[INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

[Caley Smith]

Dear All,

Your email made me ruminate on genderbending rituals in Vedic
texts....although they are not narratives in the traditional sense, there
are various Atharvavedic hymns that purports to forcibly change ones gender
from man to woman/man to neuter or otherwise emasculate/render impotent.
Perhaps the clearest example is *Śaunakasaṃhitā *6.138 (~*Paippalādasaṃhitā
*1.68)

Here's a quick translation:

ŚS 6.138

*tváṃ vīrúdhāṃ śréṣṭhatamābhiśrutā́sy oṣadhe |               *You, herb,
are famous O bestest of plants!

*imáṃ me adyá púruṣaṃ klībám opaśínaṃ kr̥dhi ||            *For me,
today, make this man a geldling with an *opa**śa*!


*klībáṃ kr̥dhy opaśínam átho kurīríṇaṃ kr̥dhi |                 *Make (him)
a geldling with an *opa**śa*! Next make him wear a *kurīra*!

*áthāsyéndro grā́vabhyām ubhé bhinattv āṇḍyaù ||           *Next, let Indra
separate both his/its "eggs" with two stones


*klī́ba klībáṃ tvā karaṃ
  *Geldling, I make you a geldling,

*vádhre **vádhriṃ tvā karam
 *Steer, I make you a steer

*árasārasáṃ tvā karam |
 *Juiceless, I make you juiceless

*kurī́ram asya śīrṣáṇi kúmbaṃ cādhinídadhmasi ||           *And we deposit
*kurīra* and *kumba *atop his/its head


*yé te nādyaù devákr̥te yáyos tíṣṭhati vŕ̥ṣṇyam |                 *Which
two channels of yours, *deva-*made, in which bull-ness resides,

*té te bhinadmi śámyayāmúṣyā ádhi muṣkáyoḥ ||              *Those two, do I
seperate, through the *śámī-*stick atop two "mice" from yon (woman)


*yáthā naḍám kaśípune stríyo bhindánty áśmanā |             *Like a reed
for mattress (that) women split by rock
*evā́ bhinadmi te śépo ’múṣyā ádhi muṣkáyoḥ ||              *   Thusly, I
separate your "tail" atop the two "mice" from yon (woman).

What I find personally fascinating about this text is the distinction
between imperative *kr̥dhi *where the plant is directed to make someone
woman like by putting on various accoutrements associated with femininity
(I think likely plaits, headdress, veil, other decoration?), yet by
nature of the directive this hasn't happened yet---and the
enactive/performative value of *karam *in which the pronouncing of the
doing of the deed is the doing itself. The target is now stripped of
masculinity and potence. We see after this mid-hymn crescendo a resumption
of poetic imagery, but the appearance of this* amúṣyāḥ* is a bit
mysterious. It could be that it is the feminine distal pronoun refering to
the plant in verse 1, but I am suspicious because the plant should be in
the speaker's hand, so why the distal pronoun? And why the gen/abl here? If
this is done by means of the plant we would expect the inst. Alternatively,
as I have translated here, could it not be that the target has been so
stripped of masculine identity that he is now a she?
Although this just some speculation about the grammar in one AV hymn, I
think it justifies a thorough study of ritually-enacted genderbending in
the AV, but I am unaware of such a study existing.

Best,
Caley

P.S.
Here is the PS 1.68 version










*yathā naḍaṃ kaśipune striyo bhindanty aśmanā |           evā bhinadmi te
muṣkau tasmai tvām avase huve ||          tvaṃ vīrudhāṃ
śreṣṭhatamā-abhiśrutāsy oṣadhe |sāmum adya pūruṣaṃ klībam opaśinaṃ kṛdhi
|| klībaṃ kṛdhy opaśinam atho kurīriṇaṃ kṛdhi |ubhābhyām asya grāvabhyām
indro bhinattv āṇḍyau || klība klībaṃ tvākaraṃ vadhre vadhriṃ tvākaram |
arasārasaṃ tvākaram arasāraso 'si |kurīram asya śīrṣaṇi kumbaṃ cādhi ni
dadhmasi || ye te nāḍyau devakṛte yayos tiṣṭhati vṛṣṇyam |te te bhinadmi
śamyayā-amuṣyā adhi muṣkayoḥ ||*





On Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 4:48 PM Marco Franceschini via INDOLOGY <
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
> ---
> 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>
> —
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20260314/4d9d2b3f/attachment.htm>