Amongst some of the many prominent narratives in India about queerness is the one which says that hinduism is a religion not just tolerant but enthusiastically accepting of queer people. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief came out in support of LGBTQIA+ rights citing stories from Mahabharat saying it's always been normal in India.
A column by Vivek Katju- an ex diplomat, the father of Arundhati Katju one of the lawyers on the side of the petitioners in the same sex sex marriage case and also the brother of ex chief justice Markandey Katju- read “My journey to acceptance has made me a better person and better hindu”
The popular examples used to substantiate these arguments are things like sculptures of people engaged in homosexual activities in temples and folklore. Usually there is no critical analysis of the context of any of these images or lores. The mere visibility of queerness is taken as acceptance. However, a long history of targeted violence against the Trans people in this country tells us that visibility and tolerance do not necessarily mean acceptance.
Mythology:
Hinduism has a very rich mythology that has evolved and changed over the ages to both accommodate and influence the evolving value system of hindu society. The stories are not static and have different versions scattered across both time and the geography of this country. Out of these quite a few mention homosexuality and gender fluidity. This is often touted as an example of queer acceptance. However in most cases the instance of homosexuality or gender fluidity in these stories do not occur due to desire. Instead they are a means to an end. The greatest example of this is the most popular deity talked about when queerness in Hinduism is discussed- Mohini.
Mohini:Mohini is a form of Vishnu. Vishnu is said to have taken her form multiple times for various purposes. According to the Vishnu Purana Mohini appears for the first time during the Amrita Manthan to seduce the Daityas into giving him the amrita so he can distribute it to the Devas. Various scholars have put the date of composition of the Vishnu Purana anywhere between the 400 BCE - 900 AD
Earlier texts describe her as a feminine form of Vishnu and this definition later changes to her being his "maya" (Illusion/ deception).
Another story in the Purana has Vishnu taking the form of Mohini in order to trick Bhasmasura - a demon who is gifted with the ability to cause spontaneous combustion by Shiva- into burning himself. Bhasmasura could burn anything by placing his hands on top of it. So Mohini offered to teach him how to dance and in the process made him keep his hands on his own head. In all these stories Vishnu does not take the form of a woman because he wants to. He does it because it helps him achieve a purpose which is usually to “save the world from going off balance”. In simpler words- maintaining the status quo.
Vishnu also does not just take the form of Mohini. He is a shapeshifter who takes the form of several people several times to achieve various ends. Like say in the story of Jalandhar he takes the form of Jalandhar to trick his wife Tulsi into violating the Pati Dharma. It does not mean that Vishnu’s identity itself is fluid. It merely means that he is a shapeshifter. Vishnu is not known or worshipped as Jalandhar. He is worshipped as Vishnu- a male deity.
Krritvasa Ramayana-One of the many stories where a same sex relationship occurs is in Krritivasa Ramayana- authored by Krittibas Ojha in the 15th century. The tale goes that after the death of Raja Dileep, one of the kings of the great Suryavansh, gods are worried about the end of his lineage. The king has two wives and Shiva appears to them and asks them to make love. They obey him and one of them conceives. However the child born to her is boneless. The queens feel cursed by the gods and as a result abandon the child on the side of a street. The sage Ashvakra sees him and heals the child and orders the queens to take him back. The child grows up to be Bhagirath (meaning born of two vulvas) and is supposed to have brought ganga to earth through his prayers. While there are several versions of the Krittivasi Ramayana Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai note, in their book Same Sex Love in India, that the story of Bhagiratha’s birth is the same in most versions. In the story sapphic love is a means to an end- carrying the lineage forward. While there are versions of the story where the queens fall in love with each other there are very few versions in which the child is born healthy. In all versions a male figure steps in to heal the child. Similar stories are littered across Hindu Mythology. Arjuna disguises as Vrinhangala, Shikhandi undergoes a sex change to take her revenge, Agni engages in homosexual activities for ritual purposes. So while it is true that most hindu mythology features LGBT characters and themes, it is not true that the mythology has always been accepting of it. Here it is also important to note that viewing a certain phenomenon as natural does not mean that one also views it as a positive.Hindu scriptures acknowledge the existence of homosexual relationships but their reaction to it is not mostly accepting.
The text-
Hinduism, as we see it today in the mainstream, has a few major texts like the Vedas, the Dharmshastra, the Bhagwad Gita, and the various mahabharat and Ramayanas. While these texts are not binding and absolute they are used to form a basis of a lot of popular Hindu Philosophy by both experts and content creators in India and abroad. Looking at these texts and specifically the gaze they have towards queerness is important in this context.
Mansmriti :Manusmriti- which is one of the Dharmshastras and lays down the law in hinduism- does not have the most favorable view of same sex relationships. In the verse 8.369 of the Manusmriti it says
kanyaiva kanyāṃ yā kuryāt tasyāḥ syād dviśato damaḥ |śulkaṃ ca dviguṇaṃ dadyātśiphāścaivāpnuyād daśa || 369 ||
If a maiden pollutes another maiden, her fine shall be two hundred; she shall also pay the double of her nuptial fee and shall receive ten lashes.
And in the very next shloka (8.370) it says
yā tu kanyāṃ prakuryāt strī sā sadyo mauṇḍyamarhati |aṅgulyoreva vā chedaṃ khareṇodvahanaṃ tathā || 370 ||But if a woman pollutes a maiden, she deserves immediate shaving off, or the amputation of two fingers, and also being carried by a donkey.(both translations by Ganganath Jha from his translation of Manusmriti with the Commentary of Medhatithi )It is interesting to note that punishing lesbianism is not common in any of the abrahamic faiths. While most religions have some punishment prescribed for gay men they do not even mention lesbians. In this purview it is also interesting to note that manusmriti does not even mention men lying with other men in the entire chapter where it talks about adultery. Sushruta SamhitaThe Sushruta Samhita is an ancient document considered to be one of the most important documents of the Indian medicine tradition along with Charaka Samhita. It is also the basis of the syllabus at AYUSH. Sushruta Samhita’s teachings were used during the COVID 19 pandemic and this act was praised by various media outlets.Within this context- where we still have a heavily funded department of “medical professionals” which relies on this ancient book- we cannot dismiss the samhita’s relevance. It is a book that at least a section of the state machinery regularly refers to. The Sushruta Samhita views homosexuality as a disease or disability. “ A child born of scanty paternal sperm becomes an Asekya and feels no sexual desire (erection) without previously (sucking the genitals and) drinking the semen of another man. A child begotten in a sordid vagina becomes a Sougandhika, whose organ does not respond to the sexual desire without smelling the genitals of others. The man who first becomes a passive member of an act of sodomy and then again commits sodomy with the woman (he visits) is called a Kumbhika (or Guda-yoni and is included within the category of a Kliva).” 36 — 40.An English translation of the Sushruta samhita, based on original Sanskrit text. Edited and published by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna.The samhita further goes into detail about how children not conforming to gender roles are a result of improper conduct of the mother during conceiving them. One might still argue that Hinduism is a malleable religion that has changed over time to accommodate the needs of the value systems of its followers but then that renders this "queer positive" reading of a lot of these texts ahistorical. Then it means that these texts haven't always been open and accepting. They have evolved over time to provide accommodation to a rapidly changing civilisation. In addition to this even during the ancient times when these texts were being written there was no one single school of thought. The attempt to paint Hinduism as one singular bastion of sexual progressivism is simply a bad reading of history.The Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 2013 called homosexuality "an imported disease". Similarly in 2018 Subramanyam Swamy said that being gay is anti hindutva and " needs a cure". Recently a trans woman Trixie came out with her accounts against a 'Baba' who claims to cure homosexuality and transgenderism through prayers. According to Indrajeet Ghorpade, the founder and curator of Yes, We Exist, an online LGBTQIA+ advocacy project explained, the founder of LGBTQIA+ awareness initiative, social media is a fertile ground for such babas who claim to pray the gay away. They use the platform to not just spread hate but to also monetize their propaganda by offering to cure your child of this sickness.So why do so many prominent Hindu leaders like Bhagwat indulge in it? In what.
Pinkwashing-In early 2018 a couple of masked protestors disrupted an event at School of Oriental and African Studies with a rainbow flag saying "Gay for J&K". The event was held shortly after the abrogation of article 370. The motive of the protest and a simultaneous propaganda being run by BJP's troll army was that the abrogation of 370 would result in upliftment of queer community in Kashmir. This was the start of Hindutva groups' attempts at pinkwashing.
Pinkwashing is when a nation-state justifies its atrocities upon a community by claiming that the community is especially queerphobic and the queer community there is in dire need of saving. The best example of this practice internationally is Israel which uses this technique to justify its exploits in the West Bank.
The narrative of Hinduism as an especially accepting and tolerant religion helps paint a picture where Hinduism is a liberating faith and all homogenisation attempts by it are emancipatory in nature. When even an elementary understanding of the religion would tell one otherwise. The same texts that criminalise homosexuality in Hinduism are the ones that also prescribe harsh punishments for men who dare to woo a woman from a higher caste. Hindu society even today remains extremely segregated and marriages even within educated NRI Indians seem to be based on caste to a certain extent. Honour Killings of intercaste and queer couples are two realities that coexist.
Can a faith where all heterosexual couples also do not have the right to marry be ever truly be used as a shining example of any sort of conjugal equality?

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