Homosexuality & Indian History

As a student of History, the ongoing case on Section 377 of IPC in Supreme Court, has made me do some historical research on the existence of 'Homo-sexuality" in India since Ancient India through Medieval to the Modern.

Ancient India’s acceptance & accommodation of many forms of eroticism within its culture,including homo eroticism is well documented in early Sanskrit writings/art/architecture. This makes modern-day India’s sexual puritanism & homophobia, all the more astounding.

1.Western group of temples at Khajuraho is known for the architecture & erotic sculpting. There are references to homosexuality. Examples : sculptures in exterior of Kandariya Mahadeva & Lakshmana temples (pictures 1 & 2)

2. The “Markandeya Purana” carries the story of Avikshita, the son of a king who refused to marry because he believed he was a woman.

3(a) There is a folk story of Rajasthan abt 2 women Teeja & Beeja . According to Vijaidan Detha, Teeja & Beeja, r promised 2 one another in marriage by their fathers. Beeja is brought up as a boy, married as a “man” to Teeja .They are happy together until Teeja suggests that she return to dressing as a woman. The story ends with the two living together as women, in the forest .

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4. Story of Amba in Mahabharata, Amba was abducted by Bhishma but rejected . Amba is reborn as Shikhandini, daughter to King Dhrupada,&then prays for a further transformation into Shikhandi-as a man, she can fight Bhishma, & becomes the cause of his death on the battlefield.

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5. Babur, the first Mughal Emperor , was known to have had a crush on a boy he saw in Kabul. He even recorded it in his own memoirs, the Barburnama.

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6. In Padma Purana there is a story of a king who dies before he can give his two queens magic potion that will make them pregnant. Desperate to bear his child,widows drink the potion, make love to each other (one behaving as a man, other as a woman) & conceive a child.

7. A story found in many Puranas. Vishnu turned into a woman, to trick demons. Shiva was attracted to Mohini & after consummation were born Hanuman (according to Shiva Purana) & Ayyappa (according to the Malayalee folk lore).

8. Jamali-Kamali

In Delhi, off busy Mehrauli-Gurgaon road is a small 16th C tomb of Sufi poet Jamali. Interestingly, he’s buried alongside Kamali, of whom officially we know nothing, but legend has it that Kamali was the Sufi saint’s life-long male lover.

9. Alauddin Khilji enslaved the wife of King Karan Singh- Rani Kamala Devi. Along with her, a boy named Kafur Hazaar Dinaari (Ex-Hindu Slave bought for 1000 Dinars) was also abducted. Khilji ‘loved’ them both in different ways.

10. Sultan Sikander Lodhi was another Muslim king who loved blue-eyed boys in Harems.Closeness of boy sex-slaves with Sultan made others feel jealous of them. So whenever Sultan died , all his loyal boyfriends used to get killed by his successor.

12. Muslim Sultans believed in gender equality. So the number of female sex slaves was made equal to male sex slaves in their Harems. Male sex slaves ere called as Ghilman & used to have blue eyes.

Source: The Naked Mughals by Vashi Sharma

13. Godse & Savarkar

"Before taking it , he had only one known sexual relationship .It was homosexual.His partner was his political mentor, Savarkar"

Source : Freedom at Midnight , 1975 edition by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre. (Picture 4 & 5)