Ardhanārīśvara and Third Gender Devotion

Ardhanārīśvara is a Hindu deity whose name combines three words: *ardha*, meaning half; *nārī*, meaning woman; and *īśvara*, often rendered as “lord.” Thus, Ardhanārīśvara is translated along the lines of “the lord who is half woman.” Accordingly, the figure is visually divided into male and female halves by a medial axis. The male half is invariably represented by the god Śiva, while the female half is generally represented by the goddess Pārvatī. As a half-male and half-female figure, Ardhanārīśvara has garnered significant academic attention. There is ample scholarship on its visual depictions, its place within poetry and mythological narratives, and its relationship to philosophical thought. However, content concerning the figure in living contexts is largely omitted. In this connection, academic works have hypothesized, theorized, and/or passingly referenced links between Ardhanārīśvara and peoples affiliated with “third gender” categorization but done little to investigate these purported connections further. To address these lacunas and shortcomings, this presentation analyzes Ardhanārīśvara as situated within ground realities involving related populations.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of India (in its NALSA v. Union of India writ petition) officially recognized the ability of “transgender people” to identify as a “third gender.” Within Indian legal contexts, “third gender” has accordingly been used interchangeably with transgender. Importantly, both appellations are presented as umbrella terms under which exist a variety of South Asian categories of gender and sexual variance. For numerous reasons, it is particularly compelling to analyze the place of Ardhanārīśvara in the lives of these widely marginalized peoples whose sexual orientations and gender identities exist outside of straight and cisgender frameworks.

For one, scholarship describes Ardhanārīśvara as codifying androcentric, patriarchal values. In support of this view, it is routinely noted that Ardhanārīśvara is declined as a masculine noun in Sanskrit and that the female portion of the figure customarily occupies the inferior left half. Moreover, Ardhanārīśvara has, in some ways, served as a largely heteronormative figure. Associated sensibilities are evident in Purāṇic narratives explaining why the male and female halves of the figure merge together or split apart. In cases of fusion, the god Śiva often grants the left half of his body to Pārvatī as a reward for her devotion or to pacify her distress. In such instances, Ardhanārīśvara is taken to be symbolic of their conjugal relations. In cases of fission, the male and female halves of Ardhanārīśvara split apart and yield offspring to demonstrate to another god that procreation is only possible with two sexes. While these androcentric and heteronormative connotations continue to inform conceptions of the deity, this presentation, through analyzing the devotional lives of “third gender” populations, evidences that Ardhanārīśvara is also innovatively being made to disrupt heterosexual and cisgender dominance. Concomitantly, I show that the “third gender” communities in question demonstrate new modes of articulating their own legitimacy through adopting, engaging, and publicly forwarding Ardhanārīśvara in novel ways.

To substantiate these claims, I examine Ardhanārīśvara within two sets of contexts. The first engages the annual Durgā Pūjā festivities of Kolkata and the incorporation of Ardhanārīśvara therein. Central to the public celebrations of Durgā Pūjā are its paṇḍāls, temporary marquee structures erected for the festivities. Generally, each *paṇḍāl* contains a sculptural image of the goddess Durgā in all her female glory. However, since 2015, gender and sexuality rights activists have been presenting Durgā as half Śiva (i.e., as Ardhanārīśvara). Drawing upon my own research, interviews, and fieldwork, I trace how the figure has been conceptualized and operationalized throughout eight years of Durgā Pūjā celebrations. Accordingly, I demonstrate that Ardhanārīśvara has been forwarded as a marker calling for (and celebrating) the inclusion of those marginalized for their sexual orientation and/or gender identity; as an activistic emblem counteracting regimes deemed oppressive to these demographics, and as a rallying point for the reconsideration of understandings pertaining to gender norms, roles, and identities. Moreover, I delineate how these more activistic aims dovetail with devotional ones. For example, I recognize the creation of a unique form of worship, known as the Ardhanārīśvara Pūjā, by a transgender priest for the otherwise Durgā-centered festival and address the permanent fixture of an Ardhanārīśvara-infused Durgā Pūjā image within a Kolkata shelter for trans folks.

The second set of context, which I engage in this presentation, centers on the Kinnar Akhāḍā. The term *akhāḍā* can refer to a gymnasium or wrestling ground. However, in India, there is a system of martial holy people, primarily men, who are divided into groups, also known as *akhāḍās*, and here the term means something closer to a regiment. Traditionally, there have been 13 such *akhāḍās*. However, this number was controversially put into question in 2015 when the Kinnar Akhāḍā was established by Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a renowned activist who was instrumental in securing “third gender” recognition in India. In an interview I had with her, Laxmi described the Kinnar Akhāḍā as a “transgender religious order” and, appropriately, the term *kinnar* as a “third gender” identifier. In part, Laxmi founded the Kinnar Akhāḍā to challenge *akhāḍā* (and general) androcentrism.  Indeed, people associated with “third gender” categorization comprise the bulk of Kinnar Akhāḍā membership. Importantly, Laxmi selected Ardhanārīśvara to serve as their official god for believing that the *kinnar*-identifying people of her order are similar to the deity in that they, too, are a masculine-feminine mix. Accordingly, the official seal of the Kinnar Akhāḍā features Ardhanārīśvara and a temple for the figure was created on the outskirts of Delhi by a high-ranking member of the order. Again, drawing from my research, interviews, and fieldwork, I examine Ardhanārīśvara within related “third gender” spheres and argue the resonances felt for Ardhanārīśvara therein involve beliefs that the deity exists as a divine model affirming the value of those identifying between or beyond any binarism with respect to gender and/or sexual orientation.

My examination of the above indicates that Ardhanārīśvara is increasingly framed as having vindicating ties to tradition while being innovatively advanced in the pursuit of upward social mobility by those aiming to rectify their marginalization.