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Annual Transgender Festival at Koovagam, Viluppuram, India May 2014
Koovagam is a village in the Ulundurpettai taluk in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is famous for its annual festival of transgender and transvestite individuals, which takes fifteen days in the Tamil month of Chitrai. The festival takes place at the Koothandavar Temple dedicated to Aravan (Koothandavar).
Thousands of transgender people from various parts of the country and abroad have started congregating in Koovagam village in the Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu to participate in the annual Koothandavar temple festival.
Transgender people regard Koothandavar, the principal deity of the temple, as their husband and worship him. Koothandavar is a common name given to Aravan, son of Pandava prince Arjuna. They hold the festival at the temple every year to commemorate the sacrifice of Aravan.
On the penultimate day, transgender people will follow all elements of the centuries old ritual to get their thalis (magalsutra) tied by the temple priests declaring Aravan as their husband. The wedding will be followed by wild celebrations until dawn.
The presiding deity of the temple will be taken in a procession on the last day of the festival. The festival will conclude with the breaking of the thalis and bangles as the transgender people mourn the death of Aravan.
In the Mahabharata, it was prophesized that the Pandavas would win the battle of Kurukshetra only if they sacrificed a ‘perfect’ male from among themselves to please Goddess Kali, who is the keeper of the Kurukshetra grounds. Prince Aravan, a son born out of an illicit relationship Arjuna had with a certain Naga princess, offered himself up, provided a few conditions of his were satisfied.
For one, he wanted to consummate with a partner before being beheaded; since no woman was willing to marry him and be widowed the next day, Lord Krishna took the form of Mohini to marry him.
The following morning, Aravan was beheaded and his head left on the grounds of war for him to watch the rest of the war, the other of his conditions. He saw his widow Mohini beating her chest and wailing inconsolably, bemoaning his death.
This tiny village of Koovagam has a temple dedicated to Lord Aravan, the prince warrior who is deified here.
The marriage ritual is followed in letter and spirit, and for that one day, they attain a position the human society continues to refuse to them, the status of a wife.
On the temple grounds, thousands of Aravanis (as they call themselves) are dressed in their best sarees and jewellery, all lined up to get married.
The sanctum sanctorum allows a very narrow strip of light to penetrate through and is presided by the local priest or pujari. He makes an offering of coconut and bananas, offers camphor to the deity, and recites various mantras to invoke the spirit of the Lord. He then ties the thali.
There are countless men–panthis, lined up along paddy fields and coconut groves. Sex is regular fare here.
I stand amongst the Transgenders and try to capture all the frenzied action through my view finder. The broken glass bangles and thali fall on me. They sing songs about their ill-fated life, and wish their sexual status was only incidental. They cry over their birth, their mixed identities and their craving to find a soulmate. I sense that these tears however go much deeper.
The Koovagam festival is an eye opener for anyone interested in understanding the transgender community.
Every Transgender Want only one thing, that is “Year after year I ask koothandavar for just one thing. Love”
Kanakambaram (Crossandra infundibuliformis) in South called Aboli in the Northern States of India.
Shot during photowalk to Koyambedu Market....
Clicked @ BeseantNagar,Chennai.
This Enthusiastic Photographer is my friend Maran www.flickr.com/photos/maran_d_learner/
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