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Thread: Koovagam Festival 2012-India's Largest Hindu Celebration Of The Transgender Community

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    Koovagam Festival 2012-India's Largest Hindu Celebration Of The Transgender Community

    Story and pictures here.

    Every spring, thousands of hijras (as male-to-female transgender people are known in India), eunuchs and cross-dressers from all over India and neighboring countries flock to the southern Indian village of Koovagam, for Hindu festival celebrating transgender people.

    The two day festival at Koothandavar Temple is held in honor of the Hindu deity Aravan (also known as Iravan), who is believed to be the patron god of transgender communities.

    According to a Hindu legend, Aravan, the son of the Pandava Arjun, sacrificed himself to ensure the victory of the Pandava brothers against the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra war (subject of the Indian epic Mahabharata).

    Before he sacrificed himself, Aravan wished to marry a woman and spend the night with her. In order to fulfill Aravan's request, Lord Krishna transformed himself into the form of an attractive woman, Mohini. After Aravan sacrificed himself the next day, Mohini grieved like a widow, breaking her bangles and beating her breasts.

    The transgender devotees come each year to reenact the story of Aravan. In a symbolic ritual, the participants take on the role of Mohini and are married to Aravan by the temple priest. The next day they mourn Aravan's death by participating in ritualistic dances and breaking their bangles.

    In addition to the religious ceremony, the participants compete in beauty pageants and singing contests.

    The Koovagam festival is one among a number of festivals in India connected to the worship of gender-variant deities, that have traditionally been popular with Hindu devotees from across the LGBT spectrum. Some of the most famous ones are the Ayyappa and Chamayavillaku festivals in Kerala, the Bahuchara-mata festival in Gujarat and the Yellamma-devi festival in Karnataka.

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    Re: Koovagam Festival 2012-India's Largest Hindu Celebration Of The Transgender Commu

    Vannakkam wm: Thanks for sharing this story. It highlights our tolerance so nicely. The world has a tolerance school on her footsteps. Siva is truly in all.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Koovagam Festival 2012-India's Largest Hindu Celebration Of The Transgender Commu

    Namaste.

    There is a paragraph from The Handbook of Sri Vaishavism of Sri Ramanujacharya. I do not know if this is in his own words, or it is a compilation of his writings:

    Homosexuality
    On the subject of sex and life styles it needs to be mentioned that homosexuality which is a major obsession with the "Abrahamic coalition" (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and the focus of many social and politico-religious agendas in the West and which attracts endless invective and hatred is a non-event in Srivaishnavism. None of the acharyas have ever considered the topic important enough to discuss. So for a Srivaishnava position on the subject we need to take another look at the Scriptures which inform us that there are three types of births;-

    The jiva is blinded by ignorance; sometimes it is embodied as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a homosexual. According to its deeds and the nature it acquires thereby, it may be born as a deva, a human or a beast. -Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.29.

    According to the Dharma, homosexuals (both male and female) are born as such and cannot be "converted" from heterosexuality. There is no conscious choice in the matter of sexuality - it is determined by ones Karma. The question of evil or wickedness does not arise in the case of natural disposition. The victimisation, discrimination or ostracization of homosexuals is wrong and contradicts the teachings of the dharma. The acharyas have never addressed this issue, and none of the law givers have made a big deal about it. In fact there is no mention of homosexuality in any of the catalogues of sins that one finds in the Puranas. It is a matter of no consequence and not worthy of any serious mental expenditure. The general guidelines of the Dharma regulating relationships and social activities apply to homosexuals as well.
    Moreover, Hinduism Today has an op-ed by Anantanand Rambachan about same-sex marriage: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules...hp?itemid=5294

    This all underscores what I've gathered from my limited understanding of Hindu scriptures: there is no theological basis for the condemnation of homosexuality, bisexuality or transexuality in Hinduism. What I further gather is that like any other human desires, sexuality in any form can divert a jiva from its path to God if taken to an extreme.
    śivasya hridayam viṣṇur viṣṇoscha hridayam śivaḥ

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    Re: Koovagam Festival 2012-India's Largest Hindu Celebration Of The Transgender Commu

    namaste

    The jiva is blinded by ignorance; sometimes it is embodied as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a homosexual. According to its deeds and the nature it acquires thereby, it may be born as a deva, a human or a beast. -Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.29
    With all due respect I have to disagree with the translation and if the translation is correct then with the Bhagavatam itself. I have never heard English used in such a way "embodied as a man, sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a homosexual." Is not a homosexual already a man or a woman? If it is a third gender then is a person who has attraction to neither men nor women a fourth gender? If so then is a person who has attraction to both men and women a fifth gender?

    In fact there is no mention of homosexuality in any of the catalogues of sins that one finds in the Puranas.
    In fact the Garuda Purana does make mention of homosexual activity and condemns it as something which leads to an inauspicious rebirth.

    According to the Dharma, homosexuals (both male and female) are born as such and cannot be "converted" from heterosexuality. There is no conscious choice in the matter of sexuality - it is determined by one’s Karma.
    Putting aside the many claims of people who claim to have "converted" from homosexuality to heterosexuality and now live in happy marriages,
    Dr. Alfred Kinsey who performed in-depth studies of human sexuality "avoided and disapproved of using terms like homosexual or heterosexual to describe individuals, asserting that sexuality is prone to change over time, and that sexual behavior can be understood both as physical contact as well as purely psychological phenomena (desire, sexual attraction, fantasy)." Further he concluded "that both men's and women's sexuality seemed shaped, not merely repressed, by social and cultural forces." - wikipedia ... Therefore I conclude that human sexuality can be very fluid and regardless of our vasanas free will (which can be influenced by environment, culture and spiritual teaching) has a role to play.

    Hari Aum
    Last edited by R Gitananda; 23 September 2012 at 11:00 PM.
    With our ears may we hear what is good.
    With our eyes may we behold thy righteousness.
    Tranquil in body, may we who worship thee find rest.

    AUM Peace Peace Peace

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