Introduction

‘Dharma’ (righteous conduct), ‘Artha’ (the pursuit of material success and wealth), ‘Moksha’ (ultimate salvation) and ‘Kama’ (sensual pleasure) are the four ‘Purusharthas’ (vital expressions of human life), which have, since ancient times, been considered in India as essentials of existence (Roy, 2021). In India, ‘Kama’ has been depicted widely and historically through eroticism, is evident in temple sculptures and, some may be surprised to know, in ways that depict various forms of sexuality.

In effect, diverse sexual expression was widespread and largely accepted in India until colonial rule, which increased gender disparities in a society where women had, at least, enjoyed some measure of equality in being credited for and encouraged to work. Following the colonial encounter, they came to be regarded more as instruments of reproduction (Thakur, 2012), and preferably of male children, which reinforced the patriarchal misogyny enmeshed with colonial racism. Women were henceforth excluded from authority or as belonging in public spaces and became associated with the private spaces of domesticity, fitted for household chores, leaving education, culture, science and politics to men (Thakur, 2012). This era not only witnessed women's subjugation to domestic drudgery, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, it also saw the worsening of the social conditions of kinnars (what we might term trans people), who had been hitherto generally respected (Wadhwa, 2018). Colonial rule criminalised, pathologised and thus excluded those thought to represent non- normative forms of ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’, such as transgender individuals or the third gender (‘tritiya prakriti’) of kinnars or hijras. Following Mayer et al (2008: 990), the term ‘transgender’ (or trans) is used inclusively to describe individuals embodying ‘gender identities, expressions, or behaviors not traditionally associated with their birth sex’. Life could be tougher and even more unjust for kinnars. While women and kinnars were both subjected to sexual assault, natal women still had a voice in law. Kinnars have, until very recently, lacked any legal status or support and have experienced limited spaces where their concerns could be articulated and heard and mutual support could be developed.