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Bisexuality in the Mythology of Ancient India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Wendy Doniger
Wendy Doniger*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago

Abstract

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Hindu texts call into question our own gender conceptions; they tell us that desire for bisexual pleasure and the wish to belong to both sexes at the same time are very real, but unrealizable, except by those with magic gifts. Many myths bear witness to the existential perception of human beings as bisexual and to active bisexual transformations. Some may show the desire to be androgynous and, contrary to the dominant homophobic paradigm, present veiled images of a bisexuality fulfilled in happiness and satisfaction. The episode evoking Chudala as a mistress of initiation and some variants in the magical forests of Shiva and Parvati illustrate this carefree, joyous way of crossing the gender barrier.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , November 2005 , pp. 50 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2005

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