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Re: hindu homosexuality
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To: alt-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: hindu homosexuality
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From: sprdon@ix.netcom.com (Stephen "Donny" Donaldson -- Stop Prisoner Rape )
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Date: 16 Jul 1995 09:01:34 GMT
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From netnews@ix.netcom.com Sun Jul 16 04: 51:36 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Netcom
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References: <3tuj63$7cl@babbage.ece.uc.edu>
In <3tuj63$7cl@babbage.ece.uc.edu> STLL25A@prodigy.com (Michael Farley)
writes:
>
>Can anyone give me information on how Hinduism percieves
homosexuality?
-----See the entry on "India" in Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, 1990,
Dynes, ed., vol. 1. Also book "A Lotus of Another Color" Rakesh
Ratti, editor, 1993, Boston: Alyson Publ.
>I was in India last year and was approached by a boy who said that
>homosexuality was tolerated but read articles in the Times of India
that
>said it was illegal.
----It is illegal but almost never enforced. The law is a leftover
from colonial law. I think there are great differences in perceptions,
with the educated middle class most Victorian in their attitudes.
I am particularly interested in the religious
>aspect of it, and whether the scriptures say anything about it.
----Not much. After all, "homosexuality" is a 19th Century German
concept, not one native to India. Which is not to say that sex between
members of the same sex is uncommon, just the concept. The scriptures
have a lot to say about androgyny, which is another way to look at it.
Also there are translation problems. The "eunuchs" in most
translations of the KamaSutra for example are probably sexually passive
males, since castration is not part of Indian culture. Certainly the
KS looks favorably on "oral congress" with eunuchs. Ayappa, a very
popular deity in south India, is according to mythology the son of the
rape of Visnu by Siva! Siva also has a hermaphroditic form,
Ardhanaresvara.
Also there are reports that same-sex activities are common among
sannyasins, who cannot marry.
It seems
>like a lot of temples had themes of homosexuality portrayed in their
>carvings, and I wonder how values have changed in the traditions of
India.
----The coming of Islam brought major changes in the sexual values of
India, and the British occupation intensified the Puritanism. But
attitudes among the lower classes were probably little affected.
> Any relevant information would be greatly appreciated. Namaste
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> MICHAEL STLL25A@prodigy.com
>
>
