{"id":17875,"date":"2018-03-20T09:08:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ilgrandecolibri.com\/?p=17875"},"modified":"2019-02-02T14:37:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T13:37:33","slug":"indian-lgbt-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ilgrandecolibri.com\/en\/indian-lgbt-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian LGBT Literature – from Mahabharata to the Present"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may seem strange to recognize a LGBTQIA literary panorama in India. Yet, this topic has not only been the subject of many contemporary works, but it takes root in the literary tradition and Indian philosophy: the Indian traditional literature is so ripe with sexually ambiguous characters<\/strong> and gender variance that this could suggest the existence of a third gender and the co-existence of many sexual identities.<\/p>\n

Hindu\u00a0Classics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take the case of Mahabharata, the Indian epic masterpiece: in one of the fantastic episodes of the poem, Arjuna, the main hero, is cursed to spend a year of his life as a eunuch<\/strong>, and is transformed into Brihannala, a music and dance teacher. This is not the only episode where Arjuna undergoes sex-change. In the Padma Purana \u2013one of the texts from the Sanskrit tradition\u2013 Arjuna, after inquiring Krishna about the nature of the Gopis (Khrisna’s faithful shepherdesses), embarks on a long and windy journey among meditation, Tantric yoga and prayer until his rebirth in the body of a woman called Arjuni.<\/p>\n

Writer Ruth Vanita<\/strong> collected these texts, putting this phenomenon in chronological order. “I have studied in India for all my life,<\/em>” says she, “but nobody has ever made any reference, at university or at school, to all this queer world. I started wondering how strange this was, so I made research on my own<\/em>.” As a result of her work, Ruth Vanita published “Same-Sex Love in India” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2000, 396 p.) with Saleem Kidwai, that collects LGBT stories from the Mahavharata to Kama Sutra, up to the 20th century.<\/p>\n

In the same vein, Devdutt Patnaik<\/strong>, Indian mythology scholar, published collections such as “The Man who Was a Woman and Other Queer Tales from Hindu Lore” (Routledge, 2001, 196 p.) and “Shikhandi and Other Tales They don’t Tell You” (Zubaan Books, 2015, 192 p).<\/p>\n

Nationalism\u00a0and\u00a0Censorship<\/strong><\/p>\n

After mentioning the queer world in the ancient Indian literature, here some examples from the public debate on the cusp of the 20th century: although homophobia is not measurable in the Indian tradition, it is still possible to observe diverse currents of opinion regarding various aspects of living.\u00a0Condemning homosexuality as unnatural and against nature is much more the prerogative of Judaeo-Christian environment, whereas in the Hindu world, it is considered as a mere impure act<\/strong> (not unlike other things).<\/p>\n

For\u00a0this\u00a0reason, in the\u00a0context\u00a0of\u00a0reworking\u00a0the national\u00a0identity\u00a0that\u00a0was\u00a0forming\u00a0within\u00a0the new India, literature\u00a0was\u00a0subject\u00a0to severe\u00a0censorship<\/strong>\u00a0by the supporters of nationalist\u00a0movements.\u00a0What\u00a0was\u00a0part of the\u00a0past\u00a0was\u00a0considered\u00a0decadent\u00a0and\u00a0backward.\u00a0Therefore, in the process of collecting literary works and constituting an “Indian literature”, many texts were despised and censored.<\/p>\n

During\u00a0those\u00a0years,\u00a0no\u00a0real\u00a0party to support the LGBTQIA community was constituted, nor any sexual liberation movement. Two ways of thinking emerged instead:\u00a0the first one was openly opposed to addressing any kind of homosexuality or erotic related topic, the second one was in favour of the fact that literature must deal with LGBTQIA-related themes, but only to eradicate such “practices”<\/strong> from the society of that time.<\/p>\n

Gays and Bisex in Early\u00a019th<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u00a0was\u00a0thanks\u00a0to new\u00a0means\u00a0of\u00a0communication\u00a0like\u00a0the press and commercial publishing that many censored topics were\u00a0brought\u00a0to the public.\u00a0For\u00a0instance,\u00a0Becan\u00a0Sarma,\u00a0called\u00a0“Ugr”<\/strong> (Extreme), had the opportunity to publish eight\u00a0of\u00a0his\u00a0stories\u00a0which\u00a0took\u00a0the\u00a0collective\u00a0title\u00a0of “Caklet” (Chocolate) on Matvala (Boh\u00e9mien) magazine. Ugr\u00a0was\u00a0among\u00a0those\u00a0who\u00a0aimed\u00a0to\u00a0denounce\u00a0homosexuality\u00a0in\u00a0order\u00a0to eradicate it from society, but his stories did not exclusively deal with gay characters: the author distinguished himself from others of his time as one of the first to clearly represent the violent dynamics within the family and child abuse from the victim’s point of view.<\/p>\n

The only author who took a stance against the obscurantism of the twentieth century was Suryakant Tripathi Nirala<\/strong>, who wrote a funny autobiographical account, “Kulli Bhat”: it is the story of the scholar Kulli Bhat. Besides courting the author, Bhat also entertains a love affair with a Muslim woman.\u00a0Suryakant\u00a0<\/span>was not the only one dealing with a bisexual character. In 1957, “Ek Sarak Sattavan Galiyam” (A street, fifty-seven lanes) is published, by Kamlesvar: in this short novel, a bisexual truck driver divides his erotic-love living between a traditional Indian dancer and the young truck cleaning man.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0repression\u00a0of\u00a0lesbianism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much smaller was the literature about lesbian and hijra women (people born in a male body, but who feel they belong to a “third sex” and adopt typically feminine gestures and clothing). The former became a minority within the minority.\u00a0Often\u00a0condemned\u00a0by the community to which they belonged, they were also victim of public derision\u00a0and, in some\u00a0cases, finger amputation. Lesbianism was represented as a phase, as a behaviour to stop via\u00a0sexual penetration and\u00a0consequent\u00a0pregnancy, or as a sort of rebellion against the patriarchal society.\u00a0For lesbian women of that time -though this is not so distant from today’s reality- the only solution was double suicide<\/strong>, as it has been widely documented.<\/p>\n

It is easy to imagine that most\u00a0of the stories\u00a0that\u00a0dealt\u00a0with\u00a0lesbianism\u00a0were censored. Only one famous Urdu tale, “Lihaaf” (“The\u00a0blanket”) by\u00a0Ismat\u00a0Chughtai, set in a\u00a0traditional\u00a0Muslim\u00a0house, survived the censorship\u00a0and was muted into a play thanks\u00a0to the\u00a0Tricycle\u00a0group.\u00a0Ismat Cugtai was prosecuted for the obscenity of his work, but not only did she win the case, she also made his work even more famous. In fact, the short story was not strictly about sexual preferences, but explored the perversions and repressed fantasies<\/strong> in the very respectable environment of the nobility.<\/p>\n

Things Have Changed Since\u00a0the 70s<\/strong><\/p>\n

A growing\u00a0interest\u00a0in gay\u00a0studies\u00a0flourished in the ’70s which helped to\u00a0change\u00a0the\u00a0obscurantist\u00a0mood and\u00a0to shed\u00a0light on the LGBTQIA scene. In 1978, the first\u00a0Indian study about homosexuality<\/strong> was published by Shakuntala Devi.\u00a0It threw a first glimpse of light on the issue and opened the door to increasingly flourishing research of queer anthropology. In the 90s, a slow but promising rebirth of the LGBT narrative literature can be observed:\u00a0finally\u00a0free\u00a0from a mix of Victorian values and nationalistic norms, a number of\u00a0authors developed a new approach\u00a0based\u00a0on\u00a0the equality\u00a0and the\u00a0natural condition of homosexual and non-homosexual relationships.<\/p>\n

Braham Sing, author of “Bombay Swastika” (Om Books International, 2017, 400 p.), -a thriller between Nazi Berlin and Bombay- says in an interview: “Mine is not a book on homosexuality, but a book in which a homosexual character intervenes in the most absolute normality<\/strong>, as part of history, as part of the world.\u00a0 I\u00a0grew\u00a0up\u00a0with\u00a0a gay\u00a0brother\u00a0and for me, relating to a\u00a0different sexuality is\u00a0like\u00a0dealing\u00a0with a glaring and always existent part of society.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0author adds\u00a0a personal\u00a0reflection\u00a0on\u00a0how\u00a0much\u00a0the\u00a0Hindus\u00a0ignore\u00a0most\u00a0of the sacred and ancient texts: they know some stories,\u00a0but\u00a0they\u00a0have\u00a0never\u00a0actually\u00a0read\u00a0them. The\u00a0same\u00a0applies\u00a0to\u00a0the Muslims: “Colonial\u00a0and\u00a0Puritan\u00a0attitudes\u00a0and Victorian\u00a0notions\u00a0about\u00a0sin and guilt are still dominant. In fact, those Indians who read Urdu\u00a0rarely\u00a0read\u00a0eighteenth\u00a0or\u00a0nineteenth\u00a0century\u00a0literature in detail. If they did, they would find a large\u00a0majority\u00a0of\u00a0Muslim\u00a0poets<\/strong>\u00a0who\u00a0openly write\u00a0about\u00a0cross-sex,\u00a0homosexual\u00a0love and\u00a0homoerotic\u00a0attraction.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/p>\n

In conclusion, this\u00a0brief\u00a0historical\u00a0excursus across the LGBTQI literature in India can\u00a0lead\u00a0to a reflection that does not differ\u00a0much\u00a0from the situation of\u00a0many\u00a0other\u00a0nations,\u00a0including\u00a0Italy.\u00a0If\u00a0everyone had to read and inquire about history, literature and –\u00a0why\u00a0not? – on\u00a0religious\u00a0texts, we are\u00a0sure\u00a0there\u00a0would\u00a0be a lot to think about.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong>:<\/em>
\n– Consolaro, Alessandra. La Prosa nella Cultura Letteraria Hindi dell\u2019India Coloniale e Postcoloniale. Torino: Libreria Stampatori Torino, 2011. <\/em>
\n– Vanita, Ruth and Saleem Kidwai. Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History. England: Palgrave, 2001. <\/em>
\n– Devi, Shakuntala. The World of Homosexuals. New Delhi: Bell Books\/Vikas Publishing House, 1978.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dhevan<\/strong>
\ntranslation by Christopher Mitoli<\/strong>
\n\u00a92017 Il Grande Colibr\u00ec<\/p>\n

Erratum:<\/strong> in a previous version of the text, Ismat Chughtai was wrongly identified with male pronouns.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read also:<\/strong><\/p>\n

India, LGBTs in childrens’ books: interview to Dhar<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n