Eunuchs in India hold national convention

Press, 16 April 1986, Page 34

Eunuchs in India hold national convention

By

LIU HEUNG SHING

of Associated Press (through NZPA) Bhopal, India

Three thousand eunuchs wearing garish make-up, gaudy saris, bangles, and bells are holding their first national convention — a carnival of singing and dancing in the streets.

Eunuchs, despised but tolerated, have gathered in Bhopal, a central India city for a 10-day festival to proclaim their cult’s new national guru, Bismillah Bi, aged 65.

“I am neither man nor woman, I am in the middle,” said a eunuch, Naznin, aged 35. "This is our celebration and I enjoy it.” She — virtually everyone at the convention insists on being called a woman — was one of the many eunuchs at the convention.

Sexual deformity and the definition of eunuchs has divided the community. Naznin said castrated males and transvestites were despised by naturalborn eunuchs, like herself.

“They are the ones giving us a bad name by engaging in prostitution,” she said. “We just like to sing and dance and bless babies.”

India is thought to have more eunuchs than any other country, with estimates ranging from 50,000 to more than 100,000. Known as “hijras” in Hindi, they are increasingly active, politically organised, and demanding fair treatment and equal rights.

Some are born deformed or without genitals, and some are hermaphrodites. The police say many are transvestites and homosexuals. Some were kidnapped, castrated, and inducted into the cult.

Many are beggars, singers, and dancers. Eunuchs are still invited to sing and dance at weddings and the births of children. They are known for threatening those who do not pay. The convention’s organisers insist everyone present is a true eunuch and joined the group ilyThey gathered because their last nationally recognised guru, Nayak Nazjeer, died three months ago. According to the eunuchs, he died from the after-effects of the toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide pesticide plant that killed more than 2000 people in Bhopal in 1984.

Thousands of wellwishing residents showered the new guru with flower petals, while

the less devout eunuchs demand “baksheesh” (money) from shopkeepers along the route. Haji Ganhi, aged 94, said to be the oldest eunuch in the parade, said she had not before attended such a large convention. Local press reports said it was the first of its kind in more than 102 years. Many of the 3000 eunuch pilgrims were too old to prance and sing and their younger peers did. In India’s caste-con-scious society, the

eunuchs are considered lower than the untouchables. In the ancient days of mogul rulers in India’s princely states, eunuchs were privileged protectors of royal harems. Today most live a sordid existence singing, dancing and begging often in slum communities clustered around their guru or eunuch family leader. At a news conference, Bismillah Bi denied occasional news reports that young boys in villages were still castrated and forced to be eunuchs.