Hijra (South Asia)

Terminology

The Urdu and Hindi 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 Sara is used instead. Another such term is khasuaa (खसुआ) or khusaraa (खुसरा). In Bengali hijra is called হিজড়া, hijra, hijla, hijre, hizra, or hizre.

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, hinjda or napunsaka, in Telugu, as napunsakudu (నపుంసకుడు), kojja (కొజ్జ) or maada (మాడ), in Tamil Nadu, Thiru nangai (mister woman), Ali, aravanni, aravani, or aruvani, in Punjabi, khusra and jankha, in Sindhi khadra, in Gujarati, pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા).

In North India, the goddess Bahuchara Mata is worshipped 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 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 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), menaka (Cochin), meti (Nepal), and zenana (Pakistan).

Hijra used to be translated in English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," although LGBT historians or human rights activists have sought to include them as being transgender. In a series of meetings convened between October 2013 and Jan 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.

Gender and sexuality

These identities have no exact match in the modern Western taxonomy of gender and sexual orientation, and challenge Western ideas of sex and gender.

In India, some Hijras do not define themselves by specific sexual orientation, but rather by renouncing sexuality altogether. Sexual energy is transformed into sacred powers. 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 recognized 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.

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. The Indian lawyer and author Rajesh Talwar has written a book highlighting the human rights abuses suffered by the community titled 'The Third Sex and Human Rights.' Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from extortion (forced payment by disrupting work/life using demonstrations and interference), performing at ceremonies (toli), begging (dheengna), or sex work ('raarha')—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 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.

In 2008, HIV prevalence was 27.6% amongst hijra sex workers in Larkana. The general prevalence of HIV among the adult Pakistani population is estimated at 0.1%.

In October 2013, Pakistani Christians and Muslims (Shia and Sunni) put pressure on the landlords of Imamia Colony to evict any transgender residents. "Generally in Pakistan, Khwaja Sira are not under threat. But they are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province because of a 'new Islam' under way", I.A. Rehman, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

In a study of Bangladeshi hijras, participants reported not being allowed to seek healthcare at the private chambers of doctors, and experiencing abuse if they go to government hospitals.

Beginning in 2006, hijras were engaged to accompany Patna city revenue officials to collect unpaid taxes, receiving a 4-percent commission.

Since India's Supreme Court re-criminalized homosexual sex on 13 December 2013, there has been a sharp increase in the physical, psychological and sexual violence against the transgender community by the Indian Police Service, nor are they investigating even when sexual assault against them is reported.

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 due to its peculiar place in sub-continental society which entailed marginalisation yet royal privileges developed a secret language known as Hijra Farsi. The language has a sentence structure loosely based on Urdu and a unique vocabulary of at least a thousand words. Beyond the Urdu-Hindi speaking areas of subcontinent the vocabulary is still used by the hijra community within their own native languages.

In South Asian politics

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.

The governments of both India (1994) and Pakistan (2009) have recognized 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 candidature unless they identified themselves as either male or female.

In April 2014, Justice KS Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law, in a case brought by the National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) against Union of India and others. The ruling said:

Seldom, our society realises or cares to realise the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex. Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society's unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change.

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:

1. Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.
2. Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

A bill supported by all political parties was tabled in Indian parliament to ensure transgender people get benefits akin reserved communities like SC/STs and is taking steps to see that they get enrollment in schools and jobs in government besides protection from sexual harassment.

History

The ancient 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.

During the era of the British Raj, 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 the Criminal Tribes Act 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 in 1952, though the centuries-old stigma continues.

In religion

Many practice 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.

Hijras belong to a special caste. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, Lord Shiva, or both.

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 located in Gujarat and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahuchara Mata as a patroness.

Hijras and Lord Shiva

One of the forms of Lord Shiva is a merging with Parvati where together they are Ardhanari, a god that is half Shiva and half Parvati. Ardhanari has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.

Hijras 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 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

Mahabharata includes an episode in which Arjun, a hero of the epic, is sent into an exile. There he assumes an identity of a eunuch-transvestite and performs rituals during weddings and childbirths that are now performed by hijras.

In the Mahabharata, before the Kurukshetra War, Iravan offers his lifeblood to goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas, and Kali agrees to grant him power. On the night before the battle, Iravan 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 Arjuna as Brihinala marries him. In South India, hijras claim Iravan as their progenitor and call themselves "aravanis."

Each year in Tamil Nadu, during April and May, hijras celebrate an eighteen-day religious festival. The aravani temple is located in the village Koovagam 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 and Lord Aravan, followed by Aravan's subsequent sacrifice. They then mourn Aravan's death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangles. 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 BBC Three documentary India's Ladyboys and also in the National Geographic Channel television series Taboo.

Hijras in Islam

There is evidence that Indian hijras identifying as Muslim also incorporate aspects of Hinduism. Still, despite this syncretism, Reddy (2005) notes that a hijra does not practice Islam differently from other Muslims and argues that their syncretism does not make them any less Muslim. Reddy (2003) 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.

Bangladesh

The film Common Gender (2012) relates the story of the Bangladesh hijra and their struggle for survival.

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"). There are also hijras in the Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) who 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 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. Deepa Mehta's Water features the hijra character "Gulabi" (played by Raghubir Yadav), who has taken to introducing the downtrodden, outcast widows of Varanasi to prostitution. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the film generated much controversy. There is a brief appearance of hijras in the 2004 Gurinder Chadha film Bride & Prejudice, singing to a bride-to-be in the marketplace. There's also a loose reference, in the guise of "Rocky" ("Rokini") in Deepha Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood.

The 1997 Hindi film Darmiyaan: In Between directed & co-written by Kalpana Lajmi is based on the subject of Hijra, wherein a fictitious story of an actress bearing a son that turns out to be neuter.

In the 2000 Tamil film Appu directed by Vasanth, 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 2005, a fiction feature film titled Shabnam Mausi was made on the life of a eunuch politician Shabnam Mausi. It was directed by Yogesh Bharadwaj and the title role played by Ashutosh Rana.

Jogwa, a 2009 Marathi film, depicts the story of a man forced to be hijra under certain circumstances. The movie has received several accolades.

In Soorma Bhopali, Jagdeep encounters a troupe of hijra on his arrival in Bombay. The leader of this pack is also played by Jagdeep himself.

In Anil Kapoor's Nayak, 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 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.)

One of the main characters in Khushwant Singh's novel Delhi, Bhagmati is a hijra. She makes a living as a semi-prostitute and is wanted in the diplomatic circles of the city.

Vijay TV's Ippadikku Rose, a Tamil show conducted by postgraduate educated transgender woman 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 explores the role of hijras in Indian society.

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

In August, 2015, a music video featuring 7 hijras dressed in outfits or uniforms of various professions and singing the National Anthem of India created by a YouTube channel Yathartha Pictures went viral for being the first National Anthem video sung by hijras in India. The hijras featured in the video were brought together by the Humsafar Trust, a Mumbai-based NGO which promotes LGBT rights.

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 in more than eight languages and act as a primary resources on gender studies in Asia. Her book is part of research project for more than 100 universities. She is the author of Unarvum Uruvamum (Feelings of the Entire Body): the first of its kind in English from a member of the hijra community. She acted 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) became the first transwoman autobiography.

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 (which means desire; the 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. The cast had the country's top male television actors playing "hijras": Sohail Asghar, Nabeel, Qazi Wajid, Kamran Jilani. 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 2003 Indus Telefilm Festival. The story revolves around "Saima", a trans woman, who adopts a helpless child "Murad" and her relationship with him against the backdrop of her struggling throughout her life and her "desire" for her son. She has sent him away to live at a hostel so she can earn a living as a dancer, after her son gets cross with her, due to teasing (verbal and sexual) they face while dancing. This was the first time that influential male actors came out to support "hijra" rights during interviews; noting that in Pakistani English at that time eunuch was the term to describe a transgender person, and "khwaja sara" (also khwaja sira) had not yet replaced what is now considered a derogatory term due to decades of heckling and name calling, "hijra".

In 2004, Kamran Qureshi directed a trans drama, Moorat ("effigy," however, the English title was Eunuch's Wedding. It was produced by famous actor and producer Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani with more than a dozen star-studded cast members for a 33-episode series. 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 for making people understand the pain and abuse that khwaja sara (hijra) constantly endure when people make fun of the way they look or dress without knowing them or how they were naturally born this way. The story involves a young lady who is arranged to marry. It turns out her husband is transgender. The story unfolds trans community and their deprived and isolated world. It portrays eloquently how they, too, are not far away from the human emotions and feelings and their world not much different from the heterosexual community. Even though they are in plain sight, they are tthey 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, women abuse, poverty, immorality of arranged marriages, and child abuse.

Bol (Urdu: بول meaning Speak), is a 2011 Urdu-language social drama Pakistani 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 transgender daughter, 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 South Asian 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 another 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 his child for luring the men 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 in IRDS Film awards 2011 by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS).

Outside South Asia

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.

The novel A Son of the Circus by John Irving features a plot-line involving hijras.

In the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, the protagonist, Zam, is adopted by a group of hijras.

In the 2009 Brazilian soap opera Caminho das Índias (Portuguese: "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 (2011), a hijra is hired by Charlie as a stripper for Rajiv's "bachelor party", much to Rajiv's utter horror.

A short film, under the direction of Jim Roberts, is being made by Rock Star Productions in which the protagonist is portrayed as a hijra. This film is set to be released on 1 May.

Kamran Ahmed Mirza is a popular gender performance artist in Oregon, United States.

Documentaries