Manuscript Number : GISRRJ203348
Historical, Cultural and Socio - Legal Analysis of LGBTs in India
Authors(1) :-Sonam Narayan One of the most diverse, multi-coloreds, hierarchical, rigid, and equally forward-looking civilizations with a scientific mindset is Indian society. In literature like the Kamasutra, ancient artifacts and eloquently written descriptions of the LGBT community's contributions to Indian history can be found. In contrast to the present world, ancient Indian socio-legal views on LGBT people were flexible and reasoned. For a long time, academics have maintained that same-sex partnerships were not illegal nor viewed as immoral or wicked in pre-colonial Indian society. Homosexuality has historically been viewed in Hinduism, the largest and third-most practiced religion in the world, as natural and joyous. Many characters in the Mahabharata alter their gender, including Shikhandi, who is born female but later marries a woman and identifies as male. Fatwa-e-Alamgiri was declared in many of the ancient Mughal empires for Zina (illegal intercourse), in which there was a provision of punishments such as death by stoning for Muslims, 100 whips or 50 whips etc. However, for elite, at least, this requirement was widely disregarded in practise. In the 16th and 17th centuries, transgender people held influential positions in the courts of the Mughal emperors. Homo-eroticism was fairly prevalent in Mughal court life. In his autobiography, Babur, the Mughal Emperor, spoke of his crush on a boy. In contrast, homosexual behaviour was frowned upon by the average Mughal. Under section 377 of the IPC, the British made oral & anal sex illegal for both homosexuals & heterosexuals. This chapter will examine how homosexuality, which is often addressed in ancient writings, became prohibited throughout the Mughal dynasty (1526–1857) and was eventually codified by the British as an "unnatural sin." The chapter analyses the origin of s. 377 in the colonial history of India after going over the thoroughly documented history of LGBT people in ancient Indian writings across all of the main religions practised in ancient, mediaeval, and modern India. It tries to explain the fight for the decriminalisation of gay behaviour and the acknowledgment of transgender rights in independent India in the latter portion.
Sonam Narayan LGBT, Ancient India, Hidduism, Veds, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharats, Hijra 1 (1884) ILR 6 All 204. Publication Details Published in : Volume 5 | Issue 1 | January-February 2022 Article Preview
Assistant Professor, M.J.P.Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India
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128 Writ Petition(civil) No. 604 of 2013.
129 Zeitgeist Films, Fire (1996.)
130 Ziya Us Salam, “An emperor with foibles” The Hindu, February 15, 2014.
Date of Publication : 2022-02-07
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Manuscript Number : GISRRJ203348
Publisher : Technoscience Academy
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