Invigorating and Reinventing Sacred Space: Hijra and Non-Hijra Relationships in a Dargah

Banhishikha Ghosh

doi:10.1177/0971521521997963

Abstract

The article juxtaposes the lived realities and perceptions of a hijra gharana connected to a dargah (shrine of a revered religious figure belonging to the Sufi tradition) in a North Indian city, Narayanpura. It addresses how a hijra community interacts and develops interpersonal relationships with their non-hijra neighbours, devotees and shopkeepers, thereby engendering hijra selfhood. The potent element of symbolism enunciated through mythology, rituals and festivals becomes pertinent in constructing and authenticating the hijra identity. Concomitantly, the spiritual pursuits of these groups are intertwined with their material interests in constructing their complex universe. The monument provides a site where shared connotations for each section of people connected to the dargah, hailing from different cultural, religious and gender orientations, are invigorated. The dargah is, therefore, not only part of the religious system, but it is a system in itself. Data for this article have been accumulated through limited participant observation, unobstructed conversations and narratives of the interlocutors.

Highlights

Research on the hijra1 gharanas of South Asia has hitherto sedulously focused on facets of their individual and group life
This article makes a reflexive analysis of the dynamics of interaction and interrelationships between hijras hailing from both Hindu and Muslim communities, their non-hijra neighbours surrounding the dargah and pilgrims of varied religious affiliations travelling from distant places to visit the dargah
This article juxtaposes the perceptions and lived realities of members of a hijra gharana attached to a dargah located in a metropolitan city in North India and of those dependent on them, either living close to the dargah or coming from a far seeking their blessings

Summary

Introduction

Research on the hijra gharanas of South Asia has hitherto sedulously focused on facets of their individual and group life. The dargah, a 15th-century monument dating back to the Lodhi dynasty, is a site of ritual relevance in Narayanpura, a major metropolitan city in North India, and is owned exclusively by a hijra community. The theme of the hijra community renouncing worldly materialistic ambitions and becoming ascetics reverberates in the literature (Lal, 1999; Loh, 2011) Against such notions, this ethnography, centring on a dargah, attempts to demonstrate how the sacred site of veneration serves as an extraordinary space weaving together both materialistic and non-materialistic connotations for diverse sections of people of different genders, religions, castes and classes, into a web made cohesive through everyday communication and interaction. Sustaining a ritual universe on an everyday basis requires an extraordinary range of apparatuses, specialists and common people, having both sacred and profane objectives

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Conclusion