Hijras, the third-gender community
It was William Dalrymple, yet again, who put me on the trail – not in *Nine Lives* this time, but in *City of Djinns*, his book on Delhi, in which he devotes many pages to his attempts to approach the city’s closed and secretive hijra community. He draws a fairly close link between the hijras and the eunuchs who guarded the harems during the Mughal era — an interpretation that more recent research has largely qualified: the history of the hijras is much older, and above all distinct from that single historical role.
In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the hijras form an ancient socio-religious community, often referred to as the ‘third gender’. It comprises transgender women, intersex people, and men who choose to adopt this identity — a reality far more diverse than the term ‘eunuch’, inherited from the British colonial administration, would suggest.
Legitimacy rooted in myth
Contrary to the notion of a marginalised or recent community, the hijras derive their legitimacy from the very heart of Hindu mythology. They identify with Shiva in his Ardhanarishvara form—half-man, half-woman, a fusion of the god and his feminine shakti. The connection with Krishna, central to the Braj region where the Lathmar Holi is celebrated, is just as direct: in the Mahabharata, Krishna takes the feminine form of Mohini to marry the warrior Aravan before his sacrifice. Many hijras regard this transformation as the mythological origin of their own identity, and Aravan as a figure they revere.
A ritual role of blessing
Traditionally, hijras are invited to sing, dance and bestow blessings at births — particularly of boys — and weddings. Their blessings, known as badhai, are believed to bring good luck and fertility. Popular belief also attributes the opposite power to them: that of a curse, which earns them both respect and a certain amount of fear.
The community is organised into clans, known as gharanas, under the authority of maternal figures, the gurus. A newcomer — a chela — is initiated and protected by her guru, in exchange for learning the group’s rules and making a financial contribution.
Some choose, at a certain point in their journey, to undergo an initiation rite known as Nirwaan — a ritual castration, experienced as a spiritual rebirth dedicated to the goddess Bahuchara Mata. This choice is made by a minority and is by no means compulsory: many hijras live and identify fully with the community without ever undergoing it.
Recent recognition, persistent marginalisation
In 2014, the Supreme Court of India officially recognised the existence of a third gender — a decision followed by similar measures in Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, this legal recognition has not eradicated social marginalisation: excluded from the formal labour market and often from the education system, many hijras find themselves forced into informal work.
A presence at the festival
It is this very community that can be found, every year, in the temples of Braj during Lathmar Holi — in Nandgaon as well as in Barsana — where they occupy a ritual place, dancing amidst the crowd, surrounded by men, on a day when the usual gender boundaries are already blurring through the play of sticks and the exchange of costumes.