6585845159

The notion of shamelessness

Both hijras and widows, then, are perceived to be outside the reproducing hetero-sexual mainstream, and because death would be a morę welcome existence than life for those in such an unfortunate State, or so mainstream society thinks at any ratę, the destitute have nothing to lose through verbal defiance. As illustrated by a well-known epithet from Kabir (^r ^    £rt śfa #    <TtĘ wr

‘Do not torment the weak, their sigh is heavy; Breath from a bellows can re-duce iron to ashes’, the sigh of the weak, or in this case their “voice,” is thought to have the power to destroy the lives of those situated higher in the social hierarchy. Central to the hijras’ narratives is the idea that because their existence is merely tangential to the world of women and men, they are a people without śarm ‘shame’; that is, a people freed from the constraints of decency that regulate the rest of society. Sulekha identifies the lack of śarm not only as the primary trait that distinguishes hijras from women but also as the motivating factor behind their use of obscenity: