The Hijras of India

May 22, 2026 Kabir 7 Comments filed under Kabir

Note: This is an academic essay originally written for an anthropology course. It is by no means intended to cause offense to anyone. Rather, it is intended to add to the conversation on gender and sexuality we have been having on BP.

In the context of this essay “India” refers to the Indian subcontinent.

See also my review of Queen Zarqa–a novel about a Pakistani transgender.

In the West, it is generally believed that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that each sex has its own particular role in society. However, in their ethnographic fieldwork across the world, anthropologists have noticed that the roles of men and women vary significantly across societies. This has led them to distinguish sex, which is based on biology, from gender which is defined as “the cultural construction of beliefs and behaviors considered appropriate for each sex” (Schultz and Lavenda 237). In addition, anthropologists have also noticed that several societies around the world have supernumerary (e.g. more than two) sexes. These include the xanith in Oman, the Native American two-spirit and the Indian hijra. Appropriate behavior for these “third-sex” groups is defined by a third gender role, which is distinct from traditional masculine and feminine identities (Schultz and Lavenda 238).

In fact, even the hegemony of the Western “two-sex model” is a relatively recent development. Prior to the eighteenth century, the dominant way of understanding sex was Plato’s “one-sex model” which emphasized the similar nature of men and women’s sex organs and viewed women as “inverted, inferior versions of men” (Potts 4). Thus, it is clear that the “two-sex” model is not unquestionable and is just one out of several possible gender classification systems.

In this paper, I will focus on the Indian hijra. I will be examining various Western constructs such as “homosexuality” and “transexualism” that are used to define hijras and I will contrast these with how the hijras define themselves. Secondly, I will compare the hijras with examples of “third-sex” groups in other societies. Finally, I will discuss the relationship between the hijra community and mainstream Indian society, specifically the two main roles of the hijras as ritual performers at weddings and births, and as homosexual prostitutes. Continue reading The Hijras of India

Hindutva Music: Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara As an Example of a Female Sadhu

May 21, 2026 Kabir 3 Comments filed under Kabir

I am sharing this essay about “Hindutva music” as an example of when music can be used to divide–as opposed to unite as in the case of Kabir oral traditions.

The essay was originally submitted as part of the coursework for my M.Mus in Ethnomusicology. I was reminded of it recently when I came across Professor Brahma Prakash’s article on Scroll.in entitled “Why the toxic beats of ‘Disc Jockey Hindutva’ are so dangerous for India”

Unfortunately, the YouTube video analyzed in the piece no longer seems to be on the site. I hope the essay can still stand on its own merits. I will include a representative YouTube video of Didi Maa at the end of the essay.

Note: It is also worth noting that Didi Maa was conferred the Padma Bhushan in January 2025.

Bhajan is the major genre of devotional singing in Hinduism. It is a loosely structured song, usually performed in regional languages. It can be sung by an individual or by a congregation. Themes typically include ideas from scriptures, the teachings of saints and loving devotion to a deity.

Since I am from a South Asian background, I am familiar with bhajans. However, I have previously approached them through Hindustani classical music, in which the focus is on aesthetic beauty and using the bhajan’s lyrics to develop the raga. In a devotional context, in contrast, the words and the message of the bhajan can often be more important than the musical content.

In this essay, I will discuss Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara’s performance of a Krishna bhajan “Aaj Gopal Raas Ras”, and compare her to the female sadhus studied by Antoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli in her monograph Real Sadhus Sing to God: Gender, Asceticism and Vernacular Religion in Rajasthan (Oxford University Press 2014) . One of the major contrasts is that Didi Maa is involved in Hindutva politics, which would seem to contradict the role of the sadhu as someone who has renounced worldly life. DeNapoli’s informants, on the other hand, are focused on singing to god as a way of serving humanity through seva. Continue reading Hindutva Music: Didi Maa Sadhvi Ritambhara As an Example of a Female Sadhu

Kabir Oral Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent

May 20, 2026 Kabir 7 Comments filed under Kabir

Since there has been a lot of discussion on Bhagat Kabir, I am sharing this essay I wrote on Kabir Oral Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent. This essay was originally submitted as part of my M.Mus coursework in Ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London.

Here is a link to a Kabir bhajan called “Mo ko Kahan Dhunday Banday” which I recorded. The composition is by Ustad Hamid Hossain and is set in Raga Bhairavi.

Bhagat Kabir (c. 1440-c. 1518) is considered one of the major poet-saints of the Bhakti movement—a social reform movement arising in North India around the fifteenth century. Characterized by an emphasis on the individual believer and a disregard for caste and gender taboos, the movement often rejected Vedic rituals and focused on the individual’s loving relationship with a personally defined god. This emphasis on love has clear parallels with Sufism, often seen as the mystical branch of Islam. It also later influenced Sikhism.

In contrast to other Bhakti poets such as Surdas and Meerabai—whose works can be placed squarely within the Hindu fold, often addressed to particular gods such as Krishna—Kabir’s poetry cannot be so neatly demarcated. He questioned the rituals of both Islam and Hinduism and was devoted to a nirgun (formless) deity, often addressed as “Ram”. According to Professor Harbans Mukhia: “In place of Allah and Ishwar he conceptualized a single universal God; in place of denominational religions he conceptualized a universal religiosity” (Mukhia 2018). This distance from the orthodoxy of both traditions perhaps explains why Kabir is revered by Hindus and Muslims across the Indian subcontinent. Some of his poetry is even included in the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism’s holiest scripture. In an era in which South Asia has experienced increasing polarization along sectarian lines, it is instructive to more closely examine this unique figure who served as a bridge between communities. Continue reading Kabir Oral Traditions in the Indian Subcontinent

Doctor Walter (Translation from the Urdu)

May 16, 2026 Kabir No Comments filed under Kabir

I’m sharing an excerpt of a translation from Bilal Hasan Minto’s collection Model Town. This story focuses on the discrimination faced by minorities in Pakistan (in this case Christians). This particular excerpt focuses on appropriate dress for women–something that we have been talking about recently at BP. Sometimes fiction brings societal dynamics to life in a way that non-fiction cannot.

When the Walters’ house was under construction, General Zia’s “Bakistan” had yet to come into being, and all sorts of new prescriptions had not been written to preserve the purity and piety of women. Even at that time most Pakistani women wore the regular shalwar-kameez. Fashion advancements consisted merely of lengthening the kameez or narrowing the shalwar cuffs a bit. Nothing more than that. It was another matter if someone’s dress was a different type for a special reason, but even then it was expected to conform to the style of some other part of the subcontinent or Arabia — meaning it had to be in keeping with the mores of decency, modesty, and other such things. It couldn’t happen, either then or now, that women from Model Town or Sukkur or Chakwal or any other part of “Bakistan” could say that since this June sun is on fire let’s wear shorts and undershirts or put on swimsuits and jump into the pond or canal and emerge only when needed, to cook food or wash clothes. That way we will not die from sunstroke, nor neglect serving our husbands — the task for which we have been created.

Continue reading Doctor Walter (Translation from the Urdu)

Reflections: Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’–An Epic Portrait of 1950s India

May 15, 2026 Kabir 4 Comments filed under Kabir

I’m sharing this excerpt from an essay about one of my favorite novels–Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy. The entire essay can be read here. I have also reviewed the BBC adaptation here.

There are some works of literature that are like comfort food–ready for one to dip into whenever one is in need of a pick-me-up. For me, Vikram Seth’s 1993 magnum opus, A Suitable Boy, is one such work. The characters–ranging from the anxious and melodramatic Mrs. Rupa Mehra to the crazy Chatterjee family to the beautiful Muslim courtesan Saaeda Bai Firozabadi– are like old friends whom one has missed after a long absence. Every time I read the novel (and I have read it several times) I find new things to delight and ponder.

The novel begins with what in my opinion is one of the best openings in modern literature, one that immediately alludes to Jane Austen. Just as Pride and Prejudice begins with the narrator stating “It is a truth universally acknowledged ,that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”, A Suitable Boy opens with the sentence: ” ‘You too will marry a boy I choose,’ said Mrs. Rupa Mehra firmly to her younger daughter.” With this sentence, Seth immediately lets the reader know what the book will be about: Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s search to find a suitable match for her daughter Lata. The novel opens at the wedding of Lata’s elder sister Savita. It will conclude with another wedding, that of Lata herself.

Though the plot ostensibly revolves around getting Lata married off, the novel is really a portrait of 1950s India, similar to the “condition of England” novels of the mid- 19th century. These novels (such as Charles Dickens’s Bleak House) contain, apart from their fictional plots, a debate or discourse about the current state of the nation. Just as Bleak House draws attention to the problems of the London slums and the need for reform of the Chancery courts, A Suitable Boy includes plot lines devoted to issues of land reform and religious communalism. Seth also includes several other aspects of Indian culture in the novel, such as the tradition of courtesans, Urdu poetry, and Hindustani Classical Music. Continue reading Reflections: Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’–An Epic Portrait of 1950s India

Apprehension (translation from the Urdu)

May 14, 2026 Kabir 2 Comments filed under Kabir

Sharing an excerpt from a translation of another short story by Bilal Hasan Minto. The whole story can be read here.

Farhat Auntie’s apprehension had been lingering for many years. She once told Ammi she suspected Fizzu Uncle didn’t believe in Allah and had perhaps become a Hindu. Farhat Auntie’s suspicion was aroused when Fizzu Uncle obtained the Hindus’ thick religious book, the Gita, from somewhere and began reading it with concentration. When Ammi heard this, she bit her nails and agreed with Farhat Auntie that her husband had always reeked of idolatry. She added without thinking that she was sure he had always been an idolater and had tricked Farhat Auntie into marriage by passing himself off as a Muslim. Ammi also expressed the opinion that one didn’t become a Muslim simply by having the azaan recited in one’s ear. Faith was the real thing.

Farhat Auntie took this to heart. When she reached home that day, she told Fizzu Uncle bluntly he would have to own up to his religion. Had he become a Hindu or some other type of unbeliever? Had he always been like this and married her deceitfully or had he only recently become a non-Muslim?

Uncle replied that he hadn’t deceived her because she had never asked his religion. Farhat Auntie was stunned. She said everyone was Muslim and if he wasn’t he should have let her know. He lied to her. Fizzu Uncle was surprised to hear that everyone was Muslim, but remained quiet at the time. Farhat Auntie started screaming that he shouldn’t sit calmly and think she would put up with this. She would seek a divorce if she had to. Fizzu Uncle reminded her there wouldn’t be need for that; he had already conceded her the right in the marriage contract, precisely so that if one day she no longer wanted to live with him, she wouldn’t have to run around the courts getting him to divorce her. Continue reading Apprehension (translation from the Urdu)

REPOST: Sphygmomanometer (Translation from the Urdu)

May 13, 2026 Kabir No Comments filed under Kabir

This translation was originally published in The Peshawar Review in January 2026. I am sharing it here because it provides some insight into Pakistan at the beginning of the General Zia era. Fiction also makes a nice change from the usual topics on this blog. The entire story can be read here.

One day, Naveed Bhai hadn’t returned from college by five o’clock. Usually, this wouldn’t have been cause for concern — a slight delay in returning home. But, over the past few days, Naveed Bhai had been behaving in a way that caused Abba to worry that he might be getting involved in something that would land him in trouble with the government of the cartoonish General Zia. Sitting at the dining table one day, Naveed Bhai had said angrily, through clenched teeth, that “we should teach these ignorant student union thugs a lesson.” On hearing this, Abba stared at him and said they had sent him there to study, not to get involved in useless things. Naveed Bhai should go straight to college and come right back. He shouldn’t even think about getting involved in union affairs and getting mixed up with dangerous people. Instead of being quiet after this reprimand, Naveed Bhai started speaking even more loudly:

Continue reading REPOST: Sphygmomanometer (Translation from the Urdu)

Some Thoughts on BP

May 12, 2026 Kabir 7 Comments filed under Kabir

I just want to briefly offer some thoughts since it’s now been a year since I have been active in this latest iteration of BP.

Over the past year on this forum, I have seen many members of the “Saffroniate” who seem to have no agenda except to disparage Pakistan. BB is chief among them but there are others who share essentially the same views but hide behind a tone of neutrality that allows them to claim the moral high ground. BB is the most open about his views. No other member of the “Saffroniate” has threatened to “infiltrate” Pakistan and make a Pakistani Muslim say “Bharat Mata ki Jai” at gunpoint. Such an egregious comment had obvious consequences–as it should have. While others have not crossed this line, it doesn’t mean that their anti-Pakistan attitude and Islamophobia is not obvious. The word “taqqiya” has been used in reference to me. Using this word for a Muslim is Islamophobic and completely unforgivable. I find it deeply ironic that those who are the first to complain about Hinduphobia have no problem resorting to obvious Islamophobic tropes.

While Indians have legitimate grievances with Pakistanis (as Pakistanis do with Indians), the way to generate a productive dialogue is not to use triggering language like “apartheid”, “kleptocracy” etc. This only causes the other side to double down on their own position and for people to talk past each other.

I also want to address the passive aggressive complaints that I have banned certain people from my threads. It is a settled principle on BP that authors have the right to manage their threads the way they like. This is a principle that has been hard fought for. I have made my red lines clear. I will not tolerate anti-Pakistan commentary or people taking a hostile and combative tone with me. If you can express your POV in a civilized manner while staying within these guidelines, then I will allow your comment to stand–no matter how much I may disagree with it. If not, it will be summarily deleted.

What’s ironic is that some of those who complain the most about this actually have author status and are able to create their own threads on whatever topic they wish. That they don’t use this status is their choice and not a reflection on me. It’s of course much easier to complain than it is to actually write your own posts. To his credit, BB actually uses his author status to make his own arguments. When he returns from his “vanvaas”, I hope he will contribute posts about Indian movies and TV shows. This would add to the varied mix of topics on this forum.

Lastly, I want to welcome the members of the “Cresenciate”. I hope, with time, one of them will graduate from commenter to author. It is important to have more Pakistani representation on this forum. This doesn’t mean that I always agree with them but it is good that all the work of countering the “Saffroniate” doesn’t fall on me.

It would be remiss of me not to mention those Indians who are not really part of the “Saffroniate” such as Gaurav and girmit who always contribute thoughtful points–though again I may vehemently disagree at times.

P.S. I was speaking with a new friend of mine from Hyderabad Deccan recently. He noted that the toxic obsession with Pakistan is a North Indian thing and that South Indians really don’t care all that much. This intuitively makes sense since of course the worst Partition atrocities occurred in Punjab and Bengal.

Footnotes|Bollywood, Hindu Nationalism & the Erasure of Muslims in India (Kabir’s Open Thread)

May 11, 2026 Kabir 43 Comments filed under Kabir

When does cinema stop being entertainment and become propaganda? Hindi film has long romanticised the nation, but what’s happening now is something else entirely. In the latest Himal Footnotes, associate editor Nayantara Narayanan sits down with film critic Anna MM Vetticad and journalist Raza Rumi to talk about how Bollywood has become a vehicle for Hindutva ideology by manufacturing mythic pasts, normalising anti-Muslim violence and lending cinematic glamour to the BJP’s political project. Using the Dhurandhar franchise as a case study, they ask harder questions about the industry: How does propaganda disguise itself as entertainment? What happens when the line between fiction and political fact-making is deliberately blurred? And what has been lost from the Hindi cinema that once held space for a more plural, secular India?

Disclosure: I know Raza Rumi and have worked with him when he was at “The Friday Times”. I was mostly doing editorial work during what was essentially a summer internship. He has written a book about his experiences traveling in Delhi (where I believe his family was from). The book is called Delhi By Heart: Impressions of a Pakistani Traveller.

2) Returns on multipolarity

By Umair Javed

At this admittedly early stage of a changing world order, multipolarity is cementing domestic tendencies that already prevail. The status quo, along with the economic interests aligned with it, will continue to navigate geopolitics in ways that serve regime consolidation rather than broad-based development. For that calculus to change, the three issues/ contradictions identified above would need to become the organising basis of a political challenge capable of compelling a renegotiation of state-society relations. That is a high bar. But it is the only honest answer to the question of what multipolarity can offer a country like Pakistan. The world can change its architecture without changing who benefits inside Pakistan’s borders. That part remains entirely a domestic problem and a domestic responsibility.

3) Nothing can stop the breakup of Britain. Even Farage is powerless.

By Aris Roussinos

A follow up on Women’s Rights in Pakistan

May 9, 2026 Kabir 4 Comments filed under Kabir

Since we have been having quite an impassioned debate about gender relations in Pakistan (as an aside that thread has close to 300 comments and has become unwieldy to navigate), I thought I would briefly follow up on a few points here.

Firstly, I want to state up front that I do not agree with Q’s repeated invocations of “Onlyfans”. Yes, he is technically on my team (the “Crescentiate”) but I am able to call him out when it is necessary. I would expect the other team (the “Saffroniate”) to also be able to call each other out when it is justified (as for example in the case of one of their members making a direct threat of violence). BP would be a much nicer place if some of the really egregious trolling (mostly by BB) is brought under control.

Q is of course entitled to his views and I suppose that our views differ mostly because I was raised almost entirely in the US. I was also not raised in a particularly conservative family. As an anecdote, my mother has never covered her head. When I was a young adolescent and had a bit of religious fervor and asked her to do so, I was given the firm response that I was living in her house and she would do exactly as she pleased. The conversation obviously came to an end there.

Back to “OnlyFans”: I believe in the right of consenting adults to do whatever they want with their own bodies. This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t negatively judge someone who chose to start an OnlyFans. It is, after all, a kind of sex work and I don’t really understand why someone with education and opportunities would choose to get into this line of work. That said, it is of course the individual’s choice.

Q is correct that Pakistan is a conservative society and that the normative expectation is that women are kept out of the public sphere. The woman’s domain is seen to be the home. “Chador aur char divari” (I would translate this as the veil and the four walls) is an important concept in Pakistani interpretations of Islam.

Some links of relevance:

1) Sindh govt issues Aurat March NOC with conditions for participants’ clothing, slogans

According to the NOC, Aurat March organisers are “bound to comply with all laws in force” and shall be responsible for the “internal cordon security of the participants”.

It further stated that “all participants/organisers shall ensure peaceful conduct” during the march.

The NOC prohibited “anti-state slogans, banners, speeches or activities”, as well as “anti-religion slogans, placards or objectionable remarks”. It also ordered that “no hateful, provocative, unethical or anti-social content shall be displayed on charts, banners or flexes”.

“Participation, support or representation by any banned outfit /proscribed organisation such as BYC (Baloch Yakjehti Committee), JQSM (Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz) shall strictly not be allowed,” the NOC read.

The district administration also ordered participants not to “wear objectionable clothing” or carry out “promotion for the LGBTQ” community, which includes transgender persons.

The “Aurat March” participants have also been told that they cannot make speeches against the “ideology of Pakistan” or speak against the armed forces.

For the record, I am against this decision that the participants cannot promote the rights of the “LGBTQ” community. This is homophobic and transphobic.

2) Review: Kafeel Offers A Rare Glimpse Into How Trauma Travels Between Generations

3)India refuses to criminalize marital rape. This new series shines a light on it

(Hat tip to Nivedita for mentioning this series “Chiraiya”. Incidentally, this word is usually spelled “Chiriya” in Urdu).

The BBC article notes:

Some 6.1% of Indian women who have ever been married women have experienced sexual violence, according to government data. But despite years of campaigning by activists, India remains among three dozen countries – along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia – where marital rape is not outlawed.

Activists have filed a number of petitions in recent years in the Supreme Court calling for marital rape to be criminalised. But the government, religious groups and men’s rights activists oppose any plans to amend the Colonial-era law, which exempts a man for having forced sex with his wife if she is not a minor.

On marital rape, I just want to mention that even in the UK, this was only criminalized as late as 1991, which is surprisingly late. As I mentioned in my review of John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga, marital rape plays a major role in the plot of this novel and was not at all considered a crime during the Edwardian era (the time period in which the novel is set).