Eunuch festival in India

Published May 2, 2012

The term eunuch, is used in India to describe a community of people who identify themselves as neither male nor female but as members of a third gender. They traditionally survive by begging, dancing at weddings or blessing newborn babies and are frequently subjected to discrimination. In this annual eunuch festival at Koovagam, south of Chennai, eunuchs re-enact a story adopted from the Indian epic Mahabharata. –  Photos and text by AP

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