Hijra (South Asia)
third gender of South Asian cultures
In South Asia, hijra are transgender, intersex, or eunuch people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as the guru–chela system. They are also known as aravani and aruvani, and, in Pakistan, khawaja sira. Hijra is officially recognised as a third gender throughout countries in the Indian subcontinent, being considered neither completely male nor female.
The word hijra is a Hindustani word. It has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite", where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition". However, in general, hijras have been assigned male at birth, with few being intersex. Hijras' identity originates in ancient Hinduism and evolved during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and under the Mughal Empire (1526–1707).
In the 21st century, many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by a guru. Over generations, these communities have consisted of those who are in abject poverty or who have been rejected by or fled their family of origin. Some hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirvaan, which involves the removal of the penis, scrotum, and testicles.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q660882. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1206, 1526 and 1707.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hijra (South Asia)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.