Life & Culture Of The Eunuchs in India


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Creator/Artist: Naman S. Varma

Category: Product Design

Document: Design Research

Batch: 2013-2015

Source: India,   IDC IIT Bombay

Period:  2009-2018

Medium: Report pdf

Supervisor: Prof. Nina Sabnani


Detailed Description

Oxford English defines the word eunuch as: a man who has been castrated, especially (in the past) one employed to guard the women’s living areas at an orient court. The process of castration is known as “Nirvana” in the eunuch community. They are very much like other people, but even now, they are not considered human beings because of their unclear biological sex and gender identity. They are commonly known as ‘hijras’ in Indian society. They are also known as kinnar, chhakka, khusra, kojja, alis, aravanis, napunsak, and jogappa (depending upon the region) in Hindi and transgender, transsexual, and eunuch in English. They are not accepted in our society; hence, they have their own customs and rituals. They dress as women, and most of them consider themselves women but are male in the eyes of the law, but for the common people, they are neither male nor female.