The Hijras, gender role in India

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The Hijras and Their Gender Role in India

There are several third-gender group in India . Probably the best-known are the hijras of northern India . The word hijra ' is of Hindi origin The politically correct term to use is kinnar . Another acceptable term is mukhanni . An offensive term for hijra is chakka . In English , the equivalent is eunuch though this term is not precise since the majority of hijras no longer undergoes castration

Across India , it is known by other equivalent terms

as the sub-continent is linguistically diverse . Differences also lie in the deities that are worshipped as well as in its practice . In Tamil , Nadu , the term is aravanni or aruvani who are devotees of Kutandavar Aravan , god of Ali There is also the jogappa of South India who are devotees of the goddess Yellamma-devi , a popular Hindu deity of Durga . They are more of transvestites . They oversee the temple 's devadasis , maidservants of the goddess . Both the jogappas and the devadasis serve as dancers and courtesans . The sakhi-bekhis are few in number and can be found in normally in Bengal . They worship Sri Radha , the companion of Lord Krishna and typically dress as females to support the notion that they are girlfriends of Krishna . A Kothi is different from hijra as the former are men or boys who take on the feminine role in sex with men and do not belong to a community . It is worthy to note that though that of the above practice castration ( Hijra (South Asia ' in Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

The hijra is the only sect that practices castration . Hijras are devotees of the goddess Bahuchara Mata , the mother goddess worshipped all over India . In her name , as vehicles of her power to give blessings the hijra traditionally earn their living by receiving alms and performing at weddings , at temple festivals , and at homes where a child especially a male , has been born

The dharma (religious obligation ) of the hijra is emasculation , and the term eunuch is the most frequent translation of the word hijra . The emasculation operation is called nirvan or rebirth only after the operation can hijras become vehicles of the goddess 's power . Connected to the obligation to undergo emasculation (for those who are not born intersexed ) is the hijra claim that they are other-worldly people Impotent as men , and unable to reproduce as women , the hijra are like ascetics (sanyasi ) in their separation from normal family life (samsara and in their dependence on alms for their livelihood . According to Serna Nanda , this ascetic ideal links the hijra to their goddess and to other figures in the Indian religious tradition , such as Arjun , hero of the Hindu epic Mahabharata and through him Shiva hijras also identify with Krishna and Ram (avatars , or incarnations , of Vishnu . These religiously sanctioned connections help legitimate the hijra role in Indian society (qtd in Freilich , Raybeck Savishinsky 149

Given that across India , hijras come in different forms...