queer

Published on 12th January, 2023, in Times of India. In 2018, when the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality, Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar said, ‘Just like the Supreme Court, we also do not consider this criminal. But we do not support homosexuality, as same-sex marriages and relations are not in sync with nature. Traditionally too, Indian society does not accept such relations.’ But a few days ago, in 2023, the head of RSS, Mohan Bhagwat in an interview with the Organiser, insisted that LGBT is not only natural, but also culturally aligned. As he is a veterinarian, he knew about the homosexual traits of animals. ..

Published on 11th December, 2021, in Mid-day. When one visits the many temples of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, in Nepal, one notices something very peculiar. All goddess temples have guardians on either side of the door. On one side, the guardian is a skeleton. On the other side of the deity is a hermaphroditic figure. This figure has both male and female genitalia. This is consistently found in all goddess shrines. The deity is not represented by an image but by a crevice, or gap in the wall or the floor, representing the womb or the vagina of the goddess. She is addressed as Ajima ..

Published on 30th November, 2021, in Economic Times. The world’s oldest wedding hymn is found in the Rig Veda. A thousand year later, dharma-shastra speaks of eight ways in which a man can marry a woman. One of them, not approved but accepted, is rape (pisacha vivaha). This is not acceptable legally today, but marriage continues to be an important theme in Hinduism as it transforms the student (brahmachari) into a householder (grihasthi), who has the right to inherit wealth, and is obliged to generate and distribute wealth. Of course, these laws were for the elite. They were not obligatory for those without power, status ..

Published on 4th September, 2021, in Economic Times. Zeus, king of the gods, in Greek mythology had children by many women, both mortal and immortal, nymphs and goddesses and titans. But he had only one wife. The Roman Empire celebrated monogamy and legitimate children, but the reason for this was not moral, it was legal. It made property transmission easier. The virginity and fidelity of the wife guaranteed the heir was one’s own. Prohibition of widow remarriage ensured property did not go to another man. Cousin marriages ensured property stayed within the family. Such compulsions were not there in families where there was no land ..

Published on 6th June, 2021. in Mid-day. In Beijing, during the autumn festival, people buy images of a rabbit god who is said to have been sent by the moon-goddess to save people during an epidemic. But in Taiwan, there is memory of another rabbit god, Tu Shen, one who is matchmaker for homosexual men. Once upon a time, a young soldier was caught looking at an imperial officer through a peephole in the bathroom. On questioning, he confessed he was drawn to the officer’s beauty. He confessed he loved men. The officials had the young soldier beaten to death. A month later, the ghost ..

Published on 16th May, 2021, in Mid-day. Scholars never talk about the homoerotic, homosocial and homosexual tales found in the ancient Buddhist Jataka collection. When men live together, even as monks, in a solitary spiritual pursuit, it is natural that some men would bond and become very close friends. The relationships were not always sexual, obviously, but were clearly cause of much deliberation. While there was condemnation of sexual activity as indicated by the monastic laws (vinaya) against men with homosexual tendencies (pandaka), there was no condemnation of the very evident same sex attachment as indicated by the Jataka tales. Baka-Brahma Jataka, for example, tells ..

Published on 27th September, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Hindu culture forbids divorce. Yet Hindu personal laws permit divorce. Hindu culture allows gods, and men, to have many wives. Yet Hindu personal laws forbid polygamy. Does it mean Hindu personal laws are opposing Hindu culture? Or, does it mean they are being true dharmashastras, updating responsible social behaviour, i.e. dharma to suit the times (kala), the place (sthan) and the people (patra)? There are separate marriage laws for diverse communities in India, such as Hindu and Muslim. Why can’t there be a separate same-sex union law for queer people? Dharma-shastras are guided by Vedas, and shaped ..

Published on 9th August, 2020, in Mid-day. When I came out to myself and my family in the 1990s, I found great joy in the 'World of Homosexuals', a book written by Shakuntala Devi, in 1977, long before HIV-AIDS made homosexuality a fashionable public discourse. In her interviews, she said this was to cope with her marriage to a homosexual man that ended in a bitter divorce. Despite that, her book was amazingly informative and kind. But, a recent film on the mathematician's life, from the point of view of Anupama, her daughter, informs us that this was just a marketing ploy her mother used ..

Who is a Hindu? Gender fluidity in Hinduism Published on 2nd August, 2020, in Mumbai Mirror. Greek mythology focuses a lot on same-sex love: love between men and men, women and women and between men and boys i.e. inter-generational love. Hindu mythology focuses on transgenders — men who turn into women and women who turn into men. In other words, different cultures express sexuality, apart from heterosexuality, in their own way. Greek mythology tells us how Zeus, the king of the gods, falls in love with Ganymedes, prince of Troy, and takes the form of an eagle to abduct him. It also tells you how ..