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Marginalized both socially and spatially, the hijras¹ have created an elaborate network that spans all of India, establishing a divergent social space that both parallels and opposes organizations of gender in the dichotomous system that excłudes them. Discussed variously in the anthropological literaturę as “transves-tites“eunuchs“hermaphrodites,” and even “a third sex,”² most of India s hijras were raised as boys before taking up residence in one of the many hijra commu-nities that exist in almost every region of India. In addition to appropriating feminine dress and mannerisms, many hijras take małe partners and choose to undergo a ritualized castration and penectomy operation. Although relatively untouched by police jurisdiction, hijras across the country have divided them-selves according to municipal police divisions, in accordance with the demarca-tion of districts in mainstream society. They elect their own council of elders to settle group disputes, referred to as pancayats, who rule over a select group of hijra communities within a particular region. They have regional meetings as well: simply through word of mouth, tens of thousands of hijras have been known to converge on a single area. Hijras in North India can now travel free of charge on government trains,³ knowing upon arrival in any new city precisely where to go for hijra company. The extraordinary factor at work here is that the estimated 1.2 million hijras now living in India (Hindustan Times 1994; Shrivas-tav 1986)⁴ constitute a culture so diverse that all of India s myriad social and lin-