Copyright: Harish Trivedi © 2009
Warning: Some readers may consider the contents of this aricle inappropriate.
Homosexuality has been practiced practically all across the world – including India since time immemorial. In some cultures it has been considered as an accepted form of behavior.
India, and indeed, most cultures of the East, had a very liberal attitude towards such matters. Love for a man for a boy was prevalent in ancient Greece. During the time of the Roman Empire and some Arab cultures have made no distinction between sex with a woman and sexual relations with a man or a boy.
The Victorian times effectively put an end to all open conversations about sexuality, despite the fact that those were the most debauch times in Europe.
Post independent India had behaved like an ostrich, with its head buried in the sand of prudish propriety when it came to the subject of homosexual practices.
India has followed, first the strictures imposed by the Laws of Manu and then the laws enacted by the British Raj during the colonial times. It has been illegal in India since 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.” Its detractors have long viewed the law, known as Section 377 of Indian Penal Code, as an archaic holdover from colonialism.
But all that changed when homosexuality as a topic of human rights and acceptable human behavior was brought out in open when nine years ago gay activist groups in India filed a case in Delhi. And after nine years the historic decision came on July 2nd of this year when the Delhi court ruled that effectively decriminalized homosexual practices in India.
“The inclusiveness that Indian society traditionally displayed, literally in every aspect of life, is manifest in recognizing a role in society for everyone,” judges of the Delhi High Court wrote in a 105-page decision, India’s first to directly address rights for gay men and lesbians. “Those perceived by the majority as ‘deviants’ or ‘different’ are not on that score excluded or ostracized,” the decision said.
The decision was not received well by all the segments of the India’s poly-ethnic and multi-religious society.
Following the Delhi court’s decision a group of Sikh and Hindu activists staged a demonstration in the national capital to protest the Delhi High Court’s recent verdict on Article 377.
The Shahi Imam of Punjab, Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, at a press conference said that homosexual relations were not approved by any religion. He also said that the Europe and US were intentionally trying to spread homosexuality in India. Mercifully he did not use the word the Great Satan or issue a fatwa against the ruling judges of the court.
In view of this development it is worthwhile to put the whole subject of sexual practices, including homosexual practices in India in a historic context.
The reference to sexual practices in ancient India could be roughly divided in to a) the Vedic period, b) the post Vedic period and the time of compilation of Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu, c) the Kama Sutra period, d) the era of erotic sculptures across India and the official ban imposed by the colonial government or the British Raj when it enacted the Indian Penal Code in 1861.
a) The Vedic period:
In these temple sculptures the women in ancient India appear to be uninhibited and very much aware of their femininity or so the statuettes leads us to believe. The Vedic philosophy that is the basis of the present Indian culture was very well spelled out in the four Vedas and subsequent treatises. But nowhere in this voluminous works the subject of same sex marriage or homosexual relations has been explicitly discussed, defined or denounced.
The Indian mythology on the other hand has depicted Gods changing their sex or gender at will, often for sexual purposes. Lord Krishna has done it, and the sagely Brahma is known to have taken the female form. Such fusion of gender in Hindu scriptures is based on unique philosophy of cosmic creation. Wendy Doniger of University of Chicago writing about Bisexuality in the Mythology of Ancient India says, “Hindu texts call into question our own gender conceptions; they tell us that desire for bisexual pleasure and the wish to belong to both sexes at the same time are very real…. Many myths bear witness to the existential perception of human beings as bisexual and to active bisexual transformations. Some may show the desire to be androgynous and, contrary to the dominant homophobic paradigm, present veiled images of a bisexuality fulfilled in happiness and satisfaction” Episodes depicted in Indian mythology particularly those related to Shiva and Parvati …illustrate this carefree, joyous way of crossing the gender barrier. -Diogenes, Vol. 52, No. 4, 50-60 (2005)
Such depictions in the Indian mythology suggest that sex; change of sex or varied sexual practices was not a taboo in ancient India.
b) Manu Smriti or the Laws of Manu:
A range of historical opinion generally dates composition of the text any time between 200 BCE and 200 CE. After the breakdown of the Maurya and Shunga empires, there was a period of uncertainty that led to renewed interest in traditional social norms. According to some scholars the strict prohibition and severity of the treatises such as Manu Smriti and subsequent commentary on the same was a result of insecurity of the orthodox Vedic preachers and parishioners in a period that was in historic transition.
The Manu Smriti – The Code or Law of Manu - was written as the words of the original creator, the Supreme Creator “Brahmā”. By attributing the words to supernatural forces, the text takes on an authoritative tone as a statement on Dharma (meaning Duty or Responsibility), in opposition to previous texts in the field, which were more scholarly. The eighteen Titles of Law or Grounds for Litigation make up more than one fifth of the work and it deals primarily with matters of the king, state, and judicial procedure.
The Manu Smriti, lists the oldest codes of conduct that were to be followed by a Hindu does refer to homosexual practices, but only as in its regulation. There were punishments, ranging from what could be described as very mild, to slightly harsher punishments, but interesting nonetheless. For instance if a mature woman was found having a lesbian relationship with a young girl, the punishment for older woman was immediately shaving of her head or two of her fingers were to be cut off, and she was made to ride on a donkey.
There are no kind words for a male homosexual either, but the severity is much less.
"Causing an injury to a priest, smelling wine or things that are not to be smelled, crookedness, and sexual union with a man are traditionally said to cause loss of caste" And: "If a man has shed his semen in non-human females (meaning animals or beasts), in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the 'Painful Heating' vow." This meant he would have to drink a mixture of "cow's urine, cow dung, milk, yogurt, melted butter, water infused with sacrificial grass, and a fast of one night". Compared to what the woman would have to go through, this is definitely less severe. Perhaps this skewed treatment was due to the fact that most religious orders, had homosexuals in their members, whether acknowledged or unacknowledged. The punishment for a homosexual priest would, therefore, is much milder than say, an erring woman. Besides, Manu Smriti is the same scripture that has stated that the status of woman in the society is the same (or even lower than) that of a man’s land, his cattle and other possessions. It would be safe to say that a man or a group of men composed Manu Smriti.
Manu Smrti - Laws of Manu – pertaining to Homosexuality:
Chapter VIII
Verse 369: A damsel who pollutes (another) damsel must be fined two hundred (panas the prevalent currency), pay the double of her (nuptial) fee, and receive ten lashes.
Verse 370: A woman who pollutes a damsel shall instantly have (her head) shaved
or two fingers cut off, and shall be made to ride (through the town) on a donkey.
Chapter XI
Rules or Laws pertaining to a male offender:
Verse 67: Stealing grain, base metals, or cattle, intercourse with women who drink spirituous liquor, slaying women were considered only minor offences that caused loss of caste.
Verse 175: A twice-born man – meaning a Brahmin who commits an unnatural offence with a male, or has intercourse with a female in a cart drawn by oxen, in water, or in the day-time, shall bathe, dressed in his clothes.
In matters sexual, there were no stiff penalties for offending men during the time of Manu Smriti.
c) The era of Kama Sutra:
It is generally believed that India is the country that gave humanity the first, most scientific and most explicit treatise of love in the form of Kama Sutra. The authorship is attributed to one Mallanga Vatsyayana.
Mallanaga was a holy man, a seer, and a sage and lived primarily a religious life. Other than this scant information, not much is known about this sage Mallanaga Vatsyayana.
At one time the scholars believed that Kama Sutra was composed sometime between the 6th century B.C. and the 6th century A.D. (the Gupta Period in Indian civilization) - a very wide berth of time - but recent evidence indicates that Vatsyayana wrote the Kama Sutra around 150 B.C.
Based on references to 1st Century historical figures in the Kama Sutra, and on references to the Kama Sutra in early 5th Century works, some historians and anthropologists maintain that the Sutra was composed sometime between the 1st and 4th Centuries A.D.
Historian John Keay says that the Kama Sutra was collected into its present form in the second century CE
But for the purposes of present discussion we have a fairly good idea of the time frame during which this mammoth work was compiled.
Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "A Treatise on Kama" is attributed to Nandi - the sacred bull, God Shiva's doorkeeper, who overheard the sacred utterances of Shiva while Shiva was making love to his wife - goddess Parvati The bull Nandi later recorded Shiva’s sacred and profound utterances for the benefit of mankind.
The Mallanaga Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra has 1250 verses, distributed in 36 chapters, which are further organized into 7 parts. Kama means "love, pleasure, and the life of the senses" and a Sutra is a group of aphorisms - short, pithy sayings. The Kama Sutra is recognized as the true surviving text of the original Kama Shastra.
The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text which is considered the primary Sanskrit work on human sexuality. Although Sir Richard Burton edited and published this very first English translation, he was not the main translator.
Burton had studied Sanskrit language, but he had not mastered it. He had assigned the translation of the primary text of Kama Sutra to two Sanskrit scholars from Bombay - Mr. Bhagwanlal Indraji who was an archeologist, numismatist and a linguist and Mr. Shivram Parshuram Bhide a student of Sanskrit language and a scholar. Burton also took assistance of his associate and a Civil Servant Forster Fitzgerald Arhuthnot.
Bhagwanlal and Shivram consulted four available manuscripts of Kama Sutra, compared the texts and used the text that seemed most authentic from all the available copies. Burton compared all the three translations, re-wrote the text to maintain consistency of language, provided footnotes and a preface to the final work. The first edition was published in 1883.
It should be noted here that Bhagwanlal Indraji worked for Dr. Bhau Daji Lad of Bombay. He helped Dr. Bhau Daji with translations of edicts discovered in Sopara (situated a little north of Bombay) and he also translated inscriptions on many of the coins that he had discovered during his excavations in various parts of India. Based on this Dr. Bhau Daji wrote various articles for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and Numismatics magazines. Dr. Bhau Daji also collected some rare Sanskrit manuscripts of various treatises and sent it to the noted Orientalist Max Muller – who incidentally never visited India. (Source: The Biography of Dr. Bhau Daji titled Dr. Bhau Daji: Vyakti Kaal Va Kartrutva by A. K. Prioker in Marathi language).
Kama Sutra, Chapter IX: Homosexuality
The Kama Sutra specifies that two [male] citizens might have reciprocal (sexual) relations with one another (2.9.36).
Given the emphasis placed on distinctions of gender, caste, or age in all relationships between a man and a woman in the context of Vedic preaching, the above passage creates a mystery because it does not say anything about caste or age of the men in homoerotic relationship. Perhaps there was some complex set of norms that were to be applied in certain circumstances.
Sex Between Women
The Kama Sutra (2.8) also describes "virile sexual behavior in women." Whether this chapter refers to female homoeroticism (as opposed to women sitting on top of men), is controversial. In a later passage (5.6.2), however, the text clearly describes gender-differentiated sex between royal women and their female-to-male cross-dressed servants. The commentary (2.9.36) also mentions female-female oral sex, conducted in the privacy of harems or quarters restricted to women in other households.
Kama Sutra says that The Auparishtaka (fellatio) was also practiced by unchaste and wanton women, female attendants and maids - those who were single and not married to anybody, but who lived by working as maids.
The Acharyas (i.e. ancient and venerable authors) are of opinion that this Auparishtaka is the work of a dog and not of a man, because it is a low practice, and opposed to the orders of the Holy Writ, and because the man himself suffers by bringing his lingam into contact with the mouths of eunuchs and women. But Vatsyayana says that the orders of the Holy Writ do not affect those who resort to courtesans, and the law prohibits the practice of the Auparishtaka with married women only. As regards the injury to the male, that can be easily remedied.
Tritiya-Prakriti or People of the “Third Sex”
There are two kinds of eunuchs, those that are disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females. Eunuchs disguised as females imitate their dress, speech, gestures, tenderness, timidity, simplicity, softness and bashfulness. The acts that are done on the jaghana or middle parts of women are done in the mouths of these eunuchs, and this is called Auparishtaka. These eunuchs derive their imaginable pleasure, and their livelihood from this kind of congress, and they lead the life of courtesans. So much concerning eunuchs disguised as females.
Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret, and when they wish to do anything they lead the life of shampooers. Under the pretence of shampooing, a eunuch of this kind embraces and draws towards himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after this he touches the joints of his thighs and his jaghana, or central portions of his body. Then, if he finds the lingam of the man erect, he presses it with his hands and chaffs him for getting into that state. If after this, and after knowing his intention, the man does not tell the eunuch to proceed, then the latter does it of his own accord and begins the congress. If however he is ordered by the man to do it, then he disputes with him, and only consents at last with difficulty.|
The following eight things are then done by the eunuch one after the other:
The nominal congress, Biting the sides, Pressing outside, Pressing inside, Kissing, Rubbing, Sucking a mango fruit, Swallowing up…
'The male servants of some men carry on the mouth congress with their masters. Some citizens, who know each other well, also practice it. Some women of the harem, when they are amorous, do the acts of the mouth on the yonis of one another, and some men do the same thing with women. The way of doing this (i.e. of kissing the yoni) is similar to kissing on the mouth.
d) The era of erotic and homoerotic sculptures in the temple carvings of Khajurao, Puri and Thanjuvar:
The temple carvings of Khajuraho in central India and Jagganath Puri temples in the state of Orissa in eastern India or the temple architecture of Thanjuvar in the South India is full of very explicit depiction of a variety of sexual activities and homosexual acts that could be considered outlandish, bizarre or bold depending upon one’s view on the subject of sexuality. The sculptures of long limbed big bosomed women in a variety of sexual activities including same sex acts, sexual intercourse between men and women, men and men and humans and animals…all is boldly depicted in these temple carvings, they leave nothing to imagination. What really takes one’s breath away is the sheer quantity of sexual positions that have been put on those walls.
Khajuraho temples were constructed between 950 and 1050 A.D. during the reign of Chandel Empire. The construction of the current Jagannath temple was initiated by the ruler of Kalinga, Anantavarman Chodaganga Dev (1078 - 1148 CE) - during the 12th century. The Jagamohana and the Vimana portions of the temple were built during his reign. But it was only in the year 1174 CE that the Orissan ruler Ananga Bhima Deva rebuilt the temple to give a shape in which it stands today.
From the above chronology it appears that sexual practices in India in general and laws prohibiting certain sexual activities in particular went through many attitudinal changes. People who shout and tout the erotic and homoerotic sculptures at Khajurao and Puri temples as examples of liberal attitudes towards sex seem to ignore the historic variations in the sexual attitudes of people and law givers in India during various periods of time in history.
The Khajurao type sexual liberalism blossomed only after the Manu Smriti stipulations against homosexual practices and in effect may be a result of too many restrictions on homosexual and sexual activities among consenting adults in India. It would be erroneous to think or say that the whole Indian subcontinent was awash with unbridled sexual romp during the historic period that is cited above.
The Indian Penal Code was enacted in 1861 (that criminalized homosexual activities in India) and the first English translation of Kama Sutra was published in 1883. Among other topics dealing with human sexuality, Kama Sutra also gave a detailed description of various homosexual acts.
The India Penal Code also was instrumental in ending the sexually promiscuous and abhorrent practices by the Vaishnav Gurus in Bombay. In the famous libel case against the Vaishnav Maharaj, that came to be known as the Maharaj Libel Case, the Bombay Court rejected the defense by the Vaishnav Maharaj that his sexual activities were sanctioned by his ‘religion’ and dismissed the case against the publisher Karsondas Mooljee of the publication Satya Prakash that published the account of Jadunathjee Maharaj, the chief of the Vaishnav sect in Bombay.
During much of the 19th century and possibly prior to that all kind of sexual practices were prevalent in India. According to Sir Richard Burton, General Charles Napier who was worried that his troops were patronizing the brothels in Karachi asked Burton to investigate the rumors about the brothels. Burton in his report concluded that there were three brothels in the port city of Karachi (now in Pakistan) “in which not women but boys and eunuchs… lay for hire”. He listed the prices and services that were offered to the customers. Burton noted in his report that the boys cost twice as much as the eunuchs because - “the scrotum of the unmutilated boy could be used as a kind of bridle for directing the movement of the animal”. The report was sent to Bombay and Napier was asked to dismiss young Richard Burton. This whole episode could be found described in numerous biographies of Sir Richard Burton. Burrton’s report was censored by the wounded sensibilities of the officials of the British Empire.
Burrton’s writings published during the 19th century throw much light on the sexual and homosexual practices around the world and perhaps that is what provoked the enactment of so-called prudish Victorian laws.
In the Terminal Essay of The Arabian Nights, 1885, Burton outlined his theory of a "Sotadic Zone" where homosexuality/pederasty flourished. According to Burton the Sotadic Zone included most of the Mediterranean countries, the Middle East, China, Japan, the islands of the South Seas and North and South America, the northern cost of Africa particularly Morocco, Tunis, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
Burton further notes, ‘Subsequent enquiries in many and distant countries enabled me to arrive at the following conclusions:
“Running eastward the Sotadic Zone narrows, embracing Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Chaldaea, Afghanistan, Sind, the Punjab and Kashmir.
“Beyond India, I have stated, the Sotadic Zone begins to broaden out, embracing all China, Turkistan and Japan. The Chinese, as far as we know them in the great cities, are omnivorous and omnifutuentes: they are the chosen people of debauchery, and their systematic bestiality with ducks, goats, and other animals is equalled only by their pederasty...
According to Burton the Sotadic Zone extended to South Sea Islands and the New World where, at the time of its discovery, Sotadic love was, with some exceptions, an established racial institution.
“Passing over to America we find that the Sotadic Zone contains the whole hemisphere from Behring's Straits to Magellan's... In California the first missionaries found the same practice, the youths being called Joya... (Burton)
The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton: Fawn McKay Brodie, 1984.
Fawn McKay Brodie in her biography of Burton The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton - refers to twenty-five pederastic terms Burton has quoted in one of which we find, “A favourite Persian punishment for strangers caught in the harem or gynaeceum is to strip and throw them and expose them to the embraces of the grooms and Negro-slaves. I once asked a Shirazi how penetration was possible if the patient resisted with all the force of the sphincter muscle: he smiled and said, ‘Ah, we Persians know a trick to get over that; we apply a sharpened tent-peg to the crupper-bone (or coccyges) and knock till he opens.’”
On the subject of homosexuality in England and Europe Fawn McKay again quotes Burton (page 307) – “In our modern capitals, London, Berlin and Paris for instance, the Vice seems subject to periodical outbreaks. For many hears, also England sent her pederasts to Italy, and especially to Naples whence originate the term ‘Il vizio Inglese’” Berlin, “is not a whit better than her neighbours… Paris is by no means more depraved than Berlin and London; but, whilst the later hushes up the scandal, Frenchmen do not; hence we see a more copious account of it submitted to the public.”
Burton is further quoted as saying, “A friend knowledgeable in such matters had informed me that many distinguished men of the pat had been homosexuals; among them were Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Shakespeare. Among the monarchs he included Henri III, Louis XIII, Louis XVIII, Frederick the Great, Peter the Great, and William II of Holland”. Burton does not cite any evidence to substantiate his observations about the European and Russian royalty and rulers.
The above gives us a fairly good account about homosexual practices during the Victorian period and the prevailing moral attitudes across the world including India.
In the summer of 2003, India witnessed its first Gay Pride parade in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) when several dozen activists, waving rainbow colored flags marched in the city streets.
There are many gay and lesbian groups and organizations in India. Some of the leading ones include HUMRAHI (meaning fellow traveler) is an organization for gay and bisexual men. It is based in Delhi. It has been active since 1997. Among other such organizations include SANGINI (meaning a female friend), AANCHAL (Aanchal means the sheltering folds of a woman's saree) Aanchal was the first help line solely for lesbian and bisexual women in Mumbai, India. In Aanchal, the women who were isolated and fearful of others discovering their sexuality have found a safe place to interact with like-minded women. There is also a group in Delhi, India called Campaign for Lesbian Rights (CALERI). It is an activist collective working for lesbian and bisexual women's rights.
Gay websites and hangouts have proliferated, especially in the capital New Delhi and the southern city of Bombay. During the decade of 1994 to 2005 the groups working on gay issues have grown from only two in 1994 to nearly one hundred in 2005 the last year for which the figures are available. The number of gay and lesbian organization is probably much higher than one hundred of a few years ago.
In a survey done on Indian males by popular magazine INDIA TODAY, the number of Indian men having had homosexual experience at a whopping 37%. Many social critics and commentators have shown skepticism about the survey conducted by India Today. If the above survey were correct then every third person in India would be gay or a lesbian. Even if one accepts the conservative estimate of 5 per cent of the India’s population is gay or lesbian, considering the population of over a billion people, the number of gay and lesbian people is very large.
In this country (U.S.A) there is one major organization devoted to Asian and South East Asian community’s gay and lesbian members. It is called TRIKON.
China lifted its ban on gay sex in 1997. Besides China, Brazil and Russia too retired the law long ago. Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2007 ordered its government to scrap laws that discriminate against homosexuals.
Elsewhere in the world, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Kazakhstan in Asia; South Africa, Chad, Congo, and Madagascar in Africa; Peru, Chile, Columbia and Bolivia have decriminalized homosexual practices. The 27-nation European Union has of course been at the vanguard of the movement to recognize the rights of LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans genders).
France legalized homosexuality way back in 1791, after the revolution. England lifted the ban in 1967. And now India has joined the major nations of the world and decriminalized homosexual behavior.
India, welcome to the new world order!
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1) Sources: Kama Sutra, Sir Richard Burrton’s translation, Manu Smriti or The Laws of Manu – Sir William Jones translation - from my personal collection.
2) Spellings in the quotes are kept as in original.
Part II AIDS and HIV in India - tomorrow
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