The Attempted Erasure of Trans People in Colonial India.

A Very Brief History on Trans and non-binary people, from Ancient India, Colonial India to Current day.

Timestamps
0:00 The Amendment
1:34 Crime as Hereditary
2:26 Gender Fluidity, Third Gender, in a Patriarchal Pre Colonial India
4:30 Rudradeva Maharaja and the Veera Shaiva Lingayats
7:20 Precolonial India and the Marginalization of Trans People
7:48 Maratha Empire’s patronage of the Hijra Community
8:41 Colonial India targeted the Hijra Community
10:12 Moral Panics and the Colonial Government
11:09 Colonial Transvestigation - Empress V Khairati
12:22 How the Hijra communities functioned and how they adapted
13:29 A Clash with Victorian Morality, and the Evangelical Factor
14:29 Hijra Community and non-binary communities in the modern day
15:25 The Indian LGBTQIA+ fight for their right to exist
18:37 Colonial Hangover, Present Day Bigotry and “Western Rot”
20:16 Sushant Divgikar Rani Kohenur
21:27 Discussing transphobic attitudes through youtube comments
22:10 Matt Walsh, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and other hate mongers.
23:05 Instances of Gender Fluidity and Transgender People in Ancient Hindu Texts
24:06 Mohini, Vishnu, Asuras, Devas, and the Churning of The Ocean
25:02 Valmiki Ramayana and the Hijra Community
25:44 Aravan/Iravan (Son of Ulupi and Arjuna), and Lord Krishna
26:21 Shikhandi in the Mahabharata.
27:15 Talking about Archeological evidence of gender fluidity in India
28:03 If you’re a Conservative, or a Liberal.

(I do not recommend watching any of TRC's other podcasts, the channel devolved over time into an RSS BJP mouthpiece and that's not an exaggeration. This specific podcast episode is good though) Beer Biceps Podcast, The Ranveer Show 120 - @SushantDivgikarRaniKohenur - The UNTOLD, Heart-warming Story | Rani KoHEnur | The Ranveer Show 120 - YouTube

Reading material and references:
William Dalrymple – The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of The East India Company - The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company – William Dalrymple (en-GB)
Transsexualism in Hindu Mythology by Srinivasan and Chandrasekaran - Transsexualism in Hindu Mythology - PMC
Lesbian Lovers, Dildo Shopping, and Other Mughal-Era Poems by Alizeh Kohari - Lesbian Lovers, Dildo Shopping, and Other Mughal-Era Poems | The Juggernaut
The Gay Origins for the Hindi Word for Friend by Pitamber Kaushik - The Gay Origins of the Hindi Word for ‘Friend’ - Cultural Daily
The Pre-Colonial History of Homosexuality in India by Deepanshi Mehrotra - The Pre-Colonial History of Homosexuality in India: Why Love Is Not Western - Academike
Protecting Trans Lives Goes Deeper Than Laws and Representation by Priti Salian - Protecting trans rights in India | New Internationalist

Royalty Free Music Used:
I Saw A Ghost Last Night - I Saw A Ghost Last Night – Leonell Cassio (No Copyright Music) - YouTube
Witchy Britches - Witchy Britches – RW Smith (No Copyright Music) - YouTube
Waited - Waited (instrumental) – RYYZN (No Copyright Music) - YouTube
Rainbow After Rave - Rainbow After Rave — Ferco | Free Background Music | Audio Library Release - YouTube
Fusion - Fusion — KV | Free Background Music | Audio Library Release - YouTube
I Am Ok - I Am OK — Vishmak | Free Background Music | Audio Library Release - YouTube
Horizons - Horizons – Scott Buckley (No Copyright Music) - YouTube

[rohanxdavis]

This video is gaining new viewers once more, which is awesome! However there have been some vile new transphobic comments. To new watchers, if you are planning on writing any transphobic or homophobic comment on this video i will block you.

[luclaurent]

Being in trans communities I hear a lot of passing reference to hijras, usually used to express the point that we as trans people have always existed. It's great to hear more about hijra history, particularly from an Indian perspective.

[pablokult]

Unquestionably the best proof that sex is not the same as gender is the plethora of multigendered cultures pre-European assimilation, and the fact that many continued to this day in spite of colonialism. transness/queerness is human nature, always has been.

[flashlightknife]

Punjabi-American trans man here. Thank you for making this video.

[bigbugjpeg]

i just found out recently that the phillipines had trans folk that openly worked in traditional male or female roles freely before the spanish colonialism.... insane to me how the history is constantly scrubbed.

[kad]

The intersection of colonialism and queer identity definitely needs more discourse in the context of south asia and I'm glad this video exists. This was excellent!

[ocitlox]

thank you for including gender fluidity.. it means so much.. as a trans masc non-binary indian, the representation I've seen is close to negligible.. so your video was definitely a breath of fresh air..


just wanted to mention one thing.. since the terms "differently-abled", or "specially-abled" are often used by abled folks, and i totally understand the prerogative behind that.. it would be extremely helpful to use the word "disbaled" to destigmatize the negative connotations around this word. "disabled" is not a bad word and should be normalised.. although, i don't speak for every person with disabilities in this case as preferences vary from person to person.. as an AuDHD person, i would love to see the word "disabled" being normalised..


amazing content and research done by you!! I've already subscribed and going on a deep dive through your amazing content! keep up the amazing work ~

[racheal]

Kerela trans women here thank you for making a video on this❤️❤️

[TheLeftistCooks]

This is incredible, I wasn't aware of any of this. Thank you so much for the education. - S.

[ericf]

I really appreciate you mentioning muslim cultures having queer history, because i find myself slipping into islamophobia out if fear of hate and violence against lgbtq people. So its good to be reminded that things can be better, it has happend and we know it

[LegalKimchi]

Loving this historical deep dive! Fantastic!

[ashchaudhary]

As a queer person thank you so much for this
nowadays Indian or Hindus on internet follows the western hate they say “this is not our culture” ☠️ like ?. Do you even know your own culture or religion? more people need to see this video 💖

[VamshiOhgs]

This is such an informing piece of work and further proves that the British rule over India took so much, not limited to just goods, resources or uncountable amount of wealth but the values and harmony we once had, that can't be returned, the growth and development of multiple generations that they onced stunted can't be easily altered or overcome and we are forced to suffer from the consequences of the outcome that was directly influenced by them.

Thank you for making this!

[FinntasticMrFox]

Can't believe I forgot to leave a comment, because this is one of my new favourite videos. Brilliant education tool, and such a powerful point, thank you so much for making this. 💙

[BotheredBoy]

This is fantastic. Thank you for making this!

My aunt and uncle have a story about Hijras coming to bless my cousin after she was born.

[wordscapes]

I have many LGBTQ friends. I only have two trans friends. They are an extreme minority. I cannot believe how the straight community is making such an enormous hullabaloo about this non issue.

[Church_of_the_Skittles_Snek]

Om Shree Bahucheraya Namo Namah.
I Am a Hijra, and I Love Learning the History of Our Story of a Whole.
Hari Om 🙏🏿

[Aerlas]

Algorithm boost. This video deserves a lot more views.

[MidnightEkaki]

Great video. I am a trans person and my grandmother came from India but since she was adopted to here in Australia at a young age and didn't talk too much about living there I don't know too much about the culture so I'm happy to learn more about this subject.

[Spagettigeist]

As a non-binary person, I greatly enjoyed this insight into a different culture's take on the trans topic. Thanks =)