9058009525

Introduction

The hijras occupy a marginalized position in the Indian social matrix, as their ambiguous gender identity provokes conflicting feelings of awe and contempt. Discussed variously in the anthro pological literaturę as ‘transvestites’, ‘eunuchs’, ‘hermaphrodites’, and even ‘a third gender’,² most of India’s hijras were raised as boys before taking up residence in one of the many hijra commu-nities which exist in almost every region of India. Since the late 1980s, several European and American cultural theorists (e.g. Nanda 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, Bullough and Bullough 1993) have pointed to the visibility of the hijra in Indian society in order to suggest the cultural possibility of a morę liberating, non-dichoto-mous organization of gender. Indeed, the hijras’ livelihood is contingent upon their inextricable position in the social structure; according to tradition, they are expected to sing and dance at births and weddings, where they are rewarded with gifts of clothes, jew-ellery, and money.