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Collected Information About
the Eunuchs of India Known as the Hijra

Bahuchara Mata
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Bahuchara Mata
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Bahuchara Mata
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Bahuchara Mata
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  • Articles about Hijras
  • Books on Hijras
  • Movies about Hijras
  • Videos about Hijras
  • Still Images of Hijras
  • Yahoo groups mailing lists concerned with Hijras
  • Other information – sometimes only loosely related to Hijras

    I would like to warn people that the articles about hijra initiation linked to this page can be rather graphic and are often shocking. Hijra (the word is Urdu for "impotent ones") are usually boys and men who were made to be eunuchs -- some of them against their will. The process isn't ordinarily a pretty one, usually carried out without the aid of modern anesthesia or antibiotics. Some, however, are intersex and do not go through this process, and there are also female hijra, called hijrin, which are not the same as sadhin.
    This page is linked to the Androgyne Online site because most hijra end up being androgyne by default even if they didn't start that way because -- simply put -- (most) hijra do not have genitalia.
    The word "hijra" has other, wholly unrelated meanings in other contexts. For example, "Hijra" (aka Hegira) can mean "Migration," and refer to the prophet Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE to set up the first Islamic state.
    The terms chakka, kinnar, and mukhanni may or may not be synonyms for hijra, and the term koti is similar but not the same. Another such term is ali. The relatively new (as of 2003) Aravani was popularised in India as a politically correct term to describe members of the third gender, yet it applies more to the devotees of Kutandavar Aravan (India's god of the ali) than those of Bahuchara Mata (the goddess of the hijras). If you are reading this and have more specific information on these terms than is found at this site, please send an e-mail message to <scfeldman@juno.com>.
    A good all-around introductory explanation of the hijra is stored on this site here.

    There is also the term jogappa (or joggapa).
    According to the fourth footnote at the bottom of the article, "Confessions of a Tantric Androgyne," by Ganapati Sivananda Durgadas, at the now-defunct Anything That Moves site, hijra is a Persian-influenced North Indian term, while joggapa is the South Indian languages' equivalent. Durgadas says that joggapa are priestly in vocation and predominantly transvestitic, while the hijra lean towards the transsexual side and labor in various vocations. Another writer, Walter Penrose, says that the jogappa are followers of Yellamma, "a goddess of skin disease who is believed to have the power to change the sex of individuals." According to Amara Dasa, the jogappa "do not practice castration."

    Articles | return to top

    Books | return to top

    A Free Downloadable 116-page Study on Hijras

    Movies | return to top

    A Free Online Documentary about Hijras

    Videos | return to top

    Still Images   –   with thanks for help from Rekha on MySpace | return to top

    Yahoo groups mailing lists | return to top

    Other | return to top

    What is the difference between a eunuch and an androgyne? Well, for one, most androgynes have genitalia and for two, most have a sex drive, and yet, just because a eunuch has no genitalia doesn't mean that he (or she?) has a masculine or feminine or androgyne gender identity, does it? Is there a tendency to conflate androgynes with eunuchs? And if so, why?
    Many would argue that it wouldn't be entirely inappropriate to refer to a eunuch as an "it," but even an agendered androgyne would probably object to being called an "it." Androgynes might bend over backwards trying to use terms like sie (pronounced SEE) instead of he and she; and hir (pronounced like "hear") instead of him or her; but surely, they would like to avoid "it." Why is that, I wonder? If one truly is agendered and wants to make an issue of it, why not reclaim the term "it" like some blacks have reclaimed "n*gg*r" and some gays have reclaimed "queer"?
    Finally, for those interested, there is a special type of agendered androgyne or eunuch known as neutrois.

    Bahuchara Mata
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    Bahuchara Mata
    from Neither Man Nor woman: The Hijras of India, by Serena Nanda
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    Bahuchara Mata
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    Bahuchara Mata
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    Prema
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    This page first created 6/7/01. Copyright © Stephe Feldman, 2001, 2004. Last update: 4/3/08.