[INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

[Eric Steinschneider]

Dear Marco,

Also relevant perhaps is Kṛṣṇa's son Sāmba, who in Book 16 of the Mahābhārata, thirty-six years after the war, dresses as a pregnant woman as part of a prank that does not end well for him.

All the best,
Eric



Eric Steinschneider (he/him)

Associate Professor

Department of Philosophy and Religion

Ithaca College

Tel: (617) 519-5443

________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Дмитрий Комиссаров via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2026 5:54 AM
To: Robert Leach <racleach at googlemail.com>
Cc: Indology Indology listserve <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

This message originated from outside the Ithaca College email system.

And Hasyacudamani by Vatsaraja is also interesting. There are an ascetic and an old bawd, they form a couple. They don't exchange genders, but they do exchange gender roles.

Dmitrii Komissarov

сб, 14 мар. 2026 г., 11:56 Robert Leach via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>:
Dear Marco,

Androgyny probably doesn't count as gender change per se but there is the depiction of Prajāpati in a few places in Vedic literature, not as fully androgynous (in the manner of Ardhanārīśvara), but as a male god with breasts (stána-) that lactate. There is also the case of Indra assuming the form of a woman, this is probably already covered in some of the secondary literature you mention.

Best wishes,

Robert

On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 8:47 PM Marco Franceschini via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
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
———————————---
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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