Hijras Essay

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The Hijra Around the world, culture plays a dynamic role in how individuals, families, and communities live and grow. India, the world’s largest democracy and second most populous country, has emerged culturally and is recognized around the world. In the world of entertainment, Bollywood has touched places as far reaching as the United States with music, cinematography, and dance. But it is not this part of India’s culture that has only shared the spotlight. It is the “Hijra.” Hijra play an important part of India’s culture. Herein, I will detail who they are and how the impact the people of India. Hijra are most often physiologically male or intersexed. There are a number of hijra who are female, but they are generally men who have undergone a sex-change operation. In many circles, they are called eunuchs (castrated males). They consider themselves as well as the people of India, as a “third-sex.” They do not consider themselves male or female. Their history goes back to Hindu mythology: “…hijras represent the half-male, half-female image of Shiva – an image symbolic of a being that is ageless and sexless.” (Brookish – Two Spirits Gender Map) For this reason, it is why the hijras exist; men who follow a long standing history of worship to the Hindu god Shiva by living their lives in the god’s image. The Kama Sutra also provides historical context to the hijras. It mentions a third-sex. Hijras were also “recognized as honorable servants to the noble classes of Islamic societies,” according to Lawrence Preston (1987). Hijras typically live in undesirable conditions and on the fringes of most urban communities. They survive by living in their own “well-defined, organized, all-hijra communities led by a guru” (Brookish – Two Spirits Gender Map).For hijras, this is how they build a sense of family. One guru, or teacher (which is also a hijra), will adopt at
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