#shiva god

[yourcoffeeguru]

Vintage Hindu God Dancing Shiva Nataraja Lord of Dance Solid Cast Brass // swtradepost - shop

[rrcraft-and-lore]

In addition to my Monkey Man post from earlier, the always kind & sweet Aparna Verma (author of The Phoenix King, check it out) asked that I do a thread on Hijras, & more of the history around them, South Asia, mythology (because that's my thing), & the positive inclusion of them in Monkey Man which I brought up in my gushing review.

Hijra: They are the transgender, eunuch, or intersex people in India who are officially recognized as the third sex throughout most countries in the Indian subcontinent. The trans community and history in India goes back a long way as being documented and officially recognized - far back as 12th century under the Delhi Sultanate in government records, and further back in our stories in Hinduism. The word itself is a Hindi word that's been roughly translated into English as "eunuch" commonly but it's not exactly accurate.

Hijras have been considered the third sex back in our ancient stories, and by 2014 got official recognition to identify as the third gender (neither male or female) legally. Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India have accepted: eunuch, trans, intersex people & granted them the proper identification options on passports and other government official documents.

But let's get into some of the history surrounding the Hijra community (which for the longest time has been nomadic, and a part of India's long, rich, and sometimes, sadly, troubled history of nomadic tribes/people who have suffered a lot over the ages. Hijras and intersex people are mentioned as far back as in the Kama Sutra, as well as in the early writings of Manu Smriti in the 1st century CE (Common Era), specifically said that a third sex can exist if possessing equal male and female seed.

This concept of balancing male/female energies, seed, and halves is seen in two places in South Asian mythos/culture and connected to the Hijra history.

First, we have Aravan/Iravan (romanized) - who is also the patron deity of the transgender community. He is most commonly seen as a minor/village deity and is depicted in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Aravan is portrayed as having a heroic in the story and his self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali earns him a boon.

He requests to be married before his death. But because he is doomed to die so shortly after marriage, no one wants to marry him.

No one except Krishna, who adopts his female form Mohini (one of the legendary temptresses in mythology I've written about before) and marries him. It is through this union of male, and male presenting as female in the female form of Mohini that the seed of the Hijras is said to begun, and why the transgender community often worships Aravan and, another name for the community is Aravani - of/from Aravan.

But that's not the only place where a gender non conforming divine representation can be seen. Ardhanarishvara is the half female form of lord Shiva, the destroyer god.

Shiva combines with his consort Parvarti and creates a form that represents the balancing/union between male/female energies and physically as a perfectly split down the middle half-male half-female being. This duality in nature has long been part of South Asian culture, spiritual and philosophical beliefs, and it must be noted the sexuality/gender has often been displayed as fluid in South Asian epics and the stories. It's nothing new.

Many celestial or cosmic level beings have expressed this, and defied modern western limiting beliefs on the ideas of these themes/possibilities/forms of existence.

Ardhanarishvara signifies "totality that lies beyond duality", "bi-unity of male and female in God" and "the bisexuality and therefore the non-duality" of the Supreme Being.

Back to the Hijra community.

They have a complex and long history. Throughout time, and as commented on in the movie, Monkey Man, the Hijra community has faced ostracization, but also been incorporated into mainstream society there. During the time of the Dehli Sultanate and then later the Mughal Empire, Hijras actually served in the military and as military commanders in some records, they were also servants for wealthy households, manual laborers, political guardians, and it was seen as wise to put women under the protection of Hijras -- they often specifically served as the bodyguards and overseers of harems. A princess might be appointed a Hijra warrior to guard her.

But by the time of British colonialism, anti-Hijra laws began to come in place folded into laws against the many nomadic tribes of India (also shown in part in Monkey Man with Kid (portrayed by Dev Patel) and his family, who are possibly

one of those nomadic tribes that participated in early theater - sadly by caste often treated horribly and relegated to only the performing arts to make money (this is a guess based on the village play they were performing as no other details were given about his family).

Hijras were criminalized in 1861 by the Indian Penal Code enforced by the British and were labeled specifically as "The Hijra Problem" -- leading to an anti-Hijra campaign across the subcontinent with following laws being enacted: punishing the practices of the Hijra community, and outlawing castration (something many Hijra did to themselves). Though, it should be noted many of the laws were rarely enforced by local Indian officials/officers. But, the British made a point to further the laws against them by later adding the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871, which targeted the Hijra community along with the other nomadic Indian tribes - it subjected them to registration, tracking/monitoring, stripping them of children, and their ability to sequester themselves in their nomadic lifestyle away from the British Colonial Rule.

Today, things have changed and Hijras are being seen once again in a more positive light (though not always and this is something Monkey Man balances by what's happened to the community in a few scenes, and the heroic return/scene with Dev and his warriors). All-hijra communities exist and sort of mirror the western concept of "found families" where they are safe haven/welcoming place trans folks and those identifying as intersex.

These communities also have their own secret language known as Hijra Farsi, which is loosely based on Hindi, but consists of a unique vocabulary of at least 1,000 words.

As noted above, in 2014, the trans community received more legal rights.

Specifically: In April 2014, Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India.

Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature. Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

I've included some screenshots of (some, not all, and certainly not the only/definitive reads) books people can check out about SOME of the history. Not all again. This goes back ages and even our celestial beings/creatures have/do display gender non conforming ways.

There are also films that touch on Hijra history and life. But in regards to Monkey Man, which is what started this thread particularly and being asked to comment - it is a film that positively portrayed India's third sex and normalized it in its depiction. Kid the protagonist encounters a found family of Hijras at one point in the story (no spoilers for plot) and his interactions/acceptance, living with them is just normal. There's no explaining, justifying, anything to/for the audience. It simply is. And, it's a beautiful arc of the story of Kid finding himself in their care/company.

[whimsyvixen]

I have something inappropriate to say... 🙋

...I can take them.

[darkfluffydragon]

Here are some sketches I drew of Phantasmagoria Corrupted Burning Spice (Change) and Mystic Flour (Volition) :D

Just a fun lil thing while I debate to myself over whether to focus on the world-building or the story. Also Change as a cowboy..just for fun :')

[madcat-world]

Age of Pantheons: Shiva (2 of 4) - Federica Costantini

[truffle-draws-turtles]

KNEEL DOWN TO THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!

.

Shiva-Donnie-AU anyone?

.

My Patreon 18+

.

Attention please.

The turtles you find on my site are all aged up, unless they are turtle tots (obviously)

[nivienne-grovant]

Saphic Sundays - Faith

"...thank you."

[h0bg0blin-meat]

देहांत

[achyutapriya]

जटा टवी गलज्जलप्रवाह पावितस्थले गलेऽव लम्ब्यलम्बितां भुजंगतुंग मालिकाम्‌।डमड्डमड्डमड्डमन्निनाद वड्डमर्वयं चकारचण्डताण्डवं तनोतु नः शिव: शिवम्‌ ||

With his neck consecrated by the flow of water that flows from his hair, And on his neck a snake, which is hung like a garland, And the Damaru drum that emits the sound "Damat Damat Damat Damat", Lord Shiva did the auspicious dance of Tandava. May he give prosperity to all of us.

[Happy Father's Day to the universal father💙💙]

[bones4thecats]

Have you watched "the apothecary diaries" anime? If yes, can you do a maomao reader x shiva, apollo and Aphrodite (separately) from record of ragnarok?

A/N: I have not watched ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ before, so I read up about Maomao and her personality, so there are no events from the anime stated, anyways, enjoy~~

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

🪩 You were by far one of the most curious humans he had ever met in his life

🪩 Shiva would have someone watch you when he was busy, either that or he would have you by his side, as you were prone to getting curious and getting into trouble

🪩 You first met Shiva when your adoptive father, Luomen, was called to help figure out an illness that one of the Gods have contracted from someone that had visited their temple a while before

🪩 The travel was long, but when you arrived and first looked into the eyes of the concerned Shiva, you smiled at him and reassured that Parvati would be fine, and that it was just a common God-cold, something that can happen at random

🪩 After that, he kept in contact with you

🪩 With spending most of your time in Valhalla’s Ancient China, it was hard to get any letters to you without something happening along the way to where you couldn’t answer for weeks

🪩 He would move from asking about illnesses and medicines to talking about his wives and the possibility of you becoming one

🪩 He flustered you with that question

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

☀️ He met you when Zeus needed a doctor to figure out why he couldn’t stand that day, and Apollo was the only person who had major amounts of connections to the best healers ever, because others didn’t need them

☀️ You walked into the Supreme Gods’ home and began to evaluate his pain before giving him medicine to help out

☀️ Apollo watched you fix him, and he was quite enamored with how you worked

☀️ As the God of not only the Sun but Healing and Diseases to, he understood your words right after you said them, and he would have to, in his words, dumb it down for the others in the room

☀️ Whenever he saw you again, most likely because a nymphs had gotten sick, or possibly another issue, he would always be the one to help translate what you said to the others

☀️ You and him bonded over your knowledge in medicine and diseases, to the point where you think he and your father may end up being best friends!

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・

💐 She took care of herself so well that it was once in a blue moon that she got sick

💐 So in this case, one of her guards had gotten ill and no doctor she had called in could help him out, and it was stressing her out to the point of angry outbursts

💐 Ares and Heracles, who noticed her outbursts, had called into Hermes so he could get the best doctor for this guard

💐 That was when he brought you in

💐 You had diagnosed many different Gods, nymphs, and humans with illnesses that hadn't be documented or were unusual to them

💐 The way you carefully handled the male made Aphrodite flush, and the way you spoke? Goosebumps

💐 Aphrodite had never felt about someone like this before, as she normally only felt lust for people, not love, and it freaked her out to the point where she asked you what it meant

💐 Let's just say it was an entertaining time explaining to her why your face became a cherry

[gretahayes]

Green Arrow (1988) #135

this exchange is fascinating to me

[zeherili-ankhein]

Shiva, Indra and Lakshmi fighting over Mohini.

LMFAOO

That would be hilarious actually- but Lakshmi wins. Always. 🗿

(literally don't know what else to say- T_T)

But she can like enchant them all and run away if she ever feels overwhelmed tho...

[ms-potato]

"He can fix me" I say, as I point at lord shiva.

[seilnakyle]

Birds of Prey (1999) #93 / #94 - Birds of Prey (2023) #7

[sketchy-owl]

~RECORD OF RAGNAROK no sense 🤪~

Episode 8

*when you're a tiny woman among the gods but you are still one of the primordial deities*

Shiva:.... How tall are you?

Y/n: It doesn't matter how tall I am in centimetres...

Shiva:???

Y/N: It matters that as your royal highness I will be the tallest among you all*smirks *

Shiva; Wanna fight woman?*clearly pissed

Y/N: *dark menacing aura * Are you sure you can win....brat?

Shiva......nevermind.

Y/N: As I thought.

[truffle-draws-turtles]

"Donnie, do you know who blew up the EPF headquarters and stole all the uranium stored there?"

Look at this fucking bad liar...

.

My Laptop nearly died when I rendered this guy...

.

My Patreon 18+

.

Attention please.

The turtles you find on my site are all aged up, unless they are turtle tots (obviously)