Nothing queer about it: Androgynous gods across cultures is proof there's nothing sacred about the binary framework

• The androgynous god is common to many cultures.
  
• Attitudes towards gender and sexuality have always been flexible and adaptive.
  

In the cacophonic debates swirling around gender, inside our homes and in the courtroom, the biggest casualty is nuance and civility. Hardened positions and acrimonious exchanges have made it easy for prejudice and bias to take over all discussions—worse still, it has led to a blinkered reading of the past by many.

Contrary to what many may believe today, attitudes towards gender and sexuality have always been flexible and adaptive. That is why ancient stories talk of gods that are men and women, about men who can turn into women or become transgender and about women who prefer to be men. Gender in the ancient world is a rocky boat sailing on choppy waters.

The androgynous god that is common to many cultures is a sign that there is nothing sacred about the binary framework that we now accept as being set in stone. The Egyptian primeval god Hapi, for instance, was depicted as a male with long hair and breasts. Hapi is believed to be the god of vegetation and is one of Egypt’s oldest gods.

The Greek god Hermaphroditus was counted as one of the winged love-gods who were known as Erotes. The Erotes are a group of winged gods responsible for love and attraction between humans. According to one legend, Hermaphroditus was once a handsome youth who caught the attention of a nymph called Salmacis. She prayed to be united with him forever and the gods merged their two forms into one. Nymphs in Greek myths and legends rule over springs and lakes and Salmacis, it is believed, acquired special powers after her union with Hermaphroditus and as a result the waters of her spring could transform men who bathed in it, into softer and more feminine beings.

In India, the concept of an androgynous deity is found in village and folk gods, but is most famously depicted in Shiva as Ardhanariswara—the god who is half woman. In Siva Purana, the story goes that Brahma is caught in a dilemma. The creatures that he has created are unable to procreate further and so, he appeals to Siva. The hermaphrodite Siva then splits into two to become Siva and Parvati. Even though today, the figure of the Ardhanariswara is seen as a coupling of Shiva and Parvati, in the oldest stories, it is Parvati who emerges from the androgynous form of Shiva.

The epics and myths and legends do not prescribe a single-way to look at gender. Instead, they approach the idea through multiple lenses and let the confusion around it flow into the storylines and character portrayals.

In the Mahabharata, for instance, the grand patriarch of the epic, Bhishma tells Yudhisthira a story about a king who transformed into a woman and chose to remain one when he had the choice to return to his old form. King Bhangaswana knew life as both man and woman but preferred to retain his female identity because he said, “In acts of congress, the pleasure that women enjoy is always much greater than what is enjoyed by men...” (The Mahabharata, Book 13, Anushasana Parva, translated by K M Ganguli)

Bhangaswana was not born a woman, instead he was tricked into becoming one when he incurred the wrath of the king of gods, Indra. For a bit of back story, the king was childless and had sought out Indra’s rival Agni for respite from his condition. He was subsequently blessed with a hundred sons. But Indra was seething and one day, when Bhangaswana was out on a hunting expedition, lured him into the deceptively calm waters of a magical lake in the middle of the forest. The king stepped in as a man, but came out of the waters as a woman and after a series of dramatic encounters with former wives, children and courtiers, exiled herself into the forest.

She found shelter in an ashram where she began life anew, with an ascetic as partner, and bore him another 100 sons. But Indra continued to inflict pain on the former king until she finally invoked his name in her prayers. Happy to have a new devotee in his fold, Indra appeared before the woman and offered to restore her identity as a male. Much to Indra’s surprise, she refused, choosing to stay a woman for the rest of her life.

The fluidity of identities and the freedom to choose one’s gender is evident in another story that is commonly told in Gujarat about Bahuchara Mata, a goddess worshipped by eunuchs. Bahuchara was married to a prince who refused to spend a night with her. Instead, he would mount his horse and trot off into the jungle every night. One night, Bahuchara followed her husband on a rooster, only to discover that the prince would don women’s clothes and spend the night frolicking in the forest. When confronted, the prince begged her forgiveness and said his parents had forced him into marriage so that he could father children. But he was not interested in women. Bahuchara forgave but on the condition that he and those like him would worship her as their goddess.

In the Mahabharata when Arjuna opts to spend his year in exile as Brihannala, the narrative makes it very clear that this is not just a case of a man dressed up in woman’s attire. Arjuna transforms into a woman or a transgender, thereby signaling the diversity of human identity. Similarly, in the Mahabharata again, Amba is reborn as Shikhandi—in this case a woman turning into a transgender as opposed to a male Arjuna—because that is the only way she can avenge the insult inflicted upon her by Bhishma. Since he will not fight a woman, she stops being identified as one.

It is not that these stories are to be read literally, but they do tell us that gender is fluid, changing and an important part of individual identity and well-being. It needs to be understood and worked upon, not hammered into a singular monolithic framework.

The writer is a co-founder of The Mythology Project, a centre that is focused on the study and preservation of folklore and mythology from around the world.