Why Eunuchs are allowed to coerce money? Image Courtesy – Wikipedia
We all know eunuchs occupy a distinct place in Hinduism. Dressed in dazzling saris, faces heavily layered in inexpensive makeup they knock on car windows with the edge of a coin. These are not your regular vagabonds on the street. With masculine expressions yelling, palm meeting crossways in a trademark clap; they plead to the onlooker and want cash. If anyone denies giving the cash, they raise their saris and show their genital parts right in their faces. They dance at birth rituals and sing bawdy songs and leave with handfuls of rupees.
Now the question is why the eunuchs in India are permissible to coerce money from people? And, why Indian police remain quiet against eunuchs’ demand for money?
Sometimes passengers have protested of annoyance by eunuchs who frequently board trains and coerce money from them. Some of these passengers also had to face exploitations, in the worst cases physical attack too, in case they declined to provide into such demands.
Eunuchs face extreme discrimination and plead to live. By the time of Mahabharata, one thousand years later, the place of eunuchs had enhanced very little. To be a eunuch was a curse. No one was permitted to accept, no one was acceptable to eat food prepared by them, and they were excluded from each ceremony. All at once, the blessing of a eunuch is considered to be remarkably strong. It can make a barren woman fertile. It can abolish the sinful eye. At the birth festivity of a male child, the nonappearance of a eunuch would almost nullify the entire ritual.
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There is a myth that Rama while leaving for the woodland upon being exiled from the realm for 14 years, turns around to his admirers and asks all the men and women to return to the city. Among his admirers’ eunuchs alone do not feel bound by this way and choose to stay with him.
Enthralled with their dedication, Rama consents them the power to confer blessings on people on auspicious events like childbirth and wedding, and also at inaugural functions. This set the stage for the tradition in which eunuchs sing, dance, and confer blessings. But now, keeping in mind the wretched state them one can say that this community requires the blessings so that they can get self-respect, admiration, and most of the most important identity.
Eunuchs in India have almost no safe places, not even in their families, where they are secure from mistreatment. The key issue behind the violence is that society is not able to come to terms with the fact that eunuchs do not conform to the conventional gender separations. Furthermore, maximum eunuchs have a lower-middle-class background, which makes them helpless to harassment by the police. The regular violence that eunuchs face is reinforced by the family, media, and by the legal system.
The third gender of society has little choice. For all these reasons, no legal action can be taken against third genders unless they break the rule. The welfare board in India has done little for them. It’s easy to say eunuchs should not plead or coerce money from parents of babies but what alternative career choices do they have?
Are there any proper occupations for them?
Are there any reservations?
What will they do?
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At present they have something to be feared of. Not one person wants to get associated with one of them. For this harassment, they are earning money. There is no distinct law for them and thus cases of harassment against them are not looked upon. In India, they do not get sufficient space in the environs, office, and not even in the families. In this country, Eunuchs are allowed to coerce money from parents of babies.
Eunuchs might have an accepted place in Indian society, but they are a highly deprived social minority. The eunuchs’ community in India, which has a recorded past, was considered to have extraordinary powers because of its third-gender position.
The eunuchs’ community is deprived of some rights under civil law because Indian law recognizes only two sexes. This means that eunuchs do not have the privileges to vote, marry, and own a ration card, a passport, or a driving license or claim employment benefits. Why eunuchs are allowed to coerce money from public, rather they should be provided with alternative respective professions.
On the other hand, people give them money to get their blessings and to avoid their curses and maltreatment. Even Indian government offers a special annuity to them. Numerous Indians believe eunuchs have the power to bless or curse. By giving blessings and collect congratulatory donations on the occasion of births and matrimonies and in public places, they find a form of income.
To analyze the above scenarios, we should give them a proper place in society. We want to allow them to go to the cafeteria, visit cinema halls and Country Park. And they should educate themselves and achieve their dream.
