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Intersex In History
Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Intersex people were historically termed hermaphrodites, "congenital eunuchs",Mason, H.J., Favorinus’ Disorder: Reifenstein's Syndrome in Antiquity?, in Janus 66 (1978) 1–13. or even congenitally "frigid". Such terms have fallen out of favor, now considered to be misleading and stigmatizing. Intersex people have been treated in different ways by different cultures. Whether or not they were socially tolerated or accepted by any particular culture, the existence of intersex people was known to many ancient and pre-modern cultures and legal systems, and numerous historical accounts exist. Ancient history Sumer A Sumerian creation myth from more than 4,000 years ago has Ninmah, a mother goddess, fashionin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intersex
Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Sex assignment at birth usually aligns with a child's external genitalia. The number of births with ambiguous genitals is in the range of 1:4,500–1:2,000 (0.02%–0.05%). Other conditions involve the development of atypical chromosomes, gonads, or hormones. The portion of the population that is intersex has been reported differently depending on which definition of intersex is used and which conditions are included. Estimates range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%. The difference centers on whether conditions in which chromosomal sex matches a phenotypic sex which is clearly identifiable as male or female, such as late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia (1.5 percentage points) and Kline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, [mɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh]) and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer'' within the Trimurti, the Hinduism, Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu. In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. In the goddess-oriented Shaktism, Shakta tradition, the Supreme Goddess (Devi) is regarded as the energy and creative power (Shakti) and the equal complementary partner of Shiva. Shiva is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition, Smarta tradition of Hinduism. Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an Omniscience, omniscient yogi who lives an Asceticism#Hinduism, ascetic life on Kailasa as well as a house ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayodhya (Ramayana)
Ayodhya is a city mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit-language texts, including the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. These texts describe it as the capital of the Ikshvaku kings, including Rama. The historicity of this legendary city is of concern to the Ayodhya dispute. According to one theory, it is same as the present-day Indian city of Ayodhya. According to another theory, it is a fictional city, and the present-day Ayodhya (originally called Sākēta) was renamed after it around the 4th or 5th century, during the Gupta period. Scriptural references According to the ''Ramayana'', Ayodhya was founded by Manu, the progenitor of mankind, and measured 12x3 '' yojanas'' in area. Both the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'' describe Ayodhya as the capital of the Ikshvaku dynasty of Kosala, including Rama and Dasharatha. The ''Purana-pancha-lakshana'' also describes the city as the capital of Ikshvaku kings, including Harishchandra. The ''Ramayana'' states that t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rama
Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda'' ''puruṣottama''), Rama is the male protagonist of the Hindu epic '' Ramayana''. His birth is celebrated every year on Rama Navami, which falls on the ninth day of the bright half ( Shukla Paksha) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), the first month in the Hindu calendar. According to the ''Ramayana'', Rama was born to Dasaratha and his first wife Kausalya in Ayodhya, the capital of the Kingdom of Kosala. His siblings included Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. He married Sita. Born in a royal family, Rama's life is described in the Hindu texts as one challenged by unexpected changes, such as an exile into impoverished and difficult circumstances, and challenges of ethical questions and moral dilemmas. The most not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myth
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the veracity of a myth is not a defining criterion. Myths are often endorsed by religious (when they are closely linked to religion or spirituality) and secular authorities. Many societies group their myths, legends, and history together, considering myths and legends to be factual accounts of their remote past. In particular, creation myths take place in a primordial age when the world had not achieved its later form. Origin myths explain how a society's Norm (social), customs, institutions, and taboos were established and sanctified. National myths are narratives about a nation's past that symbolize the nation's values. There is a complex relationship between Myth and ritual, recital of myths and the enactment of rituals. Etymology The w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramayana
The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the ''Itihasas'', the other being the ''Mahabharata''. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh ''avatar'' of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows Exile of Lord Rama, his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across the forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka, that resulted in bloodbath; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya (Ramayana), Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned as a king amidst jubilation and celebration. Scholarly estimates for the earliest stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert Herdt
Gilbert H. Herdt (born February 24, 1949) is Emeritus Professor of Human Sexuality Studies and Anthropology and a Founder of the Department of Sexuality Studies and National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University. He founded the Summer Institute on Sexuality and Society at the University of Amsterdam (1996). He founded the PhD Program in Human Sexuality at the California Institute for Integral Studies, San Francisco (2013). He conducted long term field work among the Sambia people of Papua New Guinea, and has written widely on the nature and variation in human sexual expression in Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, and across culture. Biography Herdt is a research scholar, advocate for human sexuality, and a gay activist who has taught at Stanford University, the University of Chicago, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Washington. In 2000, Herdt cofounded the Institute on Sexuality, Social Inequality and Health that studies all forms of sexuality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serena Nanda
Serena Nanda (born August 13, 1938) is an American author, anthropologist, and professor emeritus. She received the Ruth Benedict Prize in 1990 for her monograph, ''Neither Man nor Woman: The Hijras of India''. Biography Serena Nanda was born on August 13, 1938, in New York City and received her Doctor of Philosophy in anthropology from New York University. She is the co-author of two anthropology textbooks: ''Culture Counts: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (5th Edition)'' and ''Cultural Anthropology (12th edition)''. Among her areas of specialty was the topic of gender diversity, having written the major reference book on the hijras of India. As of August 2021, she was a professor emeritus at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hijra (South Asia)
In South Asia, hijra are transgender, intersex, or eunuch people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as the guru-chela system. They are also known as aravani and aruvani, and in Pakistan, khawaja sira. In Western terms, most hijras are feminine-identifying people assigned male at birth. Hijras are officially recognised as a third gender throughout countries in the Indian subcontinent, being considered neither completely male nor female. Hijras' identity originates in ancient Hinduism and evolved during the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) and Mughal Empire (1526–1707). Many hijras today live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by a guru. These communities have consisted over generations of those who are in abject poverty or who have been rejected by or fled their family of origin. Many of them are sex workers. The word ''hijra'' is a Hindustani word. It has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meenakshi Temple
Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, also known as Arulmigu Meenakshi Amman Thirukkovil, is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, her consort ''Sundareśvarar'', a form of Shiva and her brother ''Aḻagar'', a form of Vishnu. The temple is theologically significant as it represents a confluence of the Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism denominations of Hinduism. The temple is at the centre of the ancient temple city of Madurai mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature, with the goddess temple mentioned in 6th-century CE texts. This temple is one of the Paadal Petra Sthalams, which are 275 temples of Shiva that are revered in the verses of Tamil Saiva Nayanars of the 6th-9th century CE. The west tower (''gopuram'') of the temple is the model on which the Tamil Nadu State Emblem is based. Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
