WHY IS HOMOSEXUALITY NOT AGAINST HINDU CULTURE

Let us begin by saying that homosexuality is not a crime, it is not a disease and most definitely it is not a condition that needs curing.  It is one of the many expressions of the human desire.  Many socio religious groups nowadays are either against the LGBT groups or trying to make their lives difficult calling it “immoral” and “unnatural” but the hard truth is our ancient Indian culture has been supportive of homosexuality. There are several Hindu temples which have carvings that depict both men and women engaging in same sex relations. Gender variations and same-sex relations have been represented with pride in books, religious or mythical narratives, commentaries, paintings, and sculptures.

Traditional Hindu culture may not address homosexuality directly, but sex-change, homoerotic encounters, and sex with other genders are often found in the Vedas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas along with many regional folklore. Nowhere have they made a hoo haa out of it. Our ancient Hindu culture accepted homosexuality as a part of a person’s identity and that was it.

When our team was asking around regarding this topic, one artist who also considers herself an eternal student of Indian Aesthetics suggested, “Hindu mythology has ample examples of deities that are both genders, transgender and/or in a same sex relationship (after changing gender). One of the best examples can be of Shiva as Ardhanareshwara, it is the indicative meaning of a person having both genitals and changing sex from male to female and the other way around. Hinduism may not propagate homosexuality but it has not condemned it in written text.”

To confirm further, we went ahead and asked the same question to an LGBTQ Rights Activist, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. She said that, “My mom worries a lot for my peaceful existence in the society. Our mythologies, our religion, our temples – through their art – scream these facts. And yet, we’re fighting to prove that it’s unnatural and immoral. In a country where we let religion decide what one can eat or not, how are we not letting religion decide who we can be and how we can love? For once, I want to support the fanatics and say, respect your Gods’ expressions of gender roles and sexualities and let us be and love as we wish!”

We asked some more people about the same, and even though we did get some archaic and uncalled for comments, mostly people are of the view that one’s sexuality is one’s personal business and no 3^rd party has the right to comment, judge or harass people on the basis of that. As per our own Constitution homosexuality is not a crime and every human being has the basic rights of dignity.

So as self proclaimed modern human beings, let us at least try to be nice and accept people for who we are and not try to transform or bully .

Image Courtesy – http://www.enlightenedindians.com (main image)