Abul Kalam Azad / photographer

Third GendEr
physiological males who have feminine gender identity

Third gender / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 60''x60'' pigment print 2011

In the culture of South India, 'Third Gender' are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, adopt feminine gender roles and wear women's clothing in public. In my nearby town Koovagam (Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu), every year there is a festival dedicated to Lord Iravan. Epically, Iravan is a minor character from the Hindu epic of Mahabharata. Iravan is the son of Pandava prince Arjuna (one of the main heroes of the Mahabharata) and the Naga princess Ullupi. Iravan is the central god of the cult of Kuttantavar and Draupadi. Both these Ancient Dravidian cults are of South Indian origin. In Koovagam village he is worshipped as a village deity and is known as Aravan. He is also a patron god of well-known transgender communities called Ali or Aravani in South India and Hijra throughout South Asia.

Iravan agrees to become the sacrificial victim for the Kalappali ("sacrifice to the battlefield") to ensure the victory of the Pandavas, his father and his uncles. Before being sacrificed to goddess Kali, Aravan asks three boons from Krishna, the guide of the Pandavas. The third boon was that Aravan should be married before the sacrifice so that he could get the right of cremation and funerary offerings (bachelors were buried). To fulfill this wish in the Kuttantavar cult myth, Krishna turns into Mohini, marries Aravan, and spends the night with him. Then after the sacrifice, Mohini laments Aravan's death, breaking her bangles, beating her breasts and discarding her bridal finery. She then returns to the original form of Krishna. The legend of the marriage of Aravan and Krishna in his female form as Mohini and Mohini-Krishna's widowhood after Aravan's sacrifice, forms the central theme of an eighteen-day annual festival in the Tamil month of Cittirai (April–May) at Koovagam. The marriage ceremony is re-enacted by transgender hijras, who play the role of Mohini-Krishna.

These portraits are from this ancient Kuttantavar cult ritual of the Aravanis. The reunion of thousands of cult leaders and their members, cross dressers, transgenders and their lovers amidst the crowding / competing agents, clients, devotees, social workers, doctors, police, traders and also the presence of countless perverted / frustrated / aspiring spectators, occur at the open paddy fields adjoining a traditional, conservative farming hamlet.

It is spectacular to watch hectares of paddy fields converted to a sex fair. Freely, fearlessly man marry man or man marry a third gender or man marry a Mohini. The grand celebration of the marriage followed by dance, music, sacrifice, love, sex, ecstasy, sorrow and widowhood is performed in a highly dramatic way.

I am dramatized by this whole ritual and practice, but what touches me most is the joy and honesty of the people who practice this Ancient cult. I am thankful to my people and my culture for this encouraging and protective perspective of the Third Genders. To me, this ancient practice is progressive and advanced. Having experienced this whenever I look at these people in my every day life, I consider them as Third genders.

Third gender / photography © Abul Kalam Azad / 60''x60'' pigment print 2011