July 30, 2004

Magical Stories of the Hijras. In India, 100,000 hijra eunuchs are a caste unto themselves. [Via Disinformation.]
posted by homunculus 20 years ago
  • Nice!
  • Passing strange ...
  • long been fascinated by the "third gender". nice article; thanks.
  • The first time I saw a hijra character in Indian film was briefly in Mani Ratnam's Bombay. Twin boys raised to identify as both Muslim and Hindu get separated from their parents during the riots following the 1992 destruction of Babri Mosque and find shelter with a sympathetically portrayed hijra until they are reunited. This post also reminds me of The Invisibles, A Tale of the Eunuchs of India by Zia Jaffrey*, which I heard about a few years ago and wanted to read, but I never did get around to that. *If the name sounds familiar to you, maybe it's because she's related to these three Jaffreys.
  • ehhh.. this romantices them quite a lot.