• INCIDENCE, FREQUENCY, AND THE KINSEY 0-6 SCALE certingly apart. In fact, orgasm is reached shifting kaleidoscope. in only about half of female homosexual Attitudes toward Sex. Indian contacts (and in a still smaller portion of history, geography, and demography all female heterosexual contacts). exhibit a rich diversity of traits, making Moreover, female sexualitytends generalizationshazardous. Sexualattitudes to be far morepliant, and thusmorechange­ and practices also show considerable vari­ able, thanequivalentmaleresponses. Thus ation, ranging from the classic sex­ while the sexual revolution made no ap­ affirmingKamasu tra andtheworld-famous preciable change in the male percentages erotic sculptures of ancient temples tothe cited above (Gebhard, 1969), certain extreme prudishness of ascetics who con­ changes in female responses, especially demned all forms of seminal emission and regardinghomosexual try-outs, have been a modern educated elite which still de­ noted subsequent to Kinsey's 1953 find­ rives its inspiration from Victorian Eng­ ings (Bartell, 1971; Tripp, pp. 271, 272). land. The reasons for these and a host of other ShakuntalaDeviobservedin 1977 complex matters in both male and female that IJany talk concerning homosexuality sexualitycontinueto intriguesexresearch­ is altogether taboo" and that "serious ers, and continue to validate the Kinsey investigations on this subject in India are 0-6 Scale as a much needed and appreci­ almost nil." This taboo, which applies ated measuring and descriptive device. with somewhat less rigor to discussion of sex in general, canbetracedbacktoatleast BIBLIOGRAPHY. Gilbert D. Bartell, theBritish colonialoccupationoftheeight­ Group Sex: A Scientist's Eyewitness Report on Swinging in the Suburbs, New eenthandnineteenthcenturies.Independ­ York: David McKay, 1971; Paul H. ence, which came in 1947, has done noth­ Gebhard, ed., Youth Study, unpublished ing to loosen it. manuscript, Bloomington, IN: Institute Thestrength of this taboo is such for Sex Research, ca. 1968; Alfred C. as to lead noted Indologist Wendy Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin, Sexual Behavior in the O'Flaherty to describe India as "a country Human Male, Philadelphia: Saunders, that has never acknowledged the exis­ 1948; Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. tence of homosexuality." While Ghi Pomeroy, Clyde E. Martin, and Paul H. Thadani was right to call this observation Gebhard, Sexual Behavior in the Human "factually incorrect" in an unpublished Female, Philadelphia: Saunders, 1953; C. A. Tripp, The Homosexual Matrix, new paper, as a broad generalization it is not so ed., New York: New American Library, far from the truth; one must search far and 1987. wide to find the exceptions. C. A. Tripp Any discussionofhomosexuality in India must be placed against the back­ ground of the Indian social system, which INDIA is centered on the extended family. The The Republic of India includes first obligationof any Indian is to hisorher over 800 million people crowded onto the family, not to his own goals. Everyone is Indian subcontinent, an appendage of the expected to marry las arranged by the Asian mainland which it shares with families) and procreate sons. Until the Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. marriage takes place (often to a complete Historically, the Indian cultural zone has stranger), the modem Indian of either sex included all of thesubcontinent as well as is expected to remain celibate and avoid the island of Sri Lanka, and at times large masturbation, though some allowance is areas of Southeast Asia, though India's made for the involvement of males with politicalboundarieshave beena frequently female prostitutes. Nevertheless, there

586 :':':''f''''':' INDIA + may be a significant amount of well-hid­ withdrawal of women from public life. den homosexual activity among unmar­ The free and open Indian attitude toward ried boys and young men. (heterosexual) sex which had character­ AncientIndia. The oldest surviv­ ized the ancient period now gave way to ing literature is the set of scriptures called Islamic semiprurience. theVedas, thefirstofwhichltheRig-Veda) At the same time, theHindu (and is usually dated from 1500 to 1200 B.C. later the Buddhist) religion saw therise of These textswere composed by the Aryans Tantrisml with its hospitality toward sex who invaded India from Central Asia. A as a means of liberation and its explicit common view is that of the Czech scholar endorsement of cross-genderrole-playing. Ivo Fiser, whoreviewed theirreferences to The ColonialPeriod. TheBritish, sex and concluded that lIin the Vedic pe­ who came first as traders and stayed to riod ... homosexuality, in either of the conquer the subcontinent (eighteenth and sexes, was almost completely unknown nineteenth centuries), were scandalized and if there were such cases, the Vedic by the sexual customs of the Indians, but literature ignores them.1I inkeepingwith theirpolicy ofminimizing Later, but still ancient legal and interference in the local mores,. they did religious texts, howeverl starting with littleabout them. The educational~vstem Buddhist codes going back at least to the they establishedl however, eventu~Uy third century B.C., seem to take homo­ created a new Indian elite which enthu~l>, sexualityfor granted as a ratherminorpart astically absorbed British ideas, including " " of common life. The Buddhist monastic the more prurient attitudes of theVictori- code cites various instances of homosex­ ans toward sex. This elite, in tum, im­ ual behavior among the monks (all of posed their new antisexuality on the In- which, like heterosexual behavior, was dian middle class. prohibited). A jaundiced description of Indian VatsyayanalwritingtheKamasu­ Muslimsexualitywaswrittenby theDutch tra in thefifth century of our era, included Admiral John Splinter Stavorinus in the a whole chapter on the practice of fellatio 1770s. Referring to the Islamic Bengalis, as performed by eunuchs. Other erotic Stavorinus opined that "The sin of Sodom manuals suggested that sodomy was is not only in universal practice among commoninKalinga (southernOrissastate) them, butextends toa bestialcommunica­ and Panchala lin the Panjab}. In general, tion with brutes, and in particular with sexfor pleasurewas explicitlyvalidated (at sheep. Women even abandon themselves leastfor malesl andoften, aswithVatsyay­ to the commission of unnatural crimes.1I anal for females as well) and not necessar­ III do not believe that there is any ily linked to procreative function. country upon the face of the globe," the The Medieval Period. Indian Dutchman continued, "where lascivious medieval history (twelfth-eighteenth intemperancel and every kind ofunbridled centuries) saw the North Indian cultural lewdnessl is so much indulged inl as inthe heartland dominated by Islamic conquer­ lower provinces of the empire of Indostan. ors, who did not succeed in converting [This] extends likewise to the Europeans, mostoftheHindu masses but did leave an who settle, or trade there." indelible imprint onIndianlife. Enough of AccordingtoAllenEdwardes, who their subjects became Muslims for large based his book The Jewel in the Lotus areas ofIndiato become primarily Islamic (New York: Julian, 1959) largely on nine­ in character (becoming the nations of teenth-century sourceslpederastywasrare PakistanandBangladesh in 1947and 1971). among the Hindu majoritYI though "ram­ TheMuslims brought with them pant"amongtheMuslims andSikhsof the the institutionof pederasty, and forced the Panjab, Deccan, and Sindh. Sir Richard INDIA + oldest extant law codes, therefore, are not the colonial administration. The 1861 decrees by kings but sacred texts written legislation which changed the British by Brahmin·class priests. Often conflict· penalty for sodomy from hanging to life ing with each other, they were held in imprisonment became Section 377 of the widely varying degrees of reverence by IndianPenalCode afterindependence. This different communities and social groups; law prohibits "carnal intercourse against in many kingdoms theywere not followed the order of nature" and continues to pre· at all. scribe imprisonment up to life as well as The earliest surviving text on whippings and fines. Any sexual act in· Indian law is the ArthashastrQ, a manual volving penetration of the anus or mouth on statecraft by Kautilya, a ministerofthe by a penis, whetherhomosexualorhetero· Mauryan Empire of the fourth centuryB.C. sexual, makes both partners criminal, Kautilya set out fines of 48 to 94 panas for according to Indian courts. In addition, male homosexual activity and 12 to 24 intercrural (between the thighs) sex has panas for lesbian acts. These fines were been held byIndian courts to be banned by much lower than those for many hetero· thislaw. Lesbianactivities, and heterosex­ sexual offenses. ual cunnilingus, however, are legal. The Code of Manu, which dates Indianlegaltradition justifiesthis from the first to third centuries of our era law with the argument that "the natural and is the best known of the sacred law object of camal intercourse is that there texts, prescribes that an upper.class man should be possibility of conception of "who.commits an unnatural offense with human beings, which in the case of un· a male ... shall bathe, dressed in his natural offence is impossible." Indian Ie· clothes." The same purification ritual is gal scholars, however, trace it to English

prescribed for one who has intercourse beliefs that /Iall emission other thanin vas witha female inthedaytime. An expiation legitimum was considered unchristian ritual is prescribed for a man who swal· because such emission was supposed ulti­ lows semen.Themembersof the lowest of mately to cause conception of demons." the four great classes, as well as outcastes, Under a 1925 court decision still were not restricted at all, as they were not cited in legal texts, fellatio (called "thesin expected to upholdhighstandardsofritual of Gomorrah"lis "lessperniciousthan the purity. vice of Sodom.... It has not been sur· Manu laid down more severe rounded by the halo of art, eloquence and restrictions on women, prescribing a fine poetry. It is not common and can never be of WO panas plus double her nuptial fee as so. It cannot produce the physical changes well as ten lasheswith a rod for agirl "who which the other vice produces." pollutes anothergirl"j if awoman pollutes Evidentiary standards are rigor­ a girl she is to undergo the humiliation of ous, however, in that penetration "must having her head shaved or two fingers cut be strictly proved" and corroborating tes­ off and be made to ride through thevillage timony isnormally required. Accordingto on a donkey. Devi, prosecutions are "veryrare./I All the Some later sacred·legal writers Indian cases cited in the legal manuals held that oral sex was equivalent to the involve boys. killing of a Brahmin, theworst imaginable Following the British law reform crime as far as the Brahmins (who wrote of 1967, attempts were made in theIndian the texts) were concerned, and could not courts to challenge Section 377. In 1983, be expurgated in less than one hundred the Supreme Court (in Fazal Rab life·cycles. Chaudhary v. State) declared that "Nei· When Britain took control of ther the notions of permissive society nor India, British sexual law was imported by the fact that in some countries homosexu-

589 ':':':''C"''';:'' + INDIA ality has ceased to be an offense has influ­ Shiva, the most popular of all enced ourthinking." Havingsaid that, the Hindu gods, has from the most ancient of court, dealing with a case involving sex times been worshipped primarily in the between a man and a "young boy" but form of a lingam or erect phallus; in the withoutforce, upheld thelaw but reduced most common ritual milk is poured over the sentence to six months. thetipof thelingam andflows down onall Lesbianism. Female homosexu­ sides. The lingam is worshipped by males ality is not discussed in modem Indian as well as by females, suggesting the exis­ law, reflecting its invisibility in societyat tenceofasublimatedhomoeroticelement. large. The harems of the rulers of various Perhaps the only record of some­ Indian states are said to have been "hot­ thingapproachinghomoeroticisminHindu beds of lesbianism." In the realm of leg­ mythology is part of the myth of Shiva, end, however, wefind mentionofstrira;ya who engaged in intercourse with his wife orfemale-ruledancientkingdoms inwhich Parvatifor athousandyearswithoutejacu­ "women were said to have group congress lating. Interrupted by a delegation ofother with their own sex, and more rarely with deities, hewithdrewfrom Parvatiand then men." Nohistoricalevidencehassurvived ejaculated. The semen was swallowed by for such kingdoms. Agni, a male god connected with fire and Hindu Traditions. As with most ritual sacrifices, but it proved too hot for everything else in that amorphous collec­ him to handle and he vomited it UPi even­ tion of religious traditions loosely called tually the sperm turned into Shin's son "Hinduism," there is a wide variety of Skanda ("The Ejected"l, without any con­ attitudesdisplayed towardgenderidentity tributionfrom ParvatL Skandabecamethe and homosexuality. In keeping with gen­ god of youth, beauty, and warriors. eral Hindu attitudes, however, there is Indian mythology shows many littleattempttoimposereligious views on examples of sex changes, which Thadani sexuality on thosewho do not share them. considers tobe covers for malehomosexu­ Apart from the previously men­ ality. Vishnu, Shiva's main rival for the tioned writings of the Brahmin legalists, devotion of Hindus, turned himself into there are not many references to homo­ the stunningly beautiful Mohini in order sexuality in theenormous corpus of main­ to distract the demons at a critical mo­ stream Hindu scriptures and sacred texts. ment. Shin was so taken with Mohini The yogic tradition, however, has main­ that he copulated with her and impreg­ tained a morbid concern thatanyemission nated her so that she bore him a son. In ofsemenis debilitatingandhas thustaken some versions of the myth the son is a relentlessly hostile stance toward any Harihara, butinSouthIndia, wherethe act male sexuality. is described as a rape, the son is Ayappa, Throughout Indian history, the focus of a rapidly growing cult. only acceptable escape from marital du­ Androgyny has long been consid­ ties has been "renunciation" (sannyas), ered a divine attribute, and many of the leaving family and caste behind totake up leading deities have been pictured as her­ the unattached religious life as a monk, maphrodites, half male, half female, re­ guru, teacher, orwanderingholyman. It is flecting the Hindu belief that godhead not difficult to imagine that many Indians contains within itself all the elements of who hadnoheterosexualincllnationsmust the cosmos, including both male and have followed that route, which had the female. The most notable example of this, further advantage of placing them in the however, is Shiva, who is often shown company of other members of their own with the left side female, the right male, gender. and in this form is called "Ardha­ narishvara."

590 '-'»-.''-'" INDIA •

Devotees of androgynous deities Analintercourse, calledadhorata have occasionally sought to further their or "under-love," involves the anus as one approach to God by emulating this divine of the most significant chakras, orenergy­ quality, giving a sacred aura to androgyny. centers, in the body, and thus has been Thus the famous nineteenth-century held to energize the artistic, poetic, and Hindu reformer Ramakrishna went about mystical faculties. "Some medieval writ­ for some time wearing women's clothes. ers speakof it as quite common and do not The Sakibhava cult, which wor­ regard itas perverse,"accordingtoWalker. ships Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu), Maukhya, orfellatio, hasalsobeen holds that only Krishna is truly male and given sacred significance in connection that all other creatures are female in rela­ with the Shiva-Agni legend cited above. tion to him. Male followers of the cult "Certain Hindu writers on eratics have dressed like women and even imitated held that'themouthispurefor purposes of menstrual periods. Vern Bullough, citing congress,"1 Walker writes. R. B. Bhandarkarin his Sexual Variance in The Hindu-Buddhist doctrine of Society and History (New York: John reincarnation has been used toexplainthe Wiley, 1976J, says they"all weresupposed phenomenon of homosexual orientation to permit the sexual act on their persons by depicting it as a transitional state fol­ [playing the part of women) as an act of lowing a change of gender from one life­ devotion. Usually, the male members did time to the next, on the theory that long­ not show themselves much in public, in acquired ingrained habits (such as sexual partbecauseof publichostility." Benjamin interest in menJ are slower to change than Walker confirms this account in his the physical body, which is replaced at encyclopedic The Hindu World. For com­ death/birth. Noteworthy about this ra­ parison, see the Hiira sect below. tionale is the absence of negative over­ Separate from such small sects is tones. a wide religious movement which swept Homosexualityin Contemporary through India, affecting both Hinduism India. Indian male friends are very affec­ and Buddhism, in the late ancient and tionatewitheachotherand do nothesitate early medieval period, though it has be­ to demonstrate this in public (something come unrespectable since British Victo­ they would never do with their wivesJ. rianprudery becamedominant. This"left­ Men and boys can easily be seen sleeping handed" esoteric Tantrism utilizes ritual on the pavement in each other's arms. sexuality as a sacred technique. Though This has given many Western visitors the mostly heterosexual, numerous Tantric mistaken idea that homosexuality is texts do advocate the desirability ofa male rampant. follower developing his opposite (female) The legal scholar Ejaz Ahmad traits and visualizing himself as female; noted in 1975 that "there seems to be a sometimes this has taken the form of widespread tendency of [Indian] males to participating in homosexual acts. experiment in homosexual activities, al­ Walker, in his discussion of sex­ though most do not become pure homo­ ual"perversions" in Hinduism, considers sexuals." Ahmad'sobservation, whichmay these to be "aspects of antinomianism reflect his Islamic background, has found thought to be favored by the gods, and little support from other Indian writers, regarded as methods of achieving degrees though that may have more to do with of I intensity,' which ...release a stream of taboos on discussion-as Devi puts it, vital power which if rendered to the serv­ "Even today, people in India find it diffi­ ice of thedeityis retumed multifold to the cult to conceive of the very idea of homo­ giver." sexuality"-than with the accuracy of his remark.

591 ':':':'f:':';': + INDIA

Devi paints a picture of Indian "sexual object choice alone does not de­ (Hindu) homosexuals leading very cau­ fine gender." SerenaNanda, in herstudyof tious, hidden lives, meeting primarily the Hijras, points out that this sect wel­ through private cliques while fulfilling comes many teenage homosexuals who their expected marital duties. A lack of are cast out of theirownfamilies and have privacywhichispervasiveinthisextremely no other niche in a communal-oriented overcrowdedcountryseems to be themaj or culture. handicap, along with an absence of clubs, Theleveloftoleranceexperienced bars, and similar meeting places. Devi by theHijras appears tovary considerably, statesthat "boybrothels are verycommon so that one must question blanket asser· in the bigger cities" employing boys as tions that their behavior is condoned by young as eight. Indian society. Nevertheless, they seem to Other reports indicate that big­ provide the only open social status for city bus terminal toilets seem to be the homosexuals, transvestites, andtranssexu­ major sites for anonymous non.reciprocal als in a culture which otherwise provides sex, while some urban parks serve as it only through marriage and the family, meetingplaces. Nogay·orientedorganiza­ and which can hardly conceive of an indio tionsare known tobefunctioning inIndia. vidual not attached to a communal group Among the hundred million as well as a family. Muslims still remaining in India after Conclusion. The forces of mod· partition, it may be speculated, ancient ernization, while slow by Western stan­ practices such as pederasty which were dards, are accompanied by social changes more congenial to Islamic culture may in India which seem rapid to thisvery old, continue to survive, but there are few or tradition·bound culture. Some young no data. people arerebellingagainst theinstitution While there is almost no modern of the family.arranged marriage with its Indian literature on homosexuality, ac· dowries, and educated professionalwomen cording to Devi two Hindi films have are beginning to make dents in the rigid touched In the topic: Dosti and Raj social roles prescribed for females. One of Kapoor's Sangam. theconsequencesof thesechanges are that The Hijras. No discussion of the taboo on discussion of sex is slowly contemporary homosexuality inIndia can beginningtoweaken, along with thedevo­ ignore a religious sect, the Hijras, whose tion of the Indian educated elite to the numbers have been estimated between values of Victorian Britain. Eventually, fifty and five hundred thousand. This all· this candor is bound to open upthesubject male group, divided into those who surgi. of homosexuality as well. cally remove the penis and those who Urbanizationis startingtoloosen remain intact, worships the Mother God· the grip of family and caste and beginning dess and seeks to identify with her by to provide the anonymity which seems becoming as feminine as possible. necessary for homosexuals to develop While their traditional role in independent lives. Whether Western no­ North Indian society is as entertainers, tions of homosexuality take root in India and they theoretically uphold an ideal of (apart from the small English.educated chastity, many Hijras function as prosti· professional class) remains to be seen­ tutes, taking the passive role for Indian Indian mores have already proven their male insertors who look upon the trans· capacity for astonishing resistance to for­ vestite Hijras as substitutes for females eign influence. Perhaps a modelof pre- and and do not considerthemselves homosex­ extra-marital experimentalism by "nor· ual or unmasculine. In this their custom· mal" males keeping to insertor roles with ers reflect an inarticulated belief that a small number of effeminate passives 592 ':':':,+::::::: INDIANS OF NORTH AMERICA • land boys and foreign tourists) along more AmericanIndianreligions emphasizedthe Mediterranean or pederastic lines will freedom of individuals to follow theirown develop. inclinations, as evidence of guidance from Apart from caste and family obli­ theirpersonalspiritguardian, and to share gations, however, Indian society is re­ generously what they had with others. markablytolerant of individualeccentrici­ Children's sexual play was more ties, and it is quite possible that when the likely to be regarded by adults as an amus­ curtainfinally liftsonIndian sexualityone ing activity rather than as a cause for may find the patterns ofhomosexualityin alarm. This casual attitude of child-rear­ India distinctively Indian. ingcontinued to influence people as they grew up, and even after their marriage. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Ejaz Ahmad, ulw Yet, while sex was certainly much more Relating to Sexual Offenses, 2nd ed., Allahabad: Ashoka Law House, 1975; J. accepted than in the Judeo-Christian tra­ P. Bhatnagar, Sexual Offenses, Al­ dition, it was not the major emphasis of lahabad: Ashoka Law House, 1987; Indian society. The focus was instead on Shakuntala Devi, The World ofHomo­ two forms of social relations: family sexuals, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing (making ties to other genders) and friend­ House, 1977; Serena Nanda, "The Hijras of India: Cultural and Individual ship (making ties within the samegender). Dimensions of an Institutionalized Third Since extremely close friendships were Gender Role," in Evelyn Blackwood, ed, emphasized between two "blood broth­ Anthl'Opology and Homosexual Behav­ ers" or two women friends, this allowed a ior, New York: Haworth Press, 1986, pp. context in which private homosexual 35-54; Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Women, Androgynes, and Other behavior could occur without attracting Mythical Beasts, Chicago: University of attention. Simply because this role of sex Chicago Press, 1980; Benjamin Walker, in promoting bonds of friendship was so The Hindu World, London: George Allen accepted, thereis relatively little informa­ &. Unwin, 1968. tion about this kind of casual same-sex Lingiinanda activity. It demonstrates that the role of sex in promotingclose interpersonaltiesis INDIANS OF NORTH just as important for a societyas therole of AMERICA sex as a means of reproduction. While Like many societies around the Christian ideology emphasizes that the world that accepted homosexual behavior purpose of sex is only for reproduction, as a common and normal activity, North that is clearly not the view of many other American Indian aboriginal cultures often religions. incorporated same-sex activity into their Institutional Forms. Beyond its way of life. role in same-sex friendships, homosexual Underlying Cultural Attitudes. behavior among many aboriginal tribes This acceptance was owing to several fac­ was also recognized in the form of same­ tors, especially the fact that sex was not sex marriages. However, theusual pattern seen as sinfulin theirreligions. Withsome amongNorth American Indians (as wellas exceptions, sex was not restricted to its in many areas of the Caribbean, Central reproductive role, but was seen as a major and South America) focused not on two blessing from the spirit world, a gift to masculine men getting married, or two human beings to be enjoyed freely from feminine women, but to have a typical childhood to old age. Among the matrilin­ man or woman marry an androgynous eal tribes, womenwere particularly free in person who takes on a different gender their behavior, since their child's family role. Traditionally in many tribes, the status depended on the mother's relatives feminine male had a special role as a ber­ ratherthanonthefather.Ingeneral, North dache and the masculine female took on 593 .;:;,.:;:::;: