The Disembodied Self: Examining the Practice of Castration Among
the Transgenders in India
born with. The transgender community presents an antithesis to this dominant idea and practice. The
term, transgender being an umbrella category encompasses diverse people having diverse notions
about self, self-expression and sexuality and groups having their history, nomenclature, beliefs and
practices. In India itself, transgenders are known by different names in different places and has
different sub-groups/gharanas within it. This study focuses on the transgenders located in the
Chandigarh-Mohali belt of India known as the hijras. They follow a unique ritual of ‘castration’ while
recruiting new members into the community. This ritual is termed as nirvana which involves the
removal of the male genital organ by a surgical operation carried by the senior hijra in the group. This
practice reflects the fact that in this context the avenue of disembodying self itself involves the ‘body’.
This paper tried to historically locate this practice of castration among the hijras in the region mentioned and also tries to understand
the social and emotional impact of the nirvana ritual upon the individuals. The study was conducted by employing snowball sampling and techniques like observation and unstructured interview. One of the primary findings of this work is that it is the need for self-
expression, livelihood and protection many transgenders were forced to leave the society where they were born and join different transgender groups. But often in order to join such groups, individuals are forced conform to certain practices that violates their choice. Many times, the process of castration involves the danger of inflicting deep mental and physical injury upon the person involved.