INDIA: THOUSANDS OF EUNUCHS MARRY THEMSELVES TO HINDU GOD ARAVAN IN KOOTHANDAVAR FESTIVAL

Record ID: 381601

  • Title: INDIA: THOUSANDS OF EUNUCHS MARRY THEMSELVES TO HINDU GOD ARAVAN IN KOOTHANDAVAR FESTIVAL
  • Date: 24th April 1997
  • Summary: KOOVAGAM, INDIA (APRIL 22 AND 23, 1997) (APRIL 22) 1. LV PEOPLE AT A BUS STOP IN CHENNAI 0.06 2. SV/CU EUNUCHS STANDING IN A GROUP (3 SHOTS) 0.21 3. SV EUNUCHS PREPARE FOR MARRIAGE 0.27 4. SCU EUNUCH APPLYING LIPSTICK 0.32 5. SV EUNUCH WEARING BANGLES 0.37 6. GV NIGHT FAIR VENUE 0.42 7. SV EUNUCH IN BRIDAL
  • Embargoed: 9th May 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KOOVAGAM, INDIA
  • City:
  • Country: India
  • Reuters ID: LVA934DFHS381U2Q78UTCUMSSG6
  • Story Text: INTRO: Thousands of Indian eunuchs have married themselves to a Hindu god and then widowed themselves after 10 days of revelling in a colourful annual festival.

    About 25,000 people attended the Koothandavar festival, held in the quiet southern Indian hamlet of Koovagam late on Tuesday (April 23) under a full moon.

    Eunuchs and transvestites wearing brightly coloured saris wrapped strings laden with fragrant white and orange flowers around their hair and slid dozens of glass bangles over their wrists in preparation for the wedding to their deity, Aravan.

    According to legend, Aravan was a character in a Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, who was sacrificed so the victorious side could prevail over evil. Aravan's last wish was to marry before dying.

    Since no ordinary woman would consent to be widowed, Hinduism's Lord Krishna assumed the form of a woman and fulfilled his wish.

    Eunuchs consider Aravan, known as Koothandavar in Tamil, to be their god because he married Krishna knowing he was a male in female form. The only temple to Aravan is built in Koovagam, some 200 km (120 miles) from Madras, capital of Tamil Nadu state.

    The temple priest presided over the wedding of thousands of eunuchs in bridal finery to Aravan by tying the sacred mangalsutra thread that marks marriage around their necks.

    "God has given me this locket, nobody else, no males," one eunuch said. "God is my husband, he has given this to me. He is my God and my husband." The wedding, held every year under the full moon in April, was followed by a feast and joyous singing and dancing.

    On Wednesday the eunuchs performed the ritual sacrifice of Aravan by burning an idol of the deity on a funeral pyre, and mourned him as widows.

    Wailing in grief, they broke their glass bangles and wiped off the vermillion daubed on their foreheads -- both symbols of a married woman. After a bath, the eunuchs wore plain white saris that Hindu widows traditionally wear and prepared to return to their homes across India.

    Apart from eunuchs and transvestites, the festival also attracted homosexuals and voluntary health workers who used the opportunity to discuss AIDS with the gathering.


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