Queer types in ancient India. The categorisation and representation of non-heterosexual individuals in some passages of Vedic literature

Abstract

Vedic culture has used a variety of terms to denote male individuals who do not fit within the canons of the heterosexual norm. Often, in the past, Vedic philology has provided homologating translations of these terms from outdated cultural constructs and imagery, which have often reduced differences to univocal meanings. In order to understand non-heteronormative sexualities and sexual practices, I have adopted in this study an approach based on the idea of the construction of the concept of gender and which aims to describe behaviour beyond definitions. The analysis of the semantic and conceptual domains identified by the different terms within the Vedic texts, as well as of the history of their use in different contexts, allows us to restore the variety of external manifestations that do not conform to social expectations related to a person’s sex.