Kamil Hamid, a student from Islamabad, passed on a contribution piece to CHUP by Nabiha Meher Shaikh, a graduate from York University, where she majored in women’s studies. Below, Nabiha delves into a discussion about the subcontinent’s hijra community, known as “the third gender,” [the full article was originally posted on Nabiha’s blog, I am Woman, Hear me Roar]. Although the evolution of this community is deeply rooted in the region’s history, there is still not a lot known about these hijras and they are largely ostracized from society. Although they are technically allowed to vote and contest in elections in Pakistan, [see a related post by Chowrangi], hijras are often denied basic education and work opportunities, and are rejected by most families. Below, Nabiha, who has spent much time researching and interacting with the hijra community in Pakistan, discusses their background and current obstacles [Image from a photo essay by Dennis Drenner]:
The word hijra is an Urdu word meaning eunuch or hermaphrodite. However, in reality, hijras are very diverse and most join the community as young boys. Hijras consist of hermaphrodites, as well as women who are unable to menstruate and lead the “normal” female life, consisting of getting married and producing children. However, a great number of hijras are men, who identify themselves as more feminine then masculine.
The hijras are an ancient community in the Indian subcontinent with members in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They are classified as the third sex and have their own gender role. Serena Nanda describes them as “man minus maleness” and “man plus woman”. They are not considered either because of their inability to reproduce. In the Indian subcontinent, great emphasis is placed on one’s ability to have children. Someone who is unable to have children is not considered a true man or woman. Therefore, hijras are a separate identity, who fit into neither category.
The traditional occupation for hijras consists of begging for alms when bestowing blessings on male babies and at weddings. They are notorious for knowing when a baby boy is born and arriving at the right house to sing and dance and demand alms. Most of their songs are about pregnancy and their dances are mostly parodies of pregnant women. It seems ironic that these hijras, who are unable to reproduce, are seen to have the power to bestow fertility blessings on brides. Nevertheless, because of increasing Westernization, the traditional roles of hijras are no longer in as much demand as they once were. Moreover, with an increasing middle class that has access to other forms of entertainment such as cinemas, hijras are no longer required for diversions. A great number of them are turning to prostitution, which goes against the hijra ideal of asceticism.
All “true” hijras are required to undergo an emasculation operation called nirvan. Nirvan means rebirth and most hijras see this operation as their rebirth into the hijra form from the male. Only after this are they granted their special powers of blessings and curses. This operation is against the law in India; therefore, it is done behind closed doors.
Although most hijras dress as women, they engage in activities that would be considered inappropriate for women of the subcontinent, such as dancing in public. They almost seem to be a caricature of women because hijras wear their hair long and wear saris and other traditional female dresses, whereas in modern subcontinental society, the upper and middle class women cut their hair and wear more western clothes.
Although most identify with Islam, they do not seem to have a conflict with being part of a community that worships the Mother Goddess instead of Allah. Most of them fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, get buried instead of cremated, and, if they get married, have a Muslim wedding called a nikkah. Most of them also adopt Muslim female names. However, their acceptance into Indian society is due to Hinduism more than Islam, particularly because many Hindu deities are linked to the hijras such as Arjun, Vishnu, and Shiva. Because hijras are able to identify with different figures in Indian mythology, they are tolerated and were traditionally very respected as the third sex.
The British rulers in colonial India stripped the hijras of the laws that granted them the protection they received under Muslim rulers and regarded them as a menace to society. Because the hijras did not fit the category of male or female, the British passed laws that required the hijras to wear turbans to distinguish them from women. Hijras in India are actively involved with raising awareness on issues, such as the problems related to discrimination against hiring hijras in certain jobs because of who they are. Hijras are not allowed in most restaurants, even when they have the money to eat. The treatment of hijras in hospitals is an issue of great concern because whenever one is admitted in hospital, the doctors never know whether to place them in the male or female ward. Some hijras are actively involved in raising awareness about AIDS because it is estimated that one in three hijras in Bombay are HIV positive.
[…] woman hear me roar, word meaning, work opportunities, york university, young boys Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan This post has 0 […]
[…] CHUP! on the vulnerability of the hijra community in India and Pakistan, known as “the third gender”. Posted by Neha Viswanathan Share This […]
wow, great article–i didnt know the background on hijras until this.
kalsoom-thanks for posting this one! it is always unfortunate when a subaltern group is forced into prostitution by the forces of westernization. i wonder what hiv/aids advocacy groups in the subcontinent are doing to address this situation?
[…] Kalsoom Lakhani writes about Hijras, and provides a historical and social perspective of their lives in the subcontinent across cultures and national boundaries: The traditional occupation for hijras consists of begging for alms when bestowing blessings on male babies and at weddings. They are notorious for knowing when a baby boy is born and arriving at the right house to sing and dance and demand alms. Most of their songs are about pregnancy and their dances are mostly parodies of pregnant women. It seems ironic that these hijras, who are unable to reproduce, are seen to have the power to bestow fertility blessings on brides. Linked by sudipta. Join Blogbharti facebook group. […]
Please do go to Nabiha’s full article (the link for which has been provided by Kalsoom in her introduction) on hijras, as it contains additional information that some of you may find interesting. The wikipedia entry on “Hijras” is also worth reading.
Aapne ne is mauzuu par qalam uThaa kar umda kaam kiyaa hai.
Shukriya – I have to give full credit to Nabiha, who wrote this particular article.
HIJRAS ARE NOT THIRD GENDER, BUT WOMEN
I have been working closely with hijra community in India, Bangalore fro the past 10 years on health and human rights activists.
None of the young hijras identify as third gender, they all desire to be women – emoptionally and physically. They go for castration as they can’t afford expenses sex-reassignment-surgery unlike their rich M2F trannsexual sisters.
How can poor people be branded third gender/ third sex, just because they can’t afford a sex-change surgery.
Please get in touch with hijra activists from Bangalore and listen to their voices so that you know where they stand. You can contact Sangama (www.sangama.org, sangama@sangama.org, advocacysangama@gmail.com) or Samara (samaraban@gmail.com), the organisations of sexual minorities in Bangalore.
Elavarthi Manohar
Bangalore
GOD MADE TWO GENDERS MAN AND WOMAN..
BUT MAN CTREATED THE THIRD GENDER AS NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
TO HELL WITH CONVENTION
Firoze Shakir
PhotographerNo1
masss
@ a genetic deformation with 23 chromozomes deciding
the gendre or disorder, being the scienctific explanation,
but why should we exploit the disorder and initiating and
forcing the unwanted rather unrealistic changes in the body,
turning them into an ugly creature with a thick voice, and
abnormal behaviour imposed, then exploited by these
mystic thugs in permanent transe training them to behave
like eunochs. it should be catagorized as a crime against a
person.
RK
Human Rights Defence has now announced the results our essay competition. At third place Shoma A. Chatterji’s “Eunuchs of India – Deprived of Human Rights” is placed. Here is a snippet from its introduction…
“The International Human Rights Day comes and goes every year. Human Rights activists talk of torture of under trials in police custody. They talk about human beings being subjected to medical experimentation without their conscious knowledge. They discuss socially relevant subjects like violence against women, child abuse, trafficking or exploitation of child labour in TW countries. But the lot of the community of eunuchs is largely ignored even by their own. It is also true that at every stage of their existence, their rights to live and work like normal human beings are violated with impunity.”
If you like to read more, you will find it on our site: http://www.humanrightsdefence.org
Yours sincerely,
Tomas Eric Nordlander
HumanRightsDefence
The article is nice. Here I am giving a different way to see the hijras as I personally feel:
I am a normal human being.I consider the life and being to be a combination of many beings. While male and female are the two prime sections of the being normally majority of people enjoy in the life , the hijra, or eunuch or whatever you call it is a very much part of each human being .Here I am not talking about the physical structure.But the human being feels good when the manhood comes to the front of his realisation, a woman feels great at times of her womenhood when the women nature comes to the front.While this way of feeling great and good is common , sometimes the hijrapan(the feeling of being both and not in the middle) comes to the forefront of every human being .Some accept it and whenever it comes to the front they enjoy it. This has happened with me . I have recently discovered immense pleasure and happiness of the ardha nari reality in me and wished strongly to continue of staying with it whenever it has reached . It does not take time to feel like a man for a man, for woman to be woman or for a hijra to feel the hijrapan .But it is difficult to retain the happiness of the hijrapan in your body and mind alive and active when you are a man or woman(it’s really a great feeling that is rarely enjoyed) as the society is yet to realise the real happiness of remaning in that state.I keep on bringing this state of living everyday for some time.But whenever special oportunities like that I am enjoying now for having stayed outside the house is there ,I try to enjoy it for the maximum time .Today also I am dressed up in the similar dress and am acting in the way a hijra does . I behave, act and dress up as much I have seen the hijras in picture and the readings made from books and internet.Whenever I live in this condition I share my state of consciousness with friends and people who have been talking about the eunuchs and hijras worldwide . The basic aim is to know the hijras more so that whenever i go into that state in the consciousness , I reach that nearer to them , so that the experience is not lost.As I said that I am a hijra(even though you may say that I donot satisfy the conditions and definitions of the word Hijra) for that period of time and when come out of that I am a man to the external world .The time has not come yet to come out with my photographs and get up to the external world . Hence please feel free to suggest all that you know about living like a hijra more.Please tell me if you know more eabout the hijras who are physically also the same as per the definition ,like their likings , dislikings, their daily routine ,the moments of happiness, dates they observe,the topics they cover , the dreams they have and so on . I will try to practise the same whenever I get the scope bringing the hijrapan to the front . I would also wish to mention that I donot indulge in homo sexual activities .I wish to live the life in full , like a man and like the both.It’s not a fantacy .I am proud of this feeling and the way I enjoy without harming anyone . Please help me to know more , if you can without knowing who really I am .I am a 42 year old man. Be certain , it’s not a joke or some false mail .It’s true to me.I forgot to tell you why do I wear the costumes and dresses that hijras put on. You see , a soldier can fight in any condition . But his uniform gives an additional strength to fight . Similarly I can experience the spirit of the hijrapan in me even without the costumes and dresses .But the dress and costume gives me additonal inspiration and scope to remain close to the feeling .Yeaterday for the first time I came out of my room at around 11 PM with full costumes and dress and roamed on the roof for almost 15 minutes.It was great even with a fear.Tonight also I will try to go.Let me try.
In Hindi:
Meri tan,mann,hriday sab ye anokhi ehsas ke sath bhar jata hai.Mein abhi kisise phone par bhi bat nahi karti.Kyunki me iss hijrapan ki stithimein me mardon jaisa bat karna pasand nehin karti.Dua karo , prarthana karo ki mein iss sthitiko jyada se jyada paa sakun.Isiliye mein apko anurodh karti ki hijron jaise jine ke liye roj kya kya karna chahiye,kya abhyas karna chahiye ,kaunsi puja kaise karni chahiye, ye bataa dijiye(If you know).Aap ki sahyogse mein agar ek puri hijra ke jaise(without being physically)banjaun to aapki abhaari rahungi(it is for the time when I live like a hijra ).Aapki dua aur khat ke intejarmein. thank you
with regards
Thank you once again for reading . Wishing to recieve more mails at the earliest.
With regards
nice work
First of all, let me say that I am really flattered that my article is up here. I wrote this many years ago for a presentation for a gender studies class and now my interest in the category of the multiple genders inside me has grown (I’ll explain).
I really want to respond to Elavarthi Manohar’s comment on hijras identifying as women. I agree with that. This article is not concerned with how the hijras view themselves, but as how sub-continental society views them. This is indeed unfortunate, but with limited space and time, it would have been very complicated to veer that discussion in that direction. Secondly, I was writing this for a predominately white, western audience who have never even heard of hijras (or khusras as they are called in Lahore) before. In my opinion, the reason why desi people see them as the third gender is because of their inability to reproduce, which is how one lives up to one gender, at least in Pakistan. I’ve actually heard people say things like “Larki sirf shaadi kay baad aurat banti hai” (a girl only becomes a woman after getting married). In Pakistan, people tend to divide the married and unmarrieds in “bachas and baras.” At my own first cousin’s nikkah, only the married cousins were invited, which hurt and offended me deeply because (a) I’m the same age as a few who were invited and (b) it perpetuated stereotypes and (c) it was a symbolic rewarding of those who had conformed to society and compulsory heterosexuality. [If you do ever read this, you’re a git for not having stood up for me and invited me because I am the one who got you together with your husband in the first place! You know who you are…] I think that if even the educated think in this ignorant, narrow minded manner, then imagine how the rest of society (which is the vast majority) thinks. I am well aware of the fact that hijras see themselves as women, and am in full support of helping recognise that. The article here is incomplete. The full article is here: http://nabihameher.wordpress.com/2007/06/08/hijras-%E2%80%93-the-third-sex/ and in it, I refer to them as “her”, thus acknowledging their gender as female from my own point of view. The fact that your comment starts in capitals and vehemently states that hijras as women implies to me that you found referring to hijras as a separate gender deeply offensive. I hope this clears up this misunderstanding.
My earlier reference to the multiple genders inside me (and many others) is related to what Pradip has asked. In my opinion, not many people are completely of one gender or another, something that the second wave of feminist challenged quite successfully. We are never born a gender, we are born as sex. Whereas the presence of male and female genitals is what determines your sex, your performance is what reinforces it. If you are interested in reading about this theory, I suggest you read Judith Butler who is the pioneer and champion of this. Virginia Woolf’s theory of androgyny and creativity is also helpful.
A manly man or womanly woman are people who are reinforcing their masculinity or femininity through performance and behaviour that is learnt. Think of the way that society treats babies. Girls are dressed up in pink and given dolls to play with (and their hair is grown out etc.) Boys are given trucks and encouraged to be a little more violent. Men are lauded for “spreading their seeds” and being sexually active, whereas women are rejected or even killed for doing so. Just think of the weight of the words “studs” and “sluts.” A woman has no option but to be a good motherly figure. If she doesn’t conform to that, she is considered a whore. Basically we are all brainwashed from birth. We are rewarded for rejecting the other gender within us, which is unhealthy and has lead to a patriarchal society. For me, the proof of this lies in the fact that 4% of all human beings are born intersexual (hermaphrodites). There are NOT 2 sexes, but 5 really. True hermaphrodites are those who have both male and female parts functioning. Female hermaphrodites are those who can only reproduce as female or who are more womanly in body. Similarly, male hermaphrodites are those who can reproduce as men and pass as men in many cases. In the part of the world where we come from, intersexual individuals are given up to the hijras. Indeed, when hijras come to a house, they check the babies genitals and if they do discover an intersexual individual, they demand to be given it. In the west, sex reassignment surgery is done at birth and over 85% of intersexual babies are changed to girls. Intersexuality is proof that gender is performance. Many of the babies who were changed have no idea what was done to them until they mature and cannot have children.
Mr Kumar, I laud you for being brave enough to accept both sides. It is very brave and I wish more people would do so. You are indeed normal. I, too, am one of the few people who has embraced both sides in many ways and it confuses and challenges people. Many people say that I think like a man, which amuses me immensely because how can I do so? And what does a man think like? Is there any such thing? Many of my male friends call me one of their “boys” and yet, the females call me one of their “girls.” Virginia Woolf said that creativity necessarily needs one to reject these categories to be creative and I definitely find that to be true for my life (and many other I know). However, I don’t think that you have to be exactly like hijras in order to embrace the female inside you. There is great pleasure in finding one’s own way for being told what to do stifles creativity. It might take the joy out of it for you. You wrote your comment a while ago and I would love to know where you are in terms of gender development/performance now.
I really hope that this very long and perhaps tedious comment will not be censored. If you do feel the need to do so, please just delete it and write “Nabiha did respond, but we are not putting it up here” or whatever else and the reasons for doing so would be appreciated. If so, I will put it up on my personal blog and would really appreciate it if it just linked here instead.
Nabhia,
Thank you for the long ilustrated mail in response to my posting here . I would like you to go through the mail once more and respond to some of my vital questions .
I would be grateful to you
With love
Pradip
Nabiha,
Thanks for commenting. I was given your article by someone who said they had talked to you and informed you they wanted to contribute it as a piece here. I hope that was ok!
Of course! I’m extremely flattered.
salaamz,nabiha i need ur help urgently,wil u plz send me any interview of any hijra with questionz cz i need it 4 ma assinment??
Sadia,
As a teacher, I’m a little disturbed by that. You actually want me to send you my interviews so that you can plagiarise them for an assignment?
salam
thanks to the one who wrote it, who put it here nd evry one who comented on it.
it was of great help for my survey.
very informative.
thanks again
regardz