Trip Advisor Pro

Bruno Morandi: Hijras of Pakistan

Image Copyright © Bruno Morandi- All Rights Reserved
Here's a real treat for TTP readers. Bruno Morandi is a globetrotting French photographer who managed to document cultures that I am particularly interested in. Although pursuing architectural studies, he started off his career as a young guide in the Himalayas (especially in Nepal) for adventure tour companies, and gradually became interested in documentary photography. He published a number of pictorial books, and is well-known in the realm of travel photography. Blessed with an excellent 'eye', his photography style is straightforward, relying on all-inclusive framing and the power of colors.

For TTP, I chose his gallery of the Hijras of Pakistan. Hijras is the Urdu word for hermaphrodites, but are not exactly transvestites. Hijras function in society only as women, and their partners are men or other Hijras. It is said that they are neither men nor women...that they have men’s bodies and women’s souls. Traditionally, the Hijras earn money in three ways: they collect “gifts” in the local bazaar, in the evening they bless bridegrooms (frequently they cause a ruckus in weddings and are therefore bribed to leave the festivities) or newly born sons, and at night they engage in prostitution. Their clients are “normal” men, who allow themselves both a wife and a Hijra, with whom they may maintain a love relationship lasting for years.

The history of Pakistani Hijras is rooted in the culture of the subcontinent. As early as 1000 B.C., ancient Indian medical texts mention the existence of a “third sex,” when the genetic matter of the father and mother are present to exactly the same degree. An old legal text also dealt with the third sex, which had no right to inherit property, was not allowed to conduct sacrifices, and was expelled from the caste. The third sex was recognized to exist but was discriminated against. Becoming a Hijra is a process of socialization into a "hijra family" through a relationship between a student and a guru, leading to a gradual assumption of femininity. Hijra families are close knit communities, which often have their own houses.

The culmination of this process is a religious ritual that includes emasculation, but, although expected in the hijra subculture, not all hijras undergo emasculation, and the percentage of hijras that are eunuchs is unknown. The Hijra community in the democracy of India has become a potent political force, and although still discriminated against, they are gaining some clout.

I have met a number of hijras during my photo shoots in Sufi shrines of India, but haven't had the nerve to photograph them in their environment. How Bruno managed to gain their trust and be allowed in their houses to photograph is remarkable.

Yes, I envy Bruno for having photographed so much of what interests me, and I hope to follow in his tracks.

Here's The Hijras of Pakistan