Hijras [eunuchs] as Cultural Performers

[JesusA (imported)]

The most important and best-known traditional role for the hijras in Indian society is that of performing at homes where a male child has been born. The birth of a son is the most significant event for an Indian family and a cause for great celebration. It is on this happy and auspicious occasion that the hijras bless the child and the family and provide entertainment for friends, relatives, and neighbors. The following is a description of one of the several performances I observed. It is typical in its major details, though somewhat more elaborate than usual because the family celebrating the birth was from the upper-middle class. The hijras call these performances 'badhai,' which refers to the traditional gifts of cash and goods that they receive as payment on such occasions.

The burning Panjab sun beat down on the crowd that was gathered that afternoon to celebrate the birth of the 6-week-old infant, Ram. At 2:30 the sound of clapping, drumming, and ankle bells announced that the hijras were arriving. Tossing their spangled scarves, flashing their heavy jewelry, and carrying with them the 'dholak,' the two-sided drum that accompanies all of their performances, the group stood in the small courtyard in front of the house where Ram had been born.

The drummer and the harmonium (accordion) player settled themselves on the ground and began to play in a rousing rhythm. The dancers clapped their hands wildly in the special manner of hijras - with hollow palms - and began to sing and shout and dance, making comic gestures to the audience. Tamasha, the leader of the group, twirled in a grotesque, sexually suggestive parody of feminine behavior, which caused all of the older ladies to laugh loudly and all of the younger women to giggle with embarrassment behind their hands.

With boundless energy the performers danced and sang songs from popular films and from the folk music of the region. Then Tamasha took the infant Ram from his mother's arms and held him in her own. As she danced with him, she closely inspected his genitals. "Give money to bless this baby," she demanded of the baby's grandmother. Taking the proffered two-rupee note, Tamasha passed it over the baby's head in a ritualized gesture that is a blessing and that wards off evil spirits. The other hijras in the group, Kokila, Manjula, and Shakuntala, continued their dancing, while the accompanists played loudly on the drum and harmonium. The hijras called on the Indian Mother Goddess, Parvati, and their own special goddess, Bahuchara Mata, to confer fertility, prosperity, and long life on the baby, as the ladies in the audience threw them one- and two-rupee notes.

Then Tamasha returned baby Ram to his mother. While the audience was watching the other hijras, Tamasha retired to a corner of the courtyard unobserved, where she stuffed a large pillow under her sari [women's dress]. She then returned to the group, clowning and imitating the slow, ungainly walk of a pregnant woman. Now with exaggerated gestures, which made the audience rock with laughter, she sang a traditional hijra song describing the time of a woman's pregnancy from beginning to childbirth.

Little kid, may you be healthy and live long.

Someone has brought you a ring.

In the house of your friends, the dholak is being played.

And your bhabi [sister-in-law] makes a lot of noise.

Little kid, may you be healthy and live long.

Mother of the child, yes, yes,

Grandmother of the child, yes, yes.

What will this first male child be when he grows up?

Headache, yes, yes,

Heartburn, yes,

I cannot stand up,

I cannot sit down.

How will the pregnancy be?

I'll throw up, yes, yes.

You'll have the desire to eat these sour things.

Bring me a lemon, bring me 'tamarindo' [a sour fruit].

The kid says in the stomach, 'dadi, dadi' [paternal grandmother]

Little kid, may you be healthy and live long.

What will the fourth month be like?

What will the fifth month be like?

In the fifth month you won't be able to walk.

You'll have a pain in the side.

Sixth month, yes, yes,

Seventh month, yes, yes.

How will it be?

I have difficulty walking, I cannot walk.

I have difficulty sitting.

And now the eighth month, what will it be?

Go to the hospital.

Have some tests done.

How will it be, how will it be?

Hot water, cold water.

The little kid in the stomach says 'nani, nani' [maternal grandmother].

Little kid, may you be healthy and live long.

Ninth month, how will it be?

Pain in the waist, yes, yes.

Almost delivery time.

Heavy in the front, heavy in the back.

And how will it be?

Get the taxi.

Go to the hospital.

In the final month, how will it be?

In the jungle there's a tiger.

The tiger shouts, "The birth has taken place."

And the kid in the stomach says, "The birth has taken place."

Little kid, may you be healthy and live long.

Exhausted by her performance, Tamasha then leaned back against the courtyard wall to rest, while the other hijras took turns dancing with each other and making advances to those in the audience, few of whom had the courage to move to the center. Then Kokila, who is so beautiful one cannot believe she was born a man, moved toward a group of small boys shyly hiding behind their mothers' saris as they peeked out to watch the fun. She danced before them in an outrageously inviting and sexual way, and winking salaciously at five-year-old Kishan, she bent down to touch his genitals. Embarrassed and a little panicky, he quickly retreated again behind his mother's sari, bringing the audience into gales of laughter.

After another few dances and songs, the hijras stopped their performance and demanded their traditional badhai: wheat flour, cane sugar, sweets, and cloth or a sari and a sum of money (which is relatively fixed for different social classes in different regions of the country) from the elders of the household. As the elder of the group, Tamasha was given the badhai and the hijras departed happily, tired but content that there are still people who respect their powers and call them to perform their traditional ritual of blessing male infants.

In a final gesture, Tamasha passed her hands over the head of the infant Ram to bless him, giving to him what she herself does not possess: the power of creating new life, of having many sons, and of carrying on the continuity of his family line. It is for this role that the hijras are given the greatest respect, and it is this role that defines their identity in relation to the world around them.

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Above are pages one through three of Serena Nanda's book, Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 1999 - 2nd edition - xxi, 186pp.) As you can tell, she writes beautifully describing the scene in a family courtyard; the performance of the traditional eunuch songs and dances. The entire book is a pleasure to read. The titles of the chapters are

1 - Hijra roles in Indian society

2 - The hijra as neither man nor woman

3 - Emasculation ritual among the hijras

4 - Social organization and economic adaptation

5 - Kamladevi: a prostitute [first of five short biographies of hijras]

6 - Meera: a new guru

7 - Sushila: achieving respect

8 - Salima: an outcast

9 - Hijra lives in context

10 - The hijras in cross-cultural perspective [comparisons with the Xanith of Oman and the Two-Spirit roles in Native North America, gender variation in Polynesia, etc.]

11 - Epilogue: fieldwork among the hijras

If you are interested in eunuch roles in a culture where eunuchs are (somewhat) accepted and are commonly seen and recognized as such, this book is highly recommended.