#hmc

Effects of Queerphobia in modern Indian society

Stigmatization of the LGBTQ+ communityThis is something that has become extremely common. From as early as Middle/Secondary School, some people start normalizing using “gay”, “hijda”, “chhakka”, etc. as insults. This comes from external influences, including the media/content they consume or even the people around them. This leads to mindsets that, if not checked early on, keep growing and even spreading throughout people’s lives. And in real life, it has led to severe issues, including mockery among peers and even family, discrimination in social and professional fields, mental and eventually physical health being adversely affected, and so much more. Some families often outright reject their kids for coming out as queer, sometimes even forcing them into heterosexual marriages, for the sake of “log kya kahenge”. Some families in fact, feel proud at removing any and all queer members from their midst. A while back, there was an incident of a young man being gangraped after matching with someone on Grindr. Posts came up on Instagram on it, but men in the comments had to publicly flaunt their vile upbringing by commenting how he “deserved it” for hooking up on a gay dating app, or that him being gay meant that he was “asking for it”/“wanted it”. In the recent protests over the paper leaks, a lot of posts online and posters in the crowds have been calling Modi and the BJP Ministers a bunch of queerphobic insults, like hijdas and all. One poster had an image of a chair with two dildos strapped onto it, calling it the reason Dharmendra Pradhan wasn’t leaving his seat. So, it’s okay to mock women and intersex people, making them insults to hurl at incompetence?

Abandonment and Abuse from their own loved onesIn a lot of families, a queer child is seen as a black sheep. A blot in the family’s name and “dignity”. Every parent wants kids, and then their marriage, and then grandkids. This is the default mindset. However, this default has a hidden condition. Heteronormativity. The Amatonormativity is a glaring issue as a whole, but let’s focus on this first. In 2020, a woman in Kerala was forced to endure Conversion Therapy by her family for being Bisexual. Not being able to take the torture, she finally committed suicide. A queer man had died, and instead of mourning him, his family made a video of his rites where the father was clearly happy. In fact, his family was using his social media account to post videos even after his death. Truly, every child deserves parents, but not every parent deserves a child.

Gay Marriage is not legally recognizedIn October 2023, a collection of 20 connected cases was heard by a bench of 5 judges, to decide whether or not to extend the right to marry and establish a family to queer people as well. In an unexpected display of Hindu-Muslim and whatnot political solidarity, Hindu organizations like Shri Sanatam Dharm Pratinidhi Sabha and Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti, Islamic organizations like Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and Telangana Markazi Shia Ulema Council, the women empowerment organization Bharatiya Stree Shakti, and the educational nonprofit organization Kanchan Foundation, all opposed the decision. To make this truly a crossover greater than Infinity Wars, the BJP-led Union Government and State Governments of Assam, Gujarat and MP, the Congress-led State Government of Rajasthan and the YSR Congress-led State Government of Andhra Pradesh, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights joined in to oppose the right. The decision was unanimously rejected by the judges, the argument being that refusing to extend the right to marry to queer people does not violate their right to freedom, and that it’s entirely up to the Parliament to legalize same-sex marriage, not the court. In a 3–2 decision, it ruled against ordering the government to introduce civil unions, and in a separate 3-2 decision, ruled against ordering the government to allow adoption by same-sex couples.

Human Trafficking targetsWhen people are kicked out of their homes for being born a certain way, when they don’t grow up exactly as their parents envisioned instead of how they feel right, they hardly ever have anywhere to turn to for help. Most such cases become ripe targets for predation. Victims of human sex trafficking are almost all from struggling conditions, whether their families selling them off as children, young people getting lured under the false pretence of job offers, or people kicked out of their homes and ending up trapped in these rings. Girls and women are forced into prostitution, young children are made to go around and beg, and when your family decides that it would rather have no child than a queer child, you get no statistic. No one keeps track of victims’ gender and sexuality, as if trans and intersex kids aren’t thrown away, and gay/lesbian/bi kids aren’t forced to pretend to be straight to stay. These things only make homeless queer kids more prone to trafficking.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Act, 2026Recently an incident occurred in Nandlalpura, Indore, where a group of Kinnars attempted suicide by drinking poison. Two men, Akshay Kumayu and Pankaj Jain, claiming to be journalists, had allegedly raped one of them, and even attacked and blackmailed them. When the community demanded justice, they were threatened with false FIRs against them by the men, while the police did not seem to take any immediate action. Desperate for anything that would get the system to take action, and to rid them of the shame from the incident, a group of about 25 of them decided to attempt suicide by drinking Phenyl. This happened back in December of last year. And this year we are seeing a regressive act being brought in against Trans people and their right to self-identify. This act also affects Intersex, Non-Binary, and Genderfluid people too. In 2014, the NaLSA Judgement was passed, stating that Transgender people had the right to self-identify as the Third Gender. The Transgender Persons Act was passed in 2019, which allowed Trans people to self-identify as such by obtaining a Certificate of Identity from their respective District Magistrates. This year, however, the Act was amended, requiring a report from a Medical Board before being able to get the Certificate. The issue here is: When the NaLSA judgement exists, how can the bill violate it and still become an act? How would a group of doctors (Male and Female) medically determine a person’s intent of identifying as a gender not presenting as their assigned sex at birth? In the recent protests against this bill, when some Trans people did come up to voice their dissent, the internet trolls decided to display their peak jobless behaviour, and mock them for the way they looked. And the CJP that bragged about being for the youth or whatever? Hiring a bigot as its spokesperson who had once dismissed Genderfluidity as just some circus of bored rich people, never really apologising for the stance itself, commenting how women would be less likely to follow the party since their interests are mainly “makeup and shopping”, rather than politics (An extremely sexist and ignorant thing to say, stereotyping a whole gender and reinforcing dumb binary categorization, while also ignoring the numerous female politicians we already have)

Queer History of Hinduism

Purusha and PrakritiThe belief in Hinduism is that Parabrahman created two aspects for all lifeforms, and existence in general. Purusha, the expression of the Divine Masculine, and Prakriti, the expression of the Divine Feminine. Prakriti is the Shakti of dynamism of matter, while Purusha is the eternal unchanging consciousness. Prakriti is the body and mind, while Purusha is the soul. Our philosophy states that both are equally important and inseparable aspects, and not a mere gender/sex-based binary. The “Masculine” is the inactive consciousness that lies within, and the “Feminine” is the active ever-changing material world all around. All beings have both within them, and so Sankhya Philosophy differs from the idea of “Male and Female are the two genders God created”. In fact, Prakriti is responsible for all bodies’ physical forms, and Purusha, the soul, changes bodies every birth. Every cycle is some linga or another. Sometimes Male, sometimes Female, and sometimes Napunsak. The necessity of a balanced coexistence of both is highlighted in the moments when Shiva and Shakti are separated. Shiva becomes uncaring and unmoving, almost resembling a corpse. Shakti runs unstoppable as a catastrophic chaos. Order is restored only when both aspects come together in harmony once more.

Tritiya Prakriti“Tritiya Prakriti” translates to “Third Nature”. It refers to those who do not fit into the strict binary definition of what is male or what is female. This includes Intersex, Non-Binary and Trans people. It also refers to homosexual people as well. Often, these people would marry via the process of Gandharva Vivaha, a form of marriage that involved only the consent and vows of the involved lovers and no fire, witnesses, mantras or ritual. Purusha and Prakriti are seen as the cosmic complementary pair necessary to propagate life. The Tritiya Prakriti is seen as having characteristics of both of those. The Sanskrit Language has four categories of Genders: Male (Pung), Female (Stree), Neuter (Kliba) and Both/Fluid (Ubhaya). The Sanskrit word “linga” is used to mean gender, but it’s actually closer to meaning “sign” or “symbol”. This shows a difference in the sex of the body, and gender of the person. Those who didn’t match the expectations of either male or female sex, either because of being born intersex, aligning more with the opposite sex in terms of preferences, or attraction towards the same gender, were said to belong to the Tritiya Prakriti

Ardhanarishwara and Vaikuntha-KamalajaWhen Rishi Bhringi once tried to worship Shiva alone, while ignoring Parvati, She tried to explain how Purusha and Prakriti are inseparable, and hence should be worshipped together. However, Bhringi simply turned into a beetle to try and circumambulate Shiva alone. In anger, Parvati cursed him and stripped him of the Prakriti aspect of his being, his flesh and blood. When Shiva took pity on him, He granted him a third leg so that he could stand upright again. Shiva and Parvati then fused into the form of Ardhanarishwara to show that the Masculine and Feminine aspects are inseparable, that Purusha and Prakriti are two equal halves of the same one true Truth Other myths talk about how when Brahma was tasked with Creation, He created male beings and asked them to further propagate life, which they did not know how to do. This caused the pace of Creation to slow down, leading to Brahma’s frustration. When He decided to meditate on Shiva for a solution, He appears out of Brahma as Rudra, before showing Him His Ardhanarishwara form. Brahma then prays to the female half to aid Him in Creation, and Devi creates multiple Shaktis who help propagate Creation. A similar form exists of Lakshmi Narayan as well, called Vaikuntha-Kamalaja. This depiction is probably inspired from Ardhanarishwara and originated in Eastern India. Later on, it led to the depiction of Radha and Krishna in the same form as well.

MohiniThe Enchantress form of Vishnu. Whenever the Preservation of Order and Dharma was on the line, Narayan changed from His usual masculine appearance to a feminine one. Some believe that this avatar of His was a result of Devi Lalita Sundari blessing Him with Her power and beauty. But in the end, Mohini represents the fluidity of Gender, the societal concept, and how it is in essence no different from mere apparel to the soul that is our true selves. There are three well known myths of Vishnu becoming Mohini. The first is Her appearance during the Samudra Manthan, when Vishnu tricked the Asuras from devouring the Amrit. She convinced most of them to let Her serve the Amrit to the Devas first, and then She’d serve the remainder to the Asuras. However, when Svarbhanu tried to sneak in as a Deva and drank some Amrit, before being exposed by Surya and Chandra, leading to Mohini using the Sudarshan Chakra to split his head (Rahu) and his body (Ketu). The second is the story of Bhasmasura. When Bhasmasura performed penance to gain a boon from Shiva, he asked for the boon to be able to burn whatever he touched to ashes. Thus, caught up in the maya of newfound power, he decided that he should test it first by trying to burn Mahadev Himself. However, Vishnu again appeared before him as Mohini to entice him into imitating Her dance. In this process, She made him end up placing his hand on his own head, leading to him burning himself up into ashes. The third myth is the birth of Swamy Ayyappa. The Demoness Mahishi had obtained a boon that only a son of Vishnu and Shiva (Hari and Har) could defeat her. This led to Vishnu showing Shiva His Mohini avatar. When Mohini appeared before Him, She feared that She too would be burned like Kamdev for trying to induce desire within an ascetic as great as Him. However, Shiva did not, and instead joined Mohini, having sex to create Ayyappa. A folk legend exists regarding Iravan’s death in the Mahabharata in South India. In this version of the story, before the Kurukshetra War, the Pandavas needed someone to be sacrificed to Maa Kali as a Narabali offering to ensure victory. Iravan/Aravan (worshipped as a deity of the Kuttandavar cult), makes the decision to become the sacrifice, but asks for one final wish to be fulfilled, that he be able to marry before being sacrificed. However, no woman agreed since they’d become a widow the very next day. Thus, Krishna decided to take the form of Mohini to marry him, completing all rituals, and after his sacrifice the next day even wept for him and followed all rituals as a widow too. This led to Iravan becoming the patron Deity of the Tamil Transgender community (Aravanis). Every year, there is an 18-day festival to honour his sacrifice, where Aravani people marry him symbolically and then mourn him as widows

Budh and Ila/SudyumnaBudh is one of the Navagrahas, the God of the planet Mercury, and of intellect, wisdom, eloquence and commerce. However, Budh is described to be neither truly male nor female (although referred to with male pronouns in English in almost all places). This was a result of a curse of Brihaspati. Once Soma/Chandradev saw Tara, Brihaspati’s wife and how He didn’t care for Her as much as He should have. Thus, after Chandrdeva took Her away and Brihaspati demanded He return Her, Chandra refused. This led to the Tarakamaya War, with the Devas aiding Brihaspati and the Asuras aligning with Chandra. After a number of battles, leading to many Asuras being slain, Brahmadev intervenes and tells Chandra to return Tara. However, it is later revealed that Tara is pregnant with a child, and when Brihaspati questioned Her about the child’s paternity, She kept quiet until after carrying the baby to term, who then Himself asked Her about it, when She revealed the son, Budh, to be Chandra’s. Enraged, Brihaspati cursed Budh to become neither truly male nor female. This ties in with Budh’s nature of constant motion and dynamism. Despite the curse, it has never been a detriment to Budh’s capabilities as a wise and eloquent sage. Sudyumna was the eldest son of Vaivasvata Manu, who was born through a yajna dedicated to Mitra-Varuna. However, he was initially born as a girl, either due to an error in the ritual, or a failure in providing the appropriate sacrifice. This is later fixed, and Sudyumna grows up as a boy. Later in his life, when he trespassed Parvati’s sacred Sharavana (Reed Forest), he was transformed into a woman from then on. When Sudyumna (referred to as Ila when a woman) begged to be reverted back to normal, Parvati took pity on him, She reduced his curse to allow him to turn into the other gender every alternate month, but at the cost of not remembering his life as the previous gender. In this state, Ila met Budh, who was lovestruck from her beauty. Soon they got married and after living together for a year, had a son together (Pururavas, the progenitor of the Chandravansha Dynasty). After this, Ila is advised to pray to Shiva, who permanently restores his masculinity. It is believed that it was all actually Shiva’s leela, to ensure the creation of the Chandravansha Dynasty. The Skanda Purana narrates how after the gender swap, Ila initially wanted to remain a woman and worship Gauri and Ganga, but was dissuaded by the Goddesses. She then takes a dip in a sacred pool and returns a man once again.

Bahuchara MataA form of Devi worshipped as an incarnation of Hinglaj Mata, the Goddess of chastity and fertility, and the Patron Goddess of the Hijra community. Her primary temple is located in the Gujarat town of Becharaji, Mehsana. It is believed that this temple was built by a bandit cursed by Bahuchara Herself. Bahuchara was born in a Detha-Charana family, to a renowned poet father, Bapaldan Detha. Her mother, Deval Mata, is Herself worshipped as a patron Goddess by the Detha-Charanas and Sodha Rajputs. After Her mother’s passing, Bahuchara and two of Her sisters, Buta and Balala, were on their way to their father, when their caravan was attacked by a bandit named Bapiya. Furious, the sisters committed Traga, a Charana practice of suicide by ritual mutilation, and cursed Bapiya to lose his manhood and become a eunuch. When he begged for mercy, Bahuchara told him to build a shrine of Her, and to worship Her there. This is Her temple in Becharaji. Her sisters Buta-Bhavani and Balala Devi also came to be worshipped at Arnej and Bakulkoo, respectively. Bahuchara Mata had also proclaimed that if a "naturally emasculated man" wearing women's clothing worships her, then they would achieve her blessings and find a place in her abode after death. The primary devotees of the Goddess are traditionally Rajputs, Kolis, Charanas, Bhils and Hijras. The responsibilities of the temple’s rituals were divided among three groups: The Solanki Rajputs, the Kamalias, and the Paviyas (hijras or eunuchs). The Paviyas’ devotion and Devi’s role as their patroness comes from Her story. The Kamalias serve as musicians and the staunchest servants of the Goddess, seen as the temple’s caretakers. They dress partly as women and partake partly in Muslim life-rituals. There is a legend of two kings, one Solanki and the other Chawda, who were close friends, and decided to have their children marry each other. However, both end up having daughters instead, and the Solanki king’s daughter is not announced. On their wedding night, she ran away, reaching a pond and taking a dip. By Bahuchara Mata’s blessing, she was transformed into a man, allowing the marriage to proceed normally. Another myth tells of a king who prayed for a son, but the prince, named Jetho, was unfortunately born impotent. One night, Bahuchara Mata visited Jetho in his dream, and told him to castrate himself, wear women’s clothes, and become Her devotee. She warned him that if he, or any other such man in the future, were to refuse taking on the role of the other gender, they’d be cursed with impotency for the rest of their seven reincarnations. Bahuchara Mata’s cult came to be formed of similar men, born impotent, who dressed and acted as women after self-castration, and lived as celibates.

Ram’s blessingIt is said that when Ram, Lakshman and Sita left Ayodhya for their 14 years of vanvaas, Ram asked that all the men and women, boys and girls go back to the city as They left. However, the Kinnars, who were neither male nor female (Tritiya Prakriti), stayed waiting at the city’s gates. On returning, and seeing their devotion to Him, Ram bestowed them with the power to bless others, especially on auspicious occasions like births and marriages.

Bhagirath’s birthIn the Bengali translation of the Padma Purana, and later on in the Krittibas Ramayana, Harivansha, Kavikankanachandi, and Adbhuta Ramayana, there is a unique description of how Bhagirath was born. Here, it is said that Bhagirath’s father, Dilip, died before begetting an heir, which was troubling as it was prophesised that Vishnu will be born to Dilipa's line. Then, two of his widowed wives are advised by Shiva to have sex, leading to one of them getting pregnant with Bhagirath. However, he is born deformed (either boneless, or as merely a lump of flesh). But was later cured when he encountered the crippled sage, Ashtavakra.

Mitra-VarunaMitra and Varuna are two of the Adityas (sons of Aditi), Mitra being a Solar Deity who governs Mornings, Friendships, Harmony and Trust, and Varuna being a God of the Sky, Waters, Cosmic Order and the West Direction. Both Gods are invoked together in many hymns as a pair, Mitra-Varuna. Sometimes, the pair is invoked for obtaining a child, something seen with other Divine Couples like Shiva-Shakti (Case in point: Sudyumna, as mentioned above). There is a myth of Mitra and Varuna having birthed the sages Vashishtha and Agastya when their semen combined. One of Rishi Agastya’s names also thus came to be Maitravaruni.

Agni and SomaAgni is the God of Fire, and the messenger between Gods and priests. Soma was a God of the intoxicating drink of the same name, later identified with the Moon God Chandra. In Vedic hymns, Agni and Soma are often seen as a part of a duality symbolising cosmic balance. Agni as the flame, symbolising the consuming and transformative aspects, and Soma as the elixir, symbolising the cooling and nourishing aspects. In yajnas, Agni is the mediator and priest, while Soma is the ultimate offering. This pair of roles, consumer and provider, is similar to the Purusha-Prakriti dichotomy, with Purusha being nourished the energy of Prakriti’s dynamism. Except here, the consumption is seen more literally, and Agni is the more active member of the duo, and Soma being more passive in nature.

Gopeshwar MahadevA female form of Shiva, which He is said to have once taken to experience Krishna’s Maharaas Himself. Since Devi Yogamaya ensures that the only man who can enter the Raas mandal was Krishna, and only Gopis could join Him in there. Curious of what it was like in there, Mahadev took the form of a Gopi to enter. This form is worshipped as Gopeshwar, and is seen as an actual woman (gopi), rather than a man as how Shiva is normally seen.

Shikhandi and BrihannalaShikhandi is the reincarnation taken by Amba in the Mahabharata, born to King Drupada after a penance in his previous life. Initially born as Shikhandini, he was prophesised to play a major role in the Kurukshetra War. In her previous life, Bhishma had abducted Amba during a Swayamvar, but let her return when she said that she only loved the king of Salva. However, he refused to accept her hand in marriage, so she returned to Bhishma and demanded he marry her. He too refused, due to his vow of celibacy. When no one would help her, she decided to undergo penance to ensure Bhishma’s demise, and Mahadev Himself blessed her so that she’d become a man in her next life and kill Bhishma. When Drupada came to know of his future, Shikhandi was raised like a boy, rather than a girl, and even married to the princess of Dasharna later on. However, since Shikhandini was still biologically female, and thus didn’t have the genitalia the princess would have expected. This led to the king of Dasharna’s suspicions, and he demanded the truth from Drupada, and threatened war as well. Shikhandini, in her distress and guilt, ran away into a forest inhabited by a Yaksha, Stunakarna, who decided to help her by exchanging their sexes. Later on, when Kubera the Yaksha God of wealth visits Stunakarna’s forest, she does not come out to greet Him due to her now female form. Taking offense, Kubera cursed Stunakarna to remain a woman till Shikhandi’s death. Thus, Shikhandi spends the rest of his life as a man as well. Throughout the rest of the Epic, about every character who knew of Shikhandini, saw and treated Shikhandi as a man like any other. Brihannala is the name taken by Arjuna, during his time living as a eunuch under the curse of the Apsara Urvashi. Once, Arjuna took dance lessons from Urvashi, who fell in love with him and asked him to marry her. However, Arjuna refused, pointing out that he was a mortal unlike her, and it would be wrong to marry his teacher, whom he also saw as being like a mother-figure. Enraged by the rejection, Urvashi cursed him to lose his masculinity. However, with Indra’s intervention, the curse was reduced to let Arjuna choose when he’d be affected, for one year. This proved to be useful during the Pandavas’ exile, which would’ve been repeated if they were discovered. Arjuna used the curse as a way of disguising himself, as a Kliba, and was appointed by the King of Virata to tutor his daughter, Uttara, in dance, singing and instruments. At the end of the period of exile, as the duration of his curse also came to completion, Arjuna revealed himself to the King of Virata when the Kauravas raid the kingdom to steal cattle, defeating the invading army on his own.

Krishna-KaliA composite form of Krishna and Kali. The conception of this form came to be to bring together the Vaishnavs and Shaktas in the Bengal region, and as such, is essentially mostly a Folk Deity. There are two versions of Krishna-Kali’s story. One focusing on Krishna and Radha, and the other on Kali and Shiva. The first story tells of Krishna and Radha, who were meeting for Raas. Radha is married to Ayan, and Her mother-in-law, Jatila, and sister-in-law, Kutila, saw Her meeting with Krishna. When they told Ayan about it, he immediately went over to see for himself if it was true. In order to protect Radha’s honour, Krishna takes on the form of Maa Kali, seeming as if Radha was actually worshipping Her, whom Ayan himself worshipped too. In the second story, it is believed that Shiva asked Kali what it was like to experience love as a woman. To help him experience it first hand, Kali took the form of Krishna, and Shiva took the form of Radha. In these forms, the two took part in Raas Leela.

Conclusion

“Justice delayed is Justice denied”, and every time there’s a major case in the country, this is what happens so often. A country that has been “developing” for so long it seems to just be anti-development at this point. Air and water polluted, Crops drenched in pesticides and chemicals, Food adulterated and harmful, Roads littered and broken and unsafe for the vulnerable, Exam papers leaked as if begging for Mamy Poko Pants, Religion corrupted like we’re starring in The Mandela Catalogue. The country has gone to the dogs. It’s not going to be easy trying to make any worthwhile shit out of a heap of garbage, and yet that’s the only thing we can hope to do, or have our future generations do. Because the people in power are constantly dragging the country down like shackles.

Imagine someone decreeing that people born a certain way do so just to give you a free pass at discriminating against them. It shouldn’t be hard for people to empathise with such people, when being Indian today just means racism from Westerners, and between states (*cough* Bihari *cough*), casteist slurs, misogyny, and every other form of Discrimination. The irony is that Queerphobia actually ends up being a hassle for straight folks too. Set rules of masculinity (not by Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram, afaik) for boys to follow or be mocked for being “girly”, being forced into arranged marriages and having to play along for “sanskaar”, everyone being forced to perform according to what will attract a potential mate of the opposite gender. So much for bragging about the inclusivity of Hinduism when it’s being politicised into whatever Colonialslop this is.