Saffron and Transgender Flags: Hindutva, Ardhanārīśvara, and ‘Third Gender’ Empowerment

Abstract

This presentation examines initiatives focused on achieving upward social mobility for populations marginalized due to their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. In this connection, it analyzes the foregrounding of Ardhanārīśvara (a Hindu-affiliated deity that is half male and half female) by peoples associated with the ‘third gender’ category. Two pertinent sets of contexts are investigated: Durgā Pūjā festivals observed in Kolkata (into which Ardhanārīśvara is integrated by transgender activists) and affairs of the Kinnar Akhāḍā (a religious order mainly comprised of ‘third gender’ membership that named Ardhanārīśvara their patron god). Importantly, across the campaigns under consideration, there are differences involving varied intersections with religious nationalism (i.e., Hindutva).  Some ‘third gender’ parties distance their efforts involving Ardhanārīśvara from any strictly Hindu framing, in part for fear of being erroneously framed as aligned with Hindu-centered politics. Conversely, the Kinnar Akhāḍā, for example, presents itself and Ardhanārīśvara as expressly Hindu, and the religious order has indeed been accused of Hindu nationalist alignment. Examination of the foregoing yields significant insights regarding the variegated views and strategies assumed within ‘third gender’ spheres. In addition to these meaningful differences, similarities are also apparent; in each case examined, Ardhanārīśvara emerges as a legitimizer of human gender and sexual variance.