HISTORY PROJECT SEMESTER I

RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY OF LAW, PUNJAB

HISTORY TOPIC:

Queer Culture: A Narrative of India’s Historical Archive

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Hanisha Garg Dr Rachna

Sharma

22247 Assistant Professor of

History,

Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Every humble being should always first honour and thank those who have helped him/her
throughout their journey. With that, I would like to express my gratitude towards the Rajiv
Gandhi National University of Law, which has allowed me to pursue good and structured
academic schemes and has added to my level of skills. I will always be grateful to my
university for every opportunity I get here, and for every work I undertake or intend to
undertake.

Further, I would like to thank our respected Vice-Chancellor Dr G.S. Bajpai for steering the
university towards a growth-based and efficient academic curriculum which allows one to
explore and implore their skills and work upon them to a greater extent.

Further, I would like to thank my teacher Rachna Sharma, for allowing me to choose a topic
of my choice and then guiding me from the first rough draft to this extremely researched final
draft. In this journey and afterwards, I would always be indebted to you.

Lastly, I would like to extend my letter of thanks to my friends and family for showing faith
in me in the journey of this book review, they are the backbone of this project and have
motivated me when I felt like I cannot do it anymore. And God, without your eyes on me and
inner strength this project would have always remained an idea.

Hanisha Garg

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BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Hanisha Garg is a bonafide student of the Rajiv Gandhi National
University of Law, and has been diligently working on this project. Further, this project is an
original work of hers on Queer Culture: A Narrative of India’s Historical Archive and has
been completed under the guidance of Rachna Sharma (Assistant professor of History).

Rachna
Sharma

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................................2

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE..................................................................................................3

TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………5

ANCIENT PERIOD………………………………………………………………………….7

MEDIEVAL
PERIOD………………………………………………………………………..9

1. Bhakti movement

2. Perso-Arabic Tradition

3. Sufism

COLONIZATION…………………………………………………………………………..12

POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD AND CONTEMPORARY SITUATION ON

HOMOSEXUALITY IN INDIA……………………………………………………………
13

BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................15

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INTRODUCTION

This project explores the evolution of concepts about romantic love between men and women
who are not related in a biological sense in Indian textual traditions. Because we are
extracting and analysing written materials, many of which are literary, we may learn not just
how women loved women or men loved men, but also how much love was portrayed or
conveyed in writing.

Even between a man and a woman, a man and strong connection may or may not result in
sexual activity. This is why the researcher would concentrate on love rather than sex. We
have no means of knowing whether these bonds were strictly "sexual" or not in the majority
of instances when they are described or depicted in history, literature, or myth. Furthermore,
trying to demonstrate such facts doesn't seem all that significant, especially as perceptions of
what constitutes sexuality alter throughout time and space. We are more interested in how
fundamental emotional or romantic relationships between men and women have been
perceived throughout history—whether they have been acknowledged as an essential
component of human experience, exalted as noble and replicable, or demonised as weird and
deviant.

Many civilizations have seen romantic relationships between men and women as being
entirely compatible with getting married and having children, meaning that even though a
person may be a good spouse and parent, their main emotional connection may be to a friend
of the same gender. The heterosexual monogamous partnership has only become widely
accepted as the primary emotional outlet for a married individual relatively recently in human
history. The previous perspective still coexists with the current one in many regions of the
world, including much of India.1

Although it doesn't always express itself in too lyrical or metaphorical terms, love almost
always does. Each book must be examined in the context of the literary norms of its time to
determine if the language supports such characterisation.

In most cases, the text does not describe what the two did in private together, even though we
may be told that they lived together under one roof. However, when a man is described as
1
“Book Review: Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai Edited Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History –
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities” <https://rupkatha.com/book-review-ruth-vanita-
saleem-kidwai-edited-same-sex-love-india-literary-history/> accessed October 14, 2022

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swooning at the beauty of another man or a woman is said to love another woman, at first
sight, we can be pretty sure that powerful erotic emotion is being described. The manner such
everlasting bonds are portrayed and evaluated is more important than the specifics of the
personal contact.

The debut of Deepa Mehta's film Fire in 1996 was a watershed event in Indian gay sexuality.
'There is no term in our language to define what we are or what we feel for each other,' Sita
says to her lover Radha in the film. While Mehta does not indicate which language she is
addressing, her goals are clear: to reject English as an Indian language and to illustrate that
homosexual sexuality is not visible in Indian culture, to the point where it needs a name!
Mehta's viewpoints are not unique. According to Foucault, sexuality-based identity categories
emerged in nineteenth-century Europe.

Recent historians have called these assumptions into question, and the Indian archive has
several notable examples of queer sexuality discourses. Vatsayana's classic book Kamasutra
would be an ideal location to start discussing Indian sexuality. Indian historians and queer
scholars Vanita and Kidwai (2000) trace these discussions back to ancient India. India's
history is turbulent and complex. It has been a melting pot of several civilizations that have
invaded the country and left their cultural imprint. From the ancient Vedic civilization until
the colonial era, India experienced a plethora of laws and shifting views.2

Based on these observations, the researcher would go on to discuss the books and other
varied literature that provide proof of homosexuality being acknowledged from ancient times.
Before proceeding further, the researcher would want to clarify the usage of the term "India."
With the formation of Pakistan and India as distinct states in 1947, the word India as we
know it today was born. Throughout history, the geographical boundaries of any country
have been drawn at random. Despite its linguistic, cultural, and religious distinctions, the
region presently known as South Asia has enough similarity via shared literary and cultural
traditions to deserve study under the auspices of a single nation.

2
Dasgupta, Rohit K. "Queer sexuality: A cultural narrative of India’s historical archive." Rupkatha Journal on
Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 3.4 (2011): 651-670.

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ANCIENT INDIA

Friendship was one of the most popular types of same-sex love in ancient India, and it
frequently resulted in a life of celibacy or the development of some extremely special unions.
While there are no official prohibitions against homosexuality in Hinduism, India's largest
religion, Hinduism has adopted a number of viewpoints on the matter, ranging from
incorporating homosexual characters and motifs in its writings to being neutral or opposed
towards it. Vatsyayana's ancient Indian classic Kamasutra devotes an entire chapter to
pleasurable homosexual behaviour.

In the ancient Hindu epic, Mahabharata, Krishna and Arjuna, also known as 'the two
Krishnas', illustrate friendship connections that extend beyond marriage and childbearing.
Indeed, 'Krishna expressly says that Arjuna is more important to him than his ladies, children,
or kinsmen- there can be many brides and children, but there is only one Arjuna, without
whom he cannot live.' Many more examples of same-sex 'attachment' may be found in the
Mahabharata, one of Hinduism's most famous epics, many of which Vanita and Kidwai have
researched.

However, Krishna and Arjuna's relationship remains one of the epic's most fundamental
themes. Krishna and Arjuna have a famous discourse in the epic in which Krishna reiterates
their inseparability and shows his heavenly form to his companion. The Bhagavad Gita, the
most widely read Hindu scripture, is a collection of their conversations. When Arjuna's son is
stillborn, Krishna magically revives him "by evoking his acts of truth and justice, chief
among which is the perfect love between him and Arjuna". In this situation, same-sex
friendship, rather than heterosexual conjugality, gives birth to a baby.

Ancient India valued acceptance and respect for all sorts of love. This may be seen in Indian
religious works that contained gay figures and motifs in otherwise neutral texts about
homosexuality.

The Rigveda has the phrase Vikriti Evam Prakriti, which means that what appears to be
abnormal is also natural. According to KamaSutra, lesbians were known as "Swarinis," and
they frequently married and reared children together. Another striking example is Madhya
Pradesh's Khajuraho temple, which was created in the 12th century and is famous for its overt
erotic sculptures depicting gay sexual flexibility.

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The Arthashastra, a second-century BCE Indian text on statecraft, describes a wide range of
sexual actions that, whether performed with a man or a woman, were supposed to be
punished with the lowest degree of fine. While gay intercourse was illegal, it was considered
a minor offence, whereas some sorts of heterosexual intercourse were punished more
severely..3

Another theme is sex metamorphosis, which is brought about by supernatural intervention.

The Hindu deities had multidimensional and flowing forms, and one of their most notable
characteristics was their plurality and diversity. As a result, a god might be masculine,
feminine, neuter, or even nonhuman in nature. One of the three major Hindu gods, Vishnu,
was also known to take the shape of a lovely lady named Mohini. Shiva, another of the three
main gods, approaches him and requests to view his gorgeous female form. He is drawn to
Mohini because he is aware of her uncertain gender and "follows her like a lordly elephant
would she elephant."

3
Woman, Body, Desire in Post-Colonial India <https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=EXmAAAAAQBAJ&dq=manusmruti+homosexuality&pg=PA180&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=manusmrut
i%20homosexuality&f=false> accessed October 14, 2022

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MEDIEVAL TIMES

Focusing on the medieval period, Homoerotics were mentioned in a non-derogatory sense

during the mediaeval period.

1. BHAKTI MOVEMENT
The Bhakti movement grew in India throughout the mediaeval period. This movement, like
the Sufi movement of Perso-Arabic origins, reframed the notion of god and divinity. The
gods were no longer seen as great beings, but as friends, lovers, spouses, and even children.
This allowed the god and devotee to have 'gendered structural flexibility' and flexible
intimacies.

The Bhakti movement provided fresh opportunities for reframing and rejecting traditional
rigidity. New kinds of intimacy beyond marriage and family were discovered via a process of
domestication, by making the deity a lover. On another level, I'd want to emphasise how this
equated same-sex love and desire with dedication and divine love. Thus, poets like
Surdas ,15th century and Tulsidas could sing praises to a divine male lover, whilst female
poets like Mirabai and Vithabai could avoid the restrictions placed on women and marriage.
However, by including God as a member of the family, the devotee was at odds with the
conventional reproductive family.4

The followers and worshippers who wanted closeness with God created intense emotional
relationships. Jagannath Das, an Oriya poet and mystic from the fifteenth century, was known
for his devotion to Shri Chaitanya (who was regarded as Krishna's reincarnation). In this
version of the Vaishnava tradition, "all devotees want to identify with the female who seeks
union with the male deity," according to Vanita and Kidwai.

The love of Jagannath Das and Chaitanya is widely recorded. In Jagannath Charitamrita,
Dibakar Das says, 'Overwhelmed with affection, he held Das in a close hug.' They remained
in this position for two and a half days' (Ibid: 104). Chaitanya referred to Jagannath as his
"Sakhi" (female friend).

4
Vanita, Ruth. “‘Married among Their Companions’: Female Homoerotic Relations in Nineteenth-
Century Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India - Document - Gale Academic OneFile.” Journal of Women’s
History, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 12–54. Accessed 14 October. 2022.

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2. PERSO-ARABIC TRADITION
While ancient and early mediaeval Indian sources include little or few allusions to same-sex
love, with the entrance of Islamicate culture in India, a vast amount of literature about same-
sex love, particularly between males, becomes available.

With the Arab-Persian-Islamic cultural innovation into the subcontinent, homosexuality

received "official favour." Love of boys was practised at the court of Muslim kings during
this time, and Urdu and Sufi poets praised it. Baber, India's first Mughal emperor, wrote
eloquently of his love affair with a lad named Bamburi at Andezan in his book Tuzuk-i-Babri
(Baburnama).5

Medieval poetry frequently describes love and sensual encounters between men from
different classes and religions. Mir's ghazal Shola-I-I-Ishq depicts a love story between two
men, one Muslim and the other Hindu. Males attracted to men met not just in bazaars, but
also in pubs and brothels. Dargah Quli Khan, a princely state official in Hyderabad, had seen
gay activities and homosexual relationships in the life and culture of Delhi, which he
documented in his journal, Muraqqu -e -Delhi.

Slavery and harems were two more institutions that expanded significantly. Domestic slavery
occurred in pre-Islamic India, but it became considerably more institutionalised in the
mediaeval period, with young boys predominating as slaves. A considerable number of
eunuchs were among the slaves. Eunuchs were valuable commodities because they were
thought to be the most dependable slaves. Their connections with their owners were the
closest personal connections they had. As a result, they were frequently entrusted with the
most crucial responsibilities. Eunuchs were the custodians of the harems, the institutions that
characterised the ruling elite's sex relationships.

5
“(1) (PDF) Homosexuality in India: Review of Literatures.” ResearchGate,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228127620_Homosexuality_in_India_Review_of_Literatures
. Accessed 14 Oct. 2022.

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3. SUFISM
Sufi poetry and spiritualism are centred on love. This love is represented in Sufi literature
through homoerotic metaphors, but as Kidwai points out, "many Sufis felt that only same-
gender love could transcend sex and hence not confuse the seeker."

Non-Muslims were drawn to Sufism because it "emphasised personal devotion rather than
religious rigidity." Wafer also claims that ambiguity was used as a strategy to switch between
the erotic and the spiritual. The image was inspired by famous love stories such as Laila- and
Majnun and Mahmud and Ayaz. Kidwai investigates the writings of Amir Khusro, a Sufi
mystic and saint who lived in the thirteenth century.

The Sufi poets' approach to devotion was not a set prayer, but rather the repeated invocation
of God's name, known as 'zikr.' The Sufi tradition's homoerotic love poetry does precisely
that—constant mention of the beloved. Wafer recognises the topic of male-male love in
Persian poetry and divides it into three categories: poets who practised 'shahidbazi' (boy
love), poets who employed the symbolism of male-male love but avoided earning a name,
and poets who condemned 'shahid-basis. About (1733c) and Mir Taqi Mir (1810c) were also
notable poets who depicted homoeroticism in their works. 'They talked candidly about their
attraction to boys, what they found appealing in young males... and heartbreaks'.6

While poets like as Khusro, Abru, and Mir explicitly spoke to the male lover, others such as
Hafiz and Attar employed ambiguous symbolism. Attar saw the beauty of God reflected in
the human body. His poetry ' is between a boy's love and a thirst for God. In his writings,
Attar also incorporates the Mahmud and Ayaz romance. However, other poets, like as Jalal-
Ud-Din Rumi, were critical of'shahid-Bazi.'7

6
“(PDF) Homosexuality in India: Review of Literatures.” ResearchGate,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228127620_Homosexuality_in_India_Review_of_Literatures
. Accessed 14 October. 2022.
7
Kasaba, Reşat. Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 19, no. 1, 1995, pp. 95–98. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43390222. Accessed 14 October. 2022.

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COLONIZATION

The Portuguese were among the first Europeans to establish marine contact with India and to
obtain colonial territories in maritime Asia (Correia-Afonso, 1981). By the early seventeenth
century, the total number of people under Portuguese administration in India was between "a
quarter and a half of a million." This was a modest number, but it was not unimportant.

The development of the British Empire in the eighteenth century also influenced sexual
regulatory regulations in the colonies, which were influenced by a Victorian 'fanatical purity
crusade' (Bhaskaran, 2002:16). The British Anti-Sodomy Act was passed in 1860, and it
reduced the penalty for sodomy from death to jail. However, when it was established as
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in colonial states like India, it was considered a
backward action.

With the beginning of British colonialism, the systematic suppression of pictures of gay
expression and sexual expression, in general, became increasingly common. The imperialist
British effect on Indian sexuality took the shape of repression and dominance. The Victorian
puritanical moral system made strong assumptions about sexual reproduction. This value
system was mirrored in the legislation that was created and accepted in India at the time. In
1860, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was drafted.8

LGBT sexuality was accepted, if not approved, prior to the introduction of this statute. Even
when it was condemned, love between men and women was not violently prosecuted in much
of pre-nineteenth-century India. As far as we know, no one has ever been hanged in India for
homosexuality.' However, with the passage of this Act, the state officially denounced
homosexuality and made it a criminal offence. This is not to claim that colonialism entirely
suppressed homosexuality; rather, colonialism acted as a way of concealing the gay identity,
an inability to 'come out to the public.' It represented the dread of disclosing one's LGBT
status. The marginalisation of gay sexualities was a political effort in colonial India that
presented homosexuality as a "unique oriental vice."

8
Aldrich, R (2003), Colonialism and Homosexuality, London: Routledge

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POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD AND

CONTEMPORARY SITUATION ON
HOMOSEXUALITY IN INDIA

The post-independence period established the concepts of freedom of expression, equality,

and liberty, as well as the Indian Constitution. The basic rights established in our constitution
include the prohibition of discrimination based on caste, creed, language, or gender. The term
"sex" was employed by the drafters of the constitution in the literal anatomical meaning of
being a man or a woman. There was a profound hush regarding the presence of sexual
minorities, as well as their hardships and persecution at the hands of mainstream heterosexual
society.

Even if it is considered that homosexuals were not widely apparent in this time era, the
relatively significant visible community of hijras with a socio-religious identity was derived
from adult adulthood. The Election Commission issued a rule in 1994 requiring hijras to be
enrolled in the electoral records by specifying their gender as either male or female. Recently,
the Election Commission issued instructions to include "others" as the third category in
electoral roles for identifying voters' "sex."9

In the 2018 judgement, Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, Justice Indu Malhotra
appropriately apologised to the LGBT community on behalf of "history." While earlier
sections looked at what was wrong with India's colonial history, this section will look at how
these wrongs were righted in the language of the Navtej judgement.

Because the Navtej Judgment has become a part of the wider gender discourse for projecting
inclusion via the Constitution, it is even more important to allude to and emphasise the
features that made the Navtej Judgment special and transformative.

Naz Foundation v. NCT of Delhi and Others, a 2009 Delhi High Court judgement, marked a
landmark event in the LGBT community's struggle for sexual autonomy. However, it took the
Indian judiciary nearly eight years to recognise gay love.

It all started when the Naz Foundation, an HIV-related non-governmental organisation, filed
a petition against Section 377, claiming that it infringed the fundamental right to health,

9
Chatterjee, P (1993), The Nation and its fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press

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privacy equality, and freedom of speech. Aside from the legal action, the Naz Foundation and
a few others mobilised the LGBTQIA+ community, laying the groundwork for grassroots
LGBTQIA+ advocacy.10

The Naz Foundation's action was an important and visible legal step toward Section 377
decriminalisation. As a result, the petition requested that the Supreme Court exclude
consenting private intercourse from the reach of S. 377. The government challenged the case,
stating that the petitioner lacked locus standi to challenge the statute, which the High Court
eventually agreed to and rejected in 2004. A request for a review of the order was likewise
dismissed by the Court. Following the initial loss, the Naz Foundation appealed to the
Supreme Court, which remanded the matter to the High Court in 2006, asking them to hear
the case on its merits.

Naz was important to Navtej, and the bench in 2018 accepted this in its conclusion. In the
Naz ruling, the Court addressed the rights to privacy, equality, non-discrimination, dignity,
and health based on gender. It significantly altered the concept of "homosexuality" from a
clinical to an inclusive one. This new perspective seeped in even in the 2018 judgement. The
Naz ruling changed the definition of "homosexuality." Instead of illegalized corpses, it now
represents same-sex love and camaraderie.

10
“Decriminalisation of Section 377: The Navtej Judgment and Why Its References Matter? -
Academike.” Laxmikant Bhumkar, 27 July 2021,
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/decriminalisation-of-section-377/.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Book Review: Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai Edited Same-Sex Love in India: A
Literary History – Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities”
<https://rupkatha.com/book-review-ruth-vanita-saleem-kidwai-edited-same-sex-love-
india-literary-history/> accessed October 14, 2022
2. “Decriminalisation of Section 377: The Navtej Judgment and Why Its References
Matter? - Academic.” Laxmikant Bhumkar, 27 July 2021,
https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/decriminalisation-of-section-377/.
3. Chatterjee, P (1993), The Nation and its fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial
Histories, New Delhi: Oxford University Press
4. Aldrich, R (2003), Colonialism and Homosexuality, London: Routledge
5. “(PDF) Homosexuality in India: Review of Literatures.” ResearchGate,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228127620_Homosexuality_in_India_Revie
w_of_Literatures. Accessed 14 October. 2022.
6. Kasaba, Reşat. Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 19, no. 1, 1995, pp. 95–98.
JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43390222. Accessed 14 October. 2022.
7. Petievich, C (2002), ‘Doganas and Zanakhis: The Invention and Subsequent Erasure
of Urdu Poetry’s “Lesbian” Voice,’ Ruth Vanita (ed) Queering India: Same-Sex Love
and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society, London: Routledge, pp.47-60
8. Woman, Body, Desire in Post-Colonial India <https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=EXmAAAAAQBAJ&dq=manusmruti+homosexuality&pg=PA180&redir_esc=y#
v=onepage&q=manusmruti%20homosexuality&f=false> accessed October 14, 2022
9. Misra, Geetanjali. “Decriminalising Homosexuality in India.” Reproductive Health

Matters, vol. 17, no. 34, 2009, pp. 20–28, doi:10.2307/40647442.

10. Balasubrahmanyan, Vimal. “Gay Rights in India.” Economic and Political Weekly,

vol. 31, no. 5, 1996, pp. 257–58, doi:10.2307/4403740.

11. Vanita, Ruth. “‘Married among Their Companions’: Female Homoerotic Relations in
Nineteenth-Century Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India - Document - Gale Academic
OneFile.” Journal of Women’s History, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 12–54. Accessed 14
October. 2022.

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