[INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

[Tracy Coleman]

John Powers, A Bull of a Man
Serenity Young, Courtesans and Tantric Consorts
Padmanabh Jaini, Gender and Salvation

Important sources on the male body as the normative body, the male body as the superior body, and explicit or implicit demonization of women and female sexuality, including (as warnings) stories about sex change in current or future lives.

Tracy Coleman
Colorado College

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Marco Franceschini via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Date: Friday, March 13, 2026 at 2:47 PM
To: indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

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Dear friends and colleagues,

one of my students is writing her undergraduate thesis on the theme of gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature.
So far, we have identified the following cases:
- Ila/Sudyumna-Ilā (Rāmāyaṇa, Bhāgavatapurāṇa, Viṣṇupurāṇa, Vāyupurāṇa)
- Bhaṅgāsvana (Mahābhārata)
- Śikhaṇḍin (Mahābhārata)
- Mūladeva (Vetālapañcaviṃśati)
- Rūpāvatī (Divyāvadāna)
- Arjuna (Mahābhārata)

As for studies on the subject, we have been able to identify only these three:
- M. Bloomfield, On the Art of Entering Another's Body: A Hindu Fiction Motif
- N. Brown, Change of Sex as a Hindu Story Motif
- R. Goldman, Transsexualism, Gender, and Anxiety in Traditional India

I would be grateful for any additional suggestions you might wish to provide.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Best wishes,

Marco
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Marco Franceschini
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Associate Professor
University of Bologna
Department of History and Cultures
Personal web page<https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.franceschini3/en>
Academia web page<http://unibo.academia.edu/MarcoFranceschini>
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