Mumbai (2005), by journalist and author Sonia Faleiro
Eunuch MP takes seat – BBC world news- News on Shabnam Mausi, Hijra MP
Hijada - An article in Malayalam by Krishna.thrishna

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Terminology

Gender and sexuality

Social status and economic circumstances

History

In religion

Hijras and Bahuchara Mata

Hijras and Lord Shiva

Hijras in Ramayana

Hijras in the Mahabharata

In films and literature

Documentaries

See also

External links