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Position of Lgbt Community in Indian Society: a Critical Study

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Position of Lgbt Community in Indian Society: a Critical Study AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808 POSITION OF LGBT COMMUNITY IN INDIAN SOCIETY: A CRITICAL STUDY Akanksha srivastava1 ABSTRACT LGBT is short form for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Earlier, this community was called Gay Community. But the term `gay’ wasn’t sufficient as it is only referred to male humans who are interested in males only, on the other hand this entire community includes many categories of people, who are different from normal human beings. Therefore the abbreviation LGBT was introduced in mid 1980s. These people have different sexual preferences than normal people, which include sexual fantasies, sexual attraction, sexual behavior, social and lifestyle preferences and self- identification. Key words: LGBT, homosexuality, identification. 1 Author: scholar B.A.LL.B(hons.) x semester, at law college Dehradun, uttaranchal university Dehradun. Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020 http://aegaeum.com/ Page No: 253 AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808 INTRODUCTION Homosexuality in India has always been a subject of discussion since ancient times to modern times. Hindu texts have also taken positions regarding the homosexual characters and themes. Rigveda2, which is one of the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism says that Vikriti Evam Prakriti (meaning what seems unnatural is also natural), which some scholars believes to be homosexual dimensions of human life, like all forms of universal diversities. The ancient Indian text Kamasutra written by Vātsyāyana contains a complete chapter on erotic homosexual behaviour. Even Historical literary evidence also lindicates that homosexuality has been prevalent across the Indian subcontinent throughout history, and that homosexuals were not necessarily considered inferior in any way until about 18th century during British colonial rule. On 6 September 2018, a 5-judge constitutional bench of Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code3, hence made homosexuality legal in India. In throwing out the colonial-era law that made gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison, one judge even said the landmark decision would "pave the way for a better future of the country. This shows that our country has successfully proceeded towards the betterment but still one should never forget the struggle of the LGBT community from the very beginning of the society. ARCHEOLOGICAL FACTS Khajuraho temples The khajuraho group of temple is a group of hindu temple and jain temple in chatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, india. They are one of the UNESCO world Heritage Site. These temples are famous for there nagara-style architectural symbolism and erotic sculptures.In the temples of Khajuraho 4, like vishvanath temple and laxmana temple there are images of women erotically embracing other women and men displaying their genitals to each other.As these temples were made between AD 900 and 1130 by candella ruler, this shows the acceptance of homosexuality at that time because if sculptures can be made in sacred places such as temples in culture oriented country like india then this proves that the society that time must have accepted LGBT aswell. Whereas, scholars have explained this as an acknowledgement that people engaged were in homosexual acts. Konark sun temple 2 https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/what-do-vedas-say-about-homosexuality/130726. last visited 1/2/2020. 3 Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. v. Union of India thr. Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice, W. P. (Crl.) No. 76 of 2016 (Supreme Court of India) http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/supremecourt/2016/14961/14961_2016_Order_08-Jan-2018.pdf, last visited 1/2/2020. 4https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/10-instances-of-homosexuality-among-lgbts-in-ancient-india-1281446- last visited 1/2/2020. Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020 http://aegaeum.com/ Page No: 254 AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808 A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the seven wonders of India, the 13th century konark sun temple built by king Narasinhadeva I of Eastern Ganga dynasty , also bears many sculptures which proves that society at that time was so much sexually liberal, as it has sculptures of men and women in many erotic sexual positions including many homosexual sculptures as well. Ajanta and Ellora caves The Ajanta caves 5 are 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which were built around the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut sculptures described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions gesture and many sculputures whish shows sexual liberations including homosexuality. Therefore this is also one of the evidences which shows the acceptance of LGBT at that time. Mention of LGBT in Hindu mythology In the Valmiki Ramayana, Lord Rama's devotee and companion Hanuman is said that he have seen Rakshasa women kissing and embracing other women. At another place, the Ramayana tells the tale of a king named Dilip, who had two wives and apparently died without leaving an heir. The story says that Lord Shiva appeared in the dreams of the widowed queens and told them that if they made love to each other, they would have a child. So, the queens did as ordained by Lord Shiva and one of them even got pregnant. They gave birth to a child, who grew up and became the famous king Bhagirath, who was best known for "having brought River Ganga from heaven to the earth". And even in mahabharata there is a tale about shikhandini, who was the first daughter of king drupad, it is also known the in her previous life she was a princess named amba who got rejected for marriage by bhishma therefore after being defeated and heartbroken lord shiva granted her wish that in her next life she’ll be the reason behind the death of the great undefeatable bhishma. And king drupad also had his issues with kurus who’s army was lead by bhishma himself so shikhandini was all prepared for her job there was still one hurdle and that was she being a girl and according to their war rules a girl cannot be a part of war so she devoted herself to god who later granted her wish and made her half male and half female, which helped her fulfilling her only goal of life. And later on Drupada even got Shikhandini married to a woman and when her wife discovered the reality about the gender of her husband, she revolted. But later on the day was saved by divine intervention bestowing Shikhandini with manhood during night. Therefore after that Shikhandini lived like a hermaphrodite. 5 Ibid; 4 Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020 http://aegaeum.com/ Page No: 255 AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808 And in the story of amrut manthan, it is said that during the great churning of milky ocean, according to the tale of Mastya Purana, Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini with intention to trick the demons so that the gods could drink all the amrut (the immortal juice found from churning of ocean). Meanwhile, Lord Shiva saw Vishnu as Mohini and instantly fell for her totally being unaware that she is infact Lord Vishnu himself. Later on their union led to the birth of a child who was known as Lord Ayyappa. The Ardhanarishvara form of divine energy, created by merging lord Shiva and devi Parvati is worshiped in Hinduism on very high scale. Infact even During Mughal rule in India, transgender people were given important posts of security of queens and princesses and often were given responsibility of decision making. And that is why it feels really sad that it took so long for transgender people to get their legal recognition in India. And slightly unrelated to this, the Narada Purana has references to what may be classified as "unnatural offences" described in Section 377. As at one place, the Narada Purana states that, anyone who discharges semen in non-vaginas, in those beings destitute of vulva, and uteruses of animals is a great sinner and will fall in hell, this shows that though purana does not approve of "unnatural offences" but the references prove that they were in practice. The ninth chapter of the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana was composed in around 4th century BC, talks about oral sexual acts like (Auparistaka), and homosexuality and also of similar activities among transgenders known as tritiya prakriti. The book however concludes that in spite of all these things does not favour homosexuality of any kind. On the other hand Arthashastra of Kautilya is a treatise on politics which also mentions homosexuality, but the book says that it is a duty of the king to punish those who were indulged in homosexuality and expects the ruler to fight against the "social evil". Position in today’s worldThe human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) are coming into more focus around the world, with important developments in many countries in recent years, including the adoption of new legal rights for their protection. The preamble to the Indian Constitution makes sure to provide justice, social, economic and political equality of status for everyone. The right of equality before law and equal protection under the law is provided in Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. In April 2014, the Supreme Court Volume 8, Issue 2, 2020 http://aegaeum.com/ Page No: 256 AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808 of India gave judgment in case of NALSA vs. Union of India 6 that the rights and freedoms of transgender people in India were protected under Indian Constitution in September 2018, the Supreme Court also decriminalized adult consensual same-sex relationships or bisexual relationships in the Section 377 judgment review7.
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