[INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature

Mon Mar 16 09:55:42 UTC 2026

This Śukasaptati story is dealt with in Artola's article I referred to in last October (and here attached), p. 65

On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 4:08 AM Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

On the topic of the "third nature", there is also the article by George T. Artola, "The Transvestite in Sanskrit Story and Drama", Annals of Oriental Research (Madras, ed. K. Kunjunni Raja) 25, 1975, pp. 57-68, reed. in Id. The banner of Kāmadeva and other topics of Sanskrit literature and Indian culture (Monographs of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, University of Toronto, vol. 3), Bombay : Popular Prakashan, 1977, pp. 44-59.

About an incomplete gender change, there is the story of the transfer of an embryo from a pregnant female to a male character (and the final death of the latter, unable to give birth) told in the Tantropākhyāna, see  Artola, “Ten Tales from the Tantropākhyāna”, ALB 29, 1965, pp. 30– 73 (st. 2 "The pregnant Vidyādhara", pp. 36, 52-53).

Le 16 mars 2026 à 09:04, Christian Ferstl via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :

In the Śukasaptati story 62 of the textus simplicior (11th/12th c., crit. ed. by Richard Schmidt, Leipzig 1893) a young and handsome lover manages to disguise himself as a woman in order to live with the women of a Rajput. With a special trick he can even dance naked without being recognized. Unfortunately, this story is not transmitted in the textus ornatior (crit. ed. by Richard Schmidt, München 1898).

Best,
Christian Ferstl

Am 15.03.2026 14:32, schrieb Roland Steiner via INDOLOGY:
In the story of King Śikhidhvaja (Mokṣopāya VI.81.11–114.32),
his wife Cūḍālā helps him to attain a decisive philosophical
insight that ultimately leads to liberation by employing a series of
ingenious methods designed specifically for Śikhidhvaja. This
culminates in a double gender transformation. She temporarily
transforms herself into the young (male) Brahmin Kumbha, who, at a
later point in the story, turns into a woman named Madanikā every
night due to an alleged curse invented by Cūḍālā.
See: Mokṣopāya. Das Sechste Buch. Nirvāṇaprakaraṇa. 1. Teil:
Kapitel 1–119. Kritische Edition von S. Krause-Stinner und P.
Stephan. Wiesbaden 2018 (Anonymus Casmiriensis: Mokṣopāya.
Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe. Hrsg. unter der Leitung von W.
Slaje. Textedition 5. Veröffentlichungen der Fächergruppenkommission
für Außereuropäische Sprachen und Kulturen. Studien zur Indologie).
Wiesbaden 2018, pp. 319–474.
- Rūpāvatī (_Divyāvadāna_)
The story of Rūp(y)āvatī/Rukmavatī, has been handed down in three
different versions. See below for more information:
– D. Dimitrov: “Two Female Bodhisattvas in Flesh and Blood.” In:
U. Roesler and J. Soni (eds.): Aspects of the Female in Indian
Culture. Marburg 2004 (Indica et Tibetica 44), pp. 3–30.
– D. Dimitrov: “Some Remarks on the Rūpyāvatyavadāna of the
Divyāvadāna(mālā).” In: D. Dimitrov, M. Hahn, and R. Steiner
(eds.): Bauddhasāhityastabakāvalī. Essays and Studies on Buddhist
Sanskrit Literature. Dedicated to Claus Vogel. Marburg 2008 (Indica et
Tibetica 36), pp. 45–64.
– R. Steiner: “Zum ursprünglichen Titel der
‘Rūpyāvatī’-Geschichte.” In: D. Dimitrov, U. Roesler and R.
Steiner (eds.): Śikhisamuccayaḥ. Indian and Tibetan Studies. Wien
2002 (Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 53), pp.
203–210.
– M. Straube: Studien zur Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā. Texte und
Quellen der Parallelen zu Haribhaṭṭas Jātakamālā. Wiesbaden
2009 (Veröffentlichungen der Helmuth von Glasenapp-Stiftung.
Monographien 1), pp. 322–324 (“Das Rukmavatyavadāna”).
Best,
Roland Steiner
Am Freitag, 13. März 2026 21:46 CET, schrieb Marco Franceschini via
INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>:
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 [1]
Academia web page [2]
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Christophe Vielle<https://www.uclouvain.be/en/people/christophe.vielle>
Louvain-la-Neuve

[cid:26571761-f071-4508-88d1-f252af9b8c55 at eurprd03.prod.outlook.com]

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