Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on jōgappas, a local community of devotees of the South Indian goddess Reṇukā-Ellamma. Based on recent field data I shall discuss their multi-contextual self-positioning within diverse and sometimes contradictory discourses on (trans-)gender and (folk-)religion.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on jōgappas, a local community of male born dedicated devotees of the goddess Reṇukā-Ellamma Dēvi, who follow folk-religious beliefs and practices, and as a characteristic element of their devotion, adopt a female role. With the initiation they become bound to serve and worship the dēvi, and commit themselves to an ascetic way of life. Jōgappas are regarded as auspicious and as the dēvi's spouses; they are even worshiped as divine themselves. Today, however, jōgappas become increasingly affected by processes of sanskritisation and modernisation, as well as by diverse discourses on gender issues. While, due to recent debates on a third gender category, the public has stopped differentiating between various transgender communities, jōgappas clearly distance themselves from hijras, the dominant male to female transgender community. Yet, lines between both communities become increasingly blurred. Furthermore, jōgappas are involved with the growing urban movement of LGBT activists and discussions on rights and health issues of sexual minorities which are shaped by western terminologies. However, the dēvi, and rituals and festivals to worship and celebrate her female divine power, śakti, are still central for jōgappas to establish their distinct identity, as well as their obvious transgenderism. Today, jōgappas are challenged to negotiate their identities and "belonging" within multiple contexts and struggle for cultural survival. This results in a diversity of multi-layered and fluid, but sometimes also rigid positionings of selves. The paper discusses these processes based on examples from interviews and on observations during recent fieldwork in North Karnataka.