What Kama Sutra and Indian Old cultural texts says about Homosexual relationships?

 On the off chance that you're an Indian or from an Indian family, you must know that it's a sin to conversation approximately sex to your guardians or to your kin. Indeed I know that it doesn't happen in all families a few are changing, some are attempting to alter and most of them are rigid. But even bigger and culpable sin was to be Gay before September 2018 in India!

 Until 6th September 2018, it was lawfully not permitted to have a relationship as a gay person. Essentially, it was something that you just would be rebuffed in case you have got it actually. But presently it isn't a criminal offense any longer. But did you know that decades prior we had figures and content of homosexual, heterosexual, polygamy relationships? Let's see what Indian Mythological texts indicates about Homosexual relationships.

Gay community getting emotional over the judgement on 6th September 2018

Declaration

           On 6 September 2018, the Supreme court of India unanimously declared the law unconstitutional " in so far as it criminalizes consensual sexual conduct between conduct adults of the same sex".

It was a judgment over the section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) states :" unnatural offences - whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for  term which may be extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine."

Indian Cultural Evidences

Back in 200 A.D, various temples across Indian had sex sculptures in one such place in Konark, a city in the state of Odisha. The Sun temple of Konark is a holistic place with depictions of sexual acts that involves polygamy (relationship with more than one spouse or partner at a time), lesbian relationships, polyandry (the practice or custom of a woman being married to more than one man at a time) and more.

Sensual Figures in Konark Temple of Odisha, India- shows that once India was also a sexually liberal place.

Indian Society and Kama Sutra 

“Kamasutra, the book of love was taught to young students back in the days and this was one of the pictorial media of education for young students then.” says Suryamani Malla, tourist guide from department of tourism, who has extensively researched about the Sun temple of Konark. 

 Hinduism is a religion that has traditionally considered sex an essential part of life. That could be one of the reasons why these carvings are casually scattered between others that portray activities such as prayer and war. The fact that they are set in plain view and not tucked away in the extreme corner tells that their creators meant for them to be seen by all.

 “if you take Kamasutra itself, there is an entire chapter that talks about homosexuality. where they talk and clearly categorize all kinds of homosexual desires. The author talks about these desires as perfectly normal and as a possibility. He did not portray it to be a moral issue or a social/religious taboo.”  says Jithin Shankar, who is an assistant professor of History at NSS Hindu College, Kerala.

Depiction of Marriage in Indian culture nowadays

Sculptures in Khajuraho Temple

Other than the Konark temple, the best preserved of all temples in India can be found in a small town named Khajuraho in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Khajuraho temples were built in the Chandela dynasty between 950 A.D and 1050 A.D. The sculptures portray homosexuality and are depicted right next to sculptures of divine beings smiling blissfully at their devotees. 

Erotic sculptures in Khajuraho Temple in Madhya Pradesh, India

Indian Mythological Texts and references

Many characters in Indian mythology literature like Mahabharata and Puranas talk about characters like Mohini and Shikhandi, who can be categorized as bisexual or gender variant and this shows how normal it was back then to include characters like this to the literature. 

“Instead of getting inspired by the character, even the fact that people had the imagination to write down a character like her, is a big step. They had the literary freedom when it came to this” says Shankar. He points out that during that time and age, even the European literature did not think or talk about something like this. So, for a country like India to talk about this in their literature is a huge thing and it shouldn’t be looked down upon right now.

Wood carving depicting Mohini incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu

Shikhandi is another character that can be identified as gender variant in the Indian mythology. Mahabharata is believed to written around 6th and 7th century period, around the Gupta dynasty time and it talks about a character called Shikhandi who was born a woman but changes sex and becomes a eunuch.  
Even though many literature like Vishnu Purana term it as a negative thing, other literature like Ardhashastra, Kamasutra and Panchatantra talk about it like a normal thing. Archaeology provides hard core support when it comes to that.

 Kripa Aacharya and Shikhandi ( Probably the first transgender warrior in Hindu Mythology)

Conclusion

“Sculptures around the temples like Khajuraho, or Sun temple in Konark prove to us that whatever written in these literature was not a made-up story. It was something Indians back then believed and accepted” says Shankar.

 These sculptures are no western influence for our country, and neither is homosexuality. decriminalization of section 377 is a big step, but the LGBTQ+ community still faces a lot of bullying and exclusion from the Indian society, especially from politicians and religious groups.
So the real conclusion is that if Indians thousands of years ago could accept homosexuality as something natural and common, then what happened to us that we become so violent and negative towards the LGBTQ+ community?
 Well cutting it into short- it was because of invasions happened over India, to explain it in detail we will take other blog to make you understand the whole thing. 
For now we have understood that there is no reason to react in a negative way towards the LGBTQ+ community in India today.

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