Performing (Trans)Woman Identity through Nirvana: A Study of Hijra Life Narratives

Abstract

This paper extensively studies the significance of nirvana in the lives of hijra transwomen at the personal, social as well as cultural levels. Life writings of hijras from India so far published in English are taken as the primary source of study. Hijras constitute one of the uniquely organised transgender communities worldwide, with a distinct historical legacy and sociocultural characteristics of their own. Nirvana, in the hijra parlance, refers to the shedding of male genital organs and attainment of (trans)woman’s body through castration coupled with an elaborate set of rituals. It plays an eminent role in authenticating hijra identity by the virtue of its corporeal visibility and ritualistic connotations. Castration, the core treatment in gender-affirmation or sex reassignment surgery, happens to be the crucially inevitable procedure in nirvana process. Hijra life narratives document their innate desire and anxiety for nirvana, preparations for sex reassignment surgery with community support, painful and brutal experience of surviving castration surgery, postoperative care and rituals within the hijra community, and ultimate pleasure of attaining nirvana. This paper employs Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity, and the interconnectedness between biological sex and social gender to investigate the lived experiences of hijras for unearthing the significance of nirvana. The study concludes that nirvana becomes an agency for resisting oppression and stigma for the hijra transwomen. It further establishes how nirvana authenticates their (trans)womanhood, while also bestowing them with the power to bless others with fertility.