The Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj this year had a new akhada (congregation of saints) devoted to the transgender community. Known as kinnar , transpeople have always been a part of the mega festival, but mainly as entertainers for the other akhadas . This time, however, they have their own camp, that too right on the banks of the Ganga, in Sector 12 of Kumbh nagari — as the mammoth fair grounds is called.
“Despite legal recognition as a third gender by the Supreme Court in 2014, the transgender community faces a high level of social disparity,” says Pushpa, a senior member of the KinnarAkhada . Interestingly, at the mela, men and women throng their camp for blessings. “We have devotees gathering here till midnight to seek our blessings,” says Rojabai. A Muslim by birth, she sees the akhada as an inclusive space and a means for the community’s empowerment. Another member, however, jokes that people fear them and that’s why they seek their blessings, believing that they would else have a troubled life.
Laxmi Tripathi is the Mahamandleshwar, or chief of the KinnarAkhada , and Pavitra is its head priest and secretary. Both are brahmins, so, despite the egalitarianism on the surface, caste hierarchies run deep here too.
Pushpa, despite her seniority in the community and her economic independence, speaks of feelings of alienation and depression. Her status message on an online platform reads, “ Meri zindagi me ek bhi gam nahi hota, agar zindagi likhne ka hak meri maa ko hota .” (My life would have been free of suffering if only my mother had had the right to script it). Living far from their biological families, many of whom do not keep in touch, a sense of rootlessness stalks the community at every turn.
Shome Basu is a Delhi-based photojournalist