LGBTQ Community in Mahabharata.

Shikhandi is a well-known character belonging to the LGBTQ community. However, there’s one more character that was originally a man and assumed the form of a woman and retained it because s/he was content being a woman.

The story of Bhangashvana is narrated to Yudhisthira by Bheeshma. The former asks who obtains a greater pleasure during a sexual intercourse and Bheeshma narrates the story in that connection.

There was a Rajarshi named Bhangashvana, extremely devoted to Dharma. He performed the Agnishtu sacrifice to obtain sons and invited Indra’s wrath. To seek revenge, Indra confused Bhangashvana in a desolate forest when the latter went to hunt. Unable to determine the way, Bhangashvana grew thirsty and became exhausted. Wandering around, he spotted a lake full of water and descended into it and assumed the form of a woman. That change ashamed him and several questions clouded his mind. With great difficulty he climbed his horse and returned to his city in the woman’s form.

In the city, his wives, sons, servants, and the inhabitants were greatly surprised and desired to know what happened. He narrated the whole tale and said that the change may have come due to his discontent with his sons, wives, and riches. Handing over the kingdom to his 100 sons, Bhangashvana departs to the forest and arrives in an ascetic’s hermitage where she gives birth to a 100 more sons, this time as a woman. Returning to the kingdom with her 100 sons, she tells her previous sons that they were born when she was a man and the next 100 took birth when she assumed the form of a woman. She tells them to enjoy the kingdom together.

Overcome with anger with the fact that his act did no harm to Bhangashvana, Indra disguises himself as a Brahmana and sows seeds of hatred between the brothers who then kill each other.

Bhangashvana laments the loss and this leads Indra to reveal his actions and the reason behind it. The former then tells him that Agnishtu wasn’t intended to harm Indra but performed to obtain sons and seeks Indra’s pardon. Content with it, Indra pardons her and offers to bring a 100 sons back to life. Bhangashvana choses the sons she gave birth to as a woman and tells a surprised Indra that affection borne by a woman exceeds that of a man. Indra feels delighted decides to bring all the 200 sons back to life and even offers Bhangashvana another boon of the states of a man and a woman. Bhangashvana wishes to remain a woman and says that the desire obtained by a woman during a sexual intercourse is much greater than that of a man.

The story of Bhangashvana shows that the ancient society was accepting towards the LGBTQ community. There’s no instance of such people being treated differently. Moreover, the king’s open acceptance of his feminine form and statements in support of its superiority is something that would be deemed brave and revolutionary today.

Hey y'all. The cyclone robbed off all of network and connectivity. I finally seem to have some stable network so decided to be back.

Anyway, isn't the story of Yuvanashva also a part of Mahabharat? I haven't read it in the real text but I read it in Devdutt Pattanaik's well known book. That's another well known queer tale.

Also, what about Shikhandi's son- if she/he was trans how was the son born.

Budha son of Soma who started chandravansha was one too.

Originally posted by: Chiillii

Budha son of Soma who started chandravansha was one too.

Budha's son Pururava too was born of Raja Ila, who was involuntarily a trannie. It so happened that while Mahadev and Parvati were enjoying their honeymoon in a forest, Mahadev was so enchanted that he declared that any man who entered that forest would become a woman 😆 Raja Ila and his retinue did, and they all became women. Raja Budha came across Rani Ila, and fell in love w/ 'her', and in the process, learnt of his predicament. They also knew that it could only be reversed by an Ashwamedha yagna. Ila wanted to regain his masculinity before his kingdom mistook him for dead and handed it over to his son, and Budha agreed to help him do that if Ila would satisfy him. Also, this conversion to womanhood wasn't straight: Ila would be a woman one month, man the next, woman the next and so on - a recurring trannie 🤣 So during that period, Ila (as a woman) became pregnant w/ Budha's child, and it remained in him during his masculine cycles as well 🤣 Anyway, by the end of the yagna, Ila gave birth to Pururava, and handed him over to Budha, and the yagna was succesfully completed and Ila and his men became men again. Ila then had no relations left w/ Pururava, but returned to resume rule of his own kingdom. Pururava then continued Budh's dynasty, marrying Urvashi in the process.

The thing that struck me the most about the story was that Ila valued more the son he had as a father than the son he had as a mother 😆 So much for the idea that mothers love their kids more 😈😆

This on the other hand makes me feel that LGBT community was instead a taboo in ancient Indian societies. Hence all these LGBT people had to come up with gender change stories

Coming to Shikhandi I am pretty sure he was either homo/bi or just effeminate. He was well capable of progeny just was not or Less interested in women that gave him the girl raised as boy story

Originally posted by: FlauntPessimism

This on the other hand makes me feel that LGBT community was instead a taboo in ancient Indian societies. Hence all these LGBT people had to come up with gender change stories

Coming to Shikhandi I am pretty sure he was either homo/bi or just effeminate. He was well capable of progeny just was not or Less interested in women that gave him the girl raised as boy story

Except that (s)he married the daughter of a king Hiranyavarma while she was still Shikhandini, and her wife discovered that on their marriage night. She secretly let her father know of the deception, and Hiranyavarma was all set to wage war on Drupad. Depressed at being the cause of her family being attacked, Shikhandini disappeared from the palace and went to commit suicide, when she came across a yaksha, who did a gender swap w/ her. It was supposed to last for a day for Shikhandini to 'prove' her masculinity to her wife, but Kubera discovered this arrangement and cursed the yaksha that she would remain a female forever - thereby making Shikhandi's masculinity permanent. Kubera later softened the curse that the yaksha would regain her masculinity once Shikhandi died.

So once Shikhandi gained this new masculinity, he proved it to everyone, and King Hiranyavarma ended up castigating his daughter for bismirching the name of her husband 😆

Anyway, he did have a son named Kshatradeva, who was killed in the war by Duryodhan's son Lakshman. Even if one rejects the gender transition stories, the fact that Shikhandi not only married a woman but had a son makes him look like a complete male, which then makes the relationship w/ Bheeshma even more confusing. I mean, if Bheeshma did actually fight w/ him, and if Arjun needed him on day 10 to actually down Bheeshma, then assuming that the Amba rebirth story wasn't valid, what was it that caused this strategem to play out?

Originally posted by: .Vrish.

Except that (s)he married the daughter of a king Hiranyavarma while she was still Shikhandini, and her wife discovered that on their marriage night. She secretly let her father know of the deception, and Hiranyavarma was all set to wage war on Drupad. Depressed at being the cause of her family being attacked, Shikhandini disappeared from the palace and went to commit suicide, when she came across a yaksha, who did a gender swap w/ her. It was supposed to last for a day for Shikhandini to 'prove' her masculinity to her wife, but Kubera discovered this arrangement and cursed the yaksha that she would remain a female forever - thereby making Shikhandi's masculinity permanent. Kubera later softened the curse that the yaksha would regain her masculinity once Shikhandi died.

So once Shikhandi gained this new masculinity, he proved it to everyone, and King Hiranyavarma ended up castigating his daughter for bismirching the name of her husband 😆

Anyway, he did have a son named Kshatradeva, who was killed in the war by Duryodhan's son Lakshman. Even if one rejects the gender transition stories, the fact that Shikhandi not only married a woman but had a son makes him look like a complete male, which then makes the relationship w/ Bheeshma even more confusing. I mean, if Bheeshma did actually fight w/ him, and if Arjun needed him on day 10 to actually down Bheeshma, then assuming that the Amba rebirth story wasn't valid, what was it that caused this strategem to play out?

Yes I know that. I don't believe that gender change technologies were possible back then hence if the son was actually of Shikhandi (he might have otherwise made someone else impregnate his wife) then he definitely was a male. The only reason then why his wife could have an issue with him would have been his interest in males or his reluctance to accept her on the first night.

Or else he was simply effeminate something which his wife couldn't tolerate and others took it that he was a girl.

That's why I gave this theory of him being homo/bi or simply effeminate

About Bheeshm's death, as I said in another topic whole Shikhandi thing was just a cover up to downplay the easy defeat of Bheeshm. Either Bheeshm was easily defeated by Arjun and he didn't want history to remember him like so he dropped the weapons on seeing the inevitable death, that or as HearMeRoar he was actually hit by Shikhandi and neither Pandavas nor Kauravas could actually accept such humiliation so they started this story