The Third Gender: Jogta!!

Raju (Jogta).

‘Jogtas’ are the other form of Third Gender. This tradition was started in Karnataka and later on it got vast. These people are devotees of Goddess Yellamma (Renuka). As per their tradition rules these people are slaves of Goddess Yellamma, they have to spend their whole life in worshipping her. The male are known as Jogta & females are known as Jogtins.

The traditional history of this community was revealed by Raju.

Raju, born in Mumbai, Dockyard Road. He follows this Jogta Community. He stays with his family (father, mother, 1 brother, 1 sister.) in Mumbai. Raju says, he was declared as Jogta by his mother when he was 16! She said Raju’s bladder was bleeding and thus he was accepted as Jogta by Godess Yellamma. Even he accepted it as a truth of his life!

The traditional belief of this community is if a female finds a deadlocks in her hair so she is declared as Jogtin, Female slaves of Goddess & if a male’s penis starts bleeding then it is believed as that male is going through menstruation, they are declared as Jogta.

Raju says, he gets possessed by Goddess Yellamma’s soul when devotional 

Raju says, he is happy with his life because this is what he was been taught from the start of his life. He feels proud because according to their belief Goddess Yellamma chose him in this community to serve her.

Even though, Raju believes in this community his thoughts are modernised. He says, if you are declared as a Jogta then too you got a right to oppose them if you are not ready to be so; like how he did. He accepted just because it was right according to him but it’s not necessary to be same for all.

So, this was another sweet & knowledgeable conversation with Raju. 

The Third Gender: Eunuch!!

Sarita Jangam, Lingam (Sarita Mausi).

Other Mythological facts which was uncovered by Mausi were, in Tamil Nadu eunuchs are known as  Airavanis! Because they are married to Lord Airavan. There is a story behind this i.e. “Airavan was cursed by a Monk that he cannot get married in his whole life span, and due to which he was upset  all the time, later at the time of his death, Lord Krishna asked him what is your last wish i can complete your at least one wish so tell me. On that Lord Airavan replied that his last wish is to Marry at least one time before dying! Lord Krishna was confused what to do!  Because no lady was ready to marry him just for a day and after that whole life to spend as widowed, which was right according to Lord Krishna, so after thinking too much he decided to convert himself into a lady for a day & he got married to Airavan”. 
That was the reason this tradition took place & all Eunuchs get married to Airavan. 

Lord Airavan’s temple is located at Koovagam in Tamil Nadu. It is his only temple in India & all these Airavanis on wedding day go there & get married to their lord. On the very next day these Airavanis get widowed as per their tradition. 

So this was my sweet and knowledgeable conversation with Sarita Mausi.

The Third Gender: Eunuch!!

Sarita Jangam, Lingam (Sarita Mausi).

‘The Third Gender’ is one of the taboo things in India! These are the people who face huge ignorance in society; they are not treated as a human being. They are been abused and harassed by general people, from past years! In India third genders are known as ‘Hijra’(Eunuch). The official count of hijras in India is 4.9lakhs according to census 2014. The literacy rate of Hijras is very low because they drop out of school because of harassment and discrimination they face. These third gender people are facing a lot of problems and Sarita Mausi is one of them.

Sarita Jangam, Lingam (Sarita Mausi), was born in 'Mysore, India'. She have a very sweet family at her village (Mom,Dad,2 Sisters and 4 Brothers) all are farmers in her family was facing poverty issues, due to which she came to Mumbai when she was the 14 to earn, Eunuchs are blessed by god!! They bless people and earn money in form of 'Shagun'(Omen); This is how Mausi earn money i.e. By blessing newly wedded couples and new born babies. But Now a days Mausi is facing problems to do so! People refuse to enter her in buildings and locality and also refuse to give her money because of some 'Fake Eunuchs'! Yes!! Fake!! These are the one which are found in Trains and at Traffic signals; who irritates male by touching their sexual parts. Mausi says, these eunuchs are dressed like the real ones and misuse their powers! They do so for begging sake and they have families like general people (Husband, Wife and Kids). She says that she is not against them because she can also feel the pain as its hard to survive in city like Mumbai; But! At the same moment she says that they should not spoil prestige and name of real eunuchs because after all its their profession. Mausi says, She wishes to stop all these things because of these fake ones real onse name is getting spoilt.. She also tried to defend them but she is weak in front of those fake ones because they are male in real and mausi is third gender.. She needs help for People like us who gives money to these fake ones.. She says if we will not give money automatically they will stop misuse of authorities of real hijras Other than public.. she also says that These Fake Eunuchs have 7 'Patel' (leaders,head) who can control them from misusing the authorities...
These 7 Patel stays at 'byculla'  they alot areas to these fake Eunuchs..  Mausi says Other than byculla these fake ones are also found in 'Daulatnagar,Borivali (E)'  Guys these can be alerted areas for us to recognise if these are fake ones or the real one. Mausi’s another message to this world is that not to leave a child on streets or to an orphanage if he is an Eunuch! She has also shared some sad things about her personal life i.e. he family is suffering many problems because of shortage of water in her hometown. Water is very much essential to survive, it is one of the basic needs, but the basic need is not fulfilled by Indian government due to which farmers and other needy persons have to face such issues!! Mausi wishes if government could work on this issue so that she can go back to her family and stop earning on here because here she is getting ignorance and her hometown gives her the privilege.