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Public koti and private love: Section

377, religion, perversity and lived
desire
a b
Ila Nagar & Debanuj DasGupta
a
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH, USA
b
Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH, USA
Published online: 10 Aug 2015.

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To cite this article: Ila Nagar & Debanuj DasGupta (2015): Public koti and private
love: Section 377, religion, perversity and lived desire, Contemporary South Asia, DOI:
10.1080/09584935.2015.1056092

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 Contemporary South Asia, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2015.1056092

Public koti and private love: Section 377, religion, perversity and lived
desire
Ila Nagara* and Debanuj DasGuptab
a
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; bWomen’s,
Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

In this paper, we juxtapose the present-day Supreme Court battles over the colonial anti-
sodomy provisions in the Indian Penal Code (Section 377), with everyday
interpretations of carnal intercourse by kotis and jananas in order to visibilize a
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whole different social world of carnality. The responses to the law coming from the
civil society formations (namely the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
rights organizations, HIV/AIDS organizations and women’s rights organizations) are
the site for the formation of a modern Indian homosexual subject, one who claims
her/his rights to love and privacy through the language of human rights and
constitutional freedom. We argue that the arrival of the modern rights-bearing
homosexual subject is contested by political and religious formations through
discourses of sin, unnaturality and proper sexual conduct. The contestation of
religious discourse through the discourse of constitutional rights covers over the
creative interpretations of religion provided by kotis/jananas. An analysis of the kotis/
janana discourse and bodily practices reveals sexual subject formation through the
creative reinterpretation of notions such as sin and unnaturality. In conclusion, we
contend that the creative interpretations of religious themes by kotis/jananas trouble
nationalist religious discourses as well as the constitutional discourses of the LGBT
rights movement.
Keywords: desire; defect; article 377; neoliberalism; discourse

Introduction
On 12 December 2013, the Supreme Court (SC) of India passed the final verdict in the case
of the Naz Foundation vs. Suresh Kumar Koushal. The decision overruled the writing down
of the anti-sodomy provisions (Section 377) within the Indian Penal Code. The decision
was hailed as retrogressive by several lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) for-
mations in India. The passage of the anti-sodomy verdict came to represent a troubling
relationship between sexual conduct, constitutional rights and religious discourse in
India. This article begins by outlining our methods of analysis. We proceed by analyzing
the 97-page decision passed by the SC of India on 12 December 2013 related to Section
377 of the Indian Penal Code.1 We argue that the judgment is the site for the juridico-pol-
itical formation of the rights–bearing*** Indian homosexual subject. An ensemble of
religious and political formations, such as the religious entrepreneur Baba Ramdev,2 con-
tests the emergence of the rights-bearing homosexual (citizen) by deploying religious

*Corresponding author. Email: nagar.5@osu.edu

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

 2 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

notions about unnaturality, sin and perversity. The second section of this article analyzes
Baba Ramdev’s representation of homosexuality as a form of sin and defect. Baba
Ramdev utilizes Hindu Yogic logic in order to construct homosexuality as Western and
unnatural. The final section of the article juxtaposes lived experiences of kotis/jananas3
talking about their perception of religion, sin, unnatural pleasure and carnality. An analysis
of the koti/janana discourses reveals that the normative ideas of gender roles and the unna-
turality of their desire do not prevent them from participating in acts of pleasure. The idea of
forgiveness mediates the relationship between self-will and divine will. Koti/janana notions
of agency remain untouched and often covered over by spectacular court battles such as that
of Section 377. Kotis/jananas represent a kind of sexual subject formation, which is not
touched by the constitutional as well as religious discourse represented in the SC case.
At this critical conjuncture, an understanding of koti/janana discourses allows us to
trouble the nationalist religious as well as nationalist-constitutional arguments around
proper sexual conduct, unnaturality and nation building.
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Methods
The article draws upon the text of the Indian SC verdict, media interviews by Baba Ramdev
and an ethnographic study conducted among 45 men who live as kotis/jananas. Ethno-
graphic fieldwork was conducted during 2003–2007 and 2014 in Lucknow, India. The
data were collected in the form of interviews with kotis/jananas, participant observation
in cruising areas, social gatherings, local parks and recording focus group sessions. Most
kotis legitimize their desires, or present affects such as shame around unnatural sexual
acts through their creative interpretations of religious traditions. The creative interpretations
of divine will around bodies and pleasures present a site for a different kind of sexual
subject creation. We analyze koti/janana discourses with critical discourse analysis
(CDA). CDA views ‘language as a form of social practice’ (Wodak 2001, 66). This
implies that any form of discourse is viewed as being informed by the broader sociocultural
implications that come with it, and that actors are always negotiating spaces where they
inhabit different social realities; these realities are informed by discourse, and in turn
inform discourse. Language as a form of social practice also implies that language
choices made in any discourse are informed by cultural norms. Language use from this per-
spective is also something that all participants of a culture agree on and therefore analyzing
any discourse from a CDA perspective entails that social, political, historical and other cul-
tural aspects inform the analysis of discourses at hand. Discourse thus becomes a represen-
tative of and situated in broader social, political and cultural practices.
The goal of this research is to present multiple modes of articulating bodies and plea-
sures, and highlighting the discursive world of kotis/jananas which remain outside the
purview of both the LGBT rights and religious nationalist discourses. CDA assumes a ‘dia-
lectical relationship’ (Wodak, 2001, 66) between discourse and action. This relationship
becomes an important tool in understanding the exact routes that are taken in this back
and forth journey. In our analysis of koti/janana discourses and Baba Ramdev’s interview,
we use CDA to define the positions these individuals are taking, ‘particular discursive prac-
tices’, and the reasons they are taking these positions, ‘fields of action in which they are
embedded’ (Wodak, 2001, 66). CDA of the SC judgment provides insight into key concepts
which frame the juridico-political construction of homosexuality. An analysis of the SC
decision reveals arguments over anti-sodomy provisions as the site for the formation of
ideas related to the modern homosexual Indian subject. Key arguments from appellants
and defendants are identified through a reading of the 97-page verdict. Two key themes
 Contemporary South Asia 3

are identified as unnatural sexual conduct: the constitutional guarantee of privacy and the
unnaturality of sodomy. The verdict is situated within a long history of British colonization
and the imposition of Victorian morality upon the colonized subjects.
Baba Ramdev provides an interview with Idea Exchange, owned by the English
language newspaper, Indian Express on 12 June 2012. In this interview, Baba Ram Dev
claims that homosexuality is a disease and can be cured by yoga. A CDA of Baba
Ramdev’s interview reveals the rhetorical strengths of presenting a religious argument
against homosexuality. Baba Ramdev is selling a cure for homosexuality as well as a
non-diseased ideal male body, which is situated in the economy of reproduction. Religious
discourse put forward by Baba Ramdev holds a strong grip over the SC decision related
to the anti-sodomy provision. In the case of kotis/jananas, sin, defects and religious icono-
graphy emerge as overriding themes. These themes become active in their discourses.
Bodily practices such as hip comportments, hand gestures, walking in a certain demeanor
are learnt skills which inform gender presentations. Kotis/Jananas learn these skills
over a period of time and frame their presentations through specific linguistic styles. Critical
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analysis of the koti/janana discourses reveals the creative reinterpretation of religious

myths in order to justify their sexual practices and gender presentations. In the following
section, we engage with the Indian SC verdict and analyze it as a site where the homosexual
is constructed (albeit, contested by religious formation) as a modern rights-bearing
subject.

Homosexuality and the legal construction of unnaturality

On 4 January 2006, police arrested four men in a park in Lucknow under charges of enga-
ging in ‘unnatural sex’ (HRW 2006). Media coverage of the incident narrates that four men
of professional and middle-class affiliations belonged to an internet dating website for gay
men titled ‘guys4men.com.’ According to The Times of India,

police said they all belonged to decent families and became part of the club for the sake of plea-
sure. The name, phone numbers and addresses of around 50 other city-based gay club members
aged between 22–40 have been found by the police. (TOI 2006)

The Senior Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Pandey said, ‘though gay culture has been
legalized in Western countries, Section 377 of Indian Penal Code prohibits “unnatural sex”
by men and recommends a minimum punishment of 10 years to a maximum of life-term’
(TOI 2006). The men identified in these police arrests met online, and kept ‘decency’ and
‘safe sex’ as a secret code of conduct while participating in acts of pleasure. The police
arrests and the subsequent media coverage largely report conduct and pleasure as unnatural
and relegate the intendance of the arrested men as illegal. The illegality of their acts is deli-
neated through Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Instituted during the British Colonial
era, the act works to define carnality as illegal. Section 377 of the IPC states:

Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or
animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either descrip-
tion for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation. –
Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described
in this section. (Indian Penal Code)

Seven years later in the case of Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. the Naz Foundation India Trust,
the SC of India ruled toward allowing constitutionality of ‘carnal intercourse against the
 4 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

order of nature’ to be decided by the legislature. The SC decision argues law ought to be the
site for deciding the limits to privacy, and the right to individual freedom. The rule of law
provides a basis for criminalizing conducts such as sexual pleasure between men. The argu-
ments put forth by appellants and defendants over a previous reading down of the unnatural
offences act are taken up as spaces of proper sexual subject formation. Carnality according
to the text of Section 377 has had several interpretations in the legal history of pre- and post-
colonial India. In his analysis of the Delhi High Court decision related to Section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code, Zaid Al Baset argues:

Section 377 was born out of a desire to sexually discipline the colonial subject imagined as
erotically perverse in 1860. It criminalizes ‘unnatural offences’ which include voluntary
‘carnal intercourse’ against the ‘order of nature’ with any man, woman or animal. Section
377 further explicates that penetration is sufficient to cause ‘carnal intercourse.’ Carnal inter-
course as interpreted by the law has come to include anal sex, oral sex, and other forms of non-
procreative sex. (Baset 2012, 95; Gupta 2008)
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Baset further argues that the court deployment of terms such as ‘gay’ and LGBT erases the
historical specificity of hijra and koti identities.
The history of the anti-sodomy provisions within Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code
is mired in British colonial legacy (Gupta 2008) and post-independence struggles over gay
and lesbian rights (Baset 2012; Narrain 2007). The recent formations around sexuality hen-
ceforth termed as ‘gay and lesbian politics’ derive its rhetorical as well as strategic inputs
from a vast assemblage of human rights, trans/national gay and lesbian rights formations,
along with localized coalitions between gay and lesbian organizations, feminist formations
and civic-minded formations (Dutta 2012; Gross 2013).
The spectacular display of protests against the SC’s decision from the gay and lesbian
movements in India, followed by outpourings of support or disdain from diverse political
formations, needs to be situated within the neo-liberalization of the gay, lesbian and fem-
inist movements in India (Dutta 2013; Oza 2006; Sircar and Jain 2013). The rights dis-
course in India exemplified by women’s rights movements takes on the discourse of the
sovereign citizen-subject (individual) deserving of personal liberty and freedom. The
turn toward individual rights over a politics of redistribution (Nehruvian Socialism in
India) coincides with the liberalization of the Indian economy since the late 1980s (Bhas-
karan 2004, Chatterjee 2004; Grewal 2005; Oza 2006; Sircar and Jain 2013). We approach
neoliberalism as the intensification of social rationality through ideas of enterprise (Fou-
cault 2003) and competition. The ‘homo-economicus’4 is the ideal citizen-subject who is
able to maneuver his/her conduct and emerge as a responsible, productive being. In the
context of India, scholars such as Rupal Oza and Suparna Bhaskaran have argued that
the rise of the rights-based movement needs to be understood within the neo-liberalization
of the Indian economy (Bhaskaran 2004; Oza 2006). Bhaskaran discusses HIV/AIDS and
the use of human rights literature as interconnected with the transnational rhetoric of human
rights and individual dignity. The individual is theorized as the rights-bearing citizen-
subject. The arguments put forth by LGBT organizations represented by the NAZ Foun-
dation seek to argue that homosexuality as an immutable category, and that homosexual
subjects are rights-bearing individuals. The anti-sodomy provisions are impediments for
achieving the economic and political interests of homosexuals in India. The confounding
of economic interests with the political rights of homosexuals comes to represent a political
moment within which the economic interest bearing individual emerges as the object as
well as the subject of constitutional rights.
 Contemporary South Asia 5

Gay and Lesbian rights and certain HIV prevention organizations in India (represented
by the NAZ Foundation) appeal to the constitutionality of privacy and vagueness of Section
377. The arguments draw upon the individual right to self-determination, and right to
privacy as guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian constitution. Representing
the Naz Foundation, Anand Grover argued that:

Section 377 IPC, which applies to same sex relations between consenting adults violates the
constitutional guarantee of equality under Articles 14 and 15 and the High Court rightly
applied Yogyakarta principles for de-criminalization of the section challenged in the writ peti-
tion filed by respondent No.1 (SC).

He supported the High Court’s decision to invoke the principle of severability. Grover
argues that the application of Section 377 by the police unjustly targets homosexual
men. Grover’s arguments highlight equality before the law and the protection by law as
the hallmark of Indian liberalism. Article 14 of the Indian constitution guarantees equal
treatment of all citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth,
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while Article 15 provides access to public spaces, refutes any form of restriction or disabil-
ity imposed based on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Further,
Article 15 guarantees that equality before the law shall not prevent the state from
making any provisions overseeing the advancement of socially and educationally backward
classes of citizens. The articulation of equality under the law, or protection offered by the
law for all individual citizens, signifies both the executive and judiciary branch of the Indian
government as upholders of liberal values of equality before the law. The liberal subject is
assumed to be a rights-bearing individual. Anand Grover’s attempts to argue ‘homosexual
or transgender persons’ as Indian citizens deserving of protection from the law as guaran-
teed by the Indian Constitution inaugurates the emergence of ‘homosexual and transgender
persons’ as subjects of the (non-punitive) law.
In his arguments, he states Section 377

impacts homosexual men disproportionately as a class especially because it restricts only

certain forms of sexual intercourse that heterosexual persons can indulge in. Section 377 crim-
inalizes the expression of homosexual orientation, which is an innate and immutable character-
istic of homosexual persons. The section ends up criminalizing identity and not mere acts as it
is usually homosexual or transgender persons who are associated with the sexual practices pro-
scribed under Section 377 (relied on National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality
v. Minster of Justice & Ors. 1998 (12) BCLR 1517 (CC), Queen Empress v. Khairati 1884
ILR 6 ALL 204, Noshirwan v. Emperor). While the privacy of heterosexual relations,
especially marriage are clothed in legitimacy, homosexual relations are subjected to societal
disapproval and scrutiny. The section has been interpreted to limit its application to same
sex sexual acts (Govindrajulu, in re, (1886) 1 Weir 382. Grace Jayamani v. E Peter AIR
1982 Kar 46, Lohana Vasantlal Devchand v. State). (Supreme Court Verdict: 34)

The arguments of the NAZ Foundation seek to establish homosexuality as an immutable

characteristic, and homosexual persons having right to privacy, dignity, health and well-
being as defined by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian constitution. The arguments sup-
porting the removal of Section 377 hinge around the state guarantee of personal freedom,
and social conditions enabling the economic enhancement of homosexual persons. The
relationship between the homosexual citizen and the post-colonial Indian nation-state is
marked by the removal of anti-sodomy provisions instituted by the British colonialist.
The removal of Section 377 aligns the nation of India with modernity, and liberal principles
of individuality, citizenship and human rights. Principles of individual rights allow the
 6 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

homosexual subject to become a responsible, productive citizen of modern India. The

homosexual subject is a rights-bearing, responsible individual, self-policing his/her own
sexual conduct. The guarantee of privacy assumes the homosexual to be a subject
capable of carrying out one’s sexual conduct responsibly. The retrenchment of the law
heeds the emergence of the homosexual entrepreneur citizen-subject.
The NAZ Foundation’s arguments are refuted by an alliance of religious and civil
society formations arguing for limits upon homosexuality since it is unnatural, and defies
the pure and natural functions of body and its organs. K. Radhakrishnan, senior counsel
appearing for the Trust God Missionaries, argued that Section 377 IPC was enacted by
the legislature to protect social values and morals. He referred to Black’s Law Dictionary
to show that the ‘order of nature’ has been defined as something pure, as distinguished
from the artificial and contrived. He argued that the basic feature of nature involved
organs, each of which had an appropriate place. Every organ in the human body has a desig-
nated function assigned by nature. The organs work in tandem and should not be abused. If
they are abused, the ‘order of nature’ is violated. The code of nature is inviolable. Sex and
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food are regulated in society. What is pre-ordained by nature has to be protected, and man
has an obligation to nature. He quoted a Sanskrit phrase which translates as ‘you are dust
and go back to dust’. Radhakrishnan concluded by emphasizing that if the declaration made
by the High Court is approved, then India’s social structure and the institution of marriage
will be detrimentally affected and young persons will be tempted toward homosexual
activities. Arguing for the need for legal limits upon unnatural sexual acts, the chief
counsel on behalf of the Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha and the Christian Apostolic
Churches defines homosexuality as unhealthy, unnatural and as a danger to the religious
and moral values of Indian culture.
The SC decision to overrule Delhi High Court’s reading down of the anti-sodomy pro-
visions hinges around the failure of the Naz Foundation to prove numerically the discrimi-
nation met by gay men and MSM. The SC went on a tirade related to percentages and risks
faced by MSM around HIV prevention. Second, the SC decision calls for a rethinking of the
proper domains of constitutionality, redirecting attention toward parliament and legislative
procedures. The Bench said:

The IPC, along with Section 377 as it exists today, was passed by the Legislative Council,
and the Governor-General assented to it on 6.10.1860. The understating of acts which fall
within the ambit of Section 377 has changed from non-procreative to imitative of sexual inter-
course to sexual perversity. The writ petition filed by the Naz Foundation was singularly
laconic in as much as except giving a brief detail of the work being done by it for HIV preven-
tion, targeting the MSM (men having sex with men) community, it miserably failed to furnish
particulars of incidents of discriminatory attitude exhibited by the state agencies towards sexual
minorities … It has also not furnished the particulars of the cases involving harassment of and
assault on sexual minorities by the public and public authorities. Only in the affidavit filed on
behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of AIDS Control, it has been
averred that the estimated HIV prevalence among FSW (female sex workers) is 4.60% to
4.94%, among MSM 6.54% to 7.23% and IDU (injecting drug users) 9.42% to 10.30%. The
total population of MSM, as in 2006, was estimated to be 25,00,000 and 10% of them are at
risk of HIV. (Section 377 Verdict: Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation India Trust)

Clearly the decision hinges around a numerical calculation of sexual minority status. Fur-
thermore, the deployment of ‘sexual perversity’ as the term for defining non-procreative sex
opens up a whole class of bodies as deemed perverse. While the gay and lesbian movement
frames its discourse and strategies as civil and political right to dignity, privacy and love and
is seemingly engaged in battles with the moral entrepreneurs, voices of a whole different
 Contemporary South Asia 7

class of perverse bodies remain largely absent in these struggles. A discussion of koti and
janana articulations of pleasure and unnaturality reveals a different kind of being, one that
creatively reinterprets religious icons and myths. The clash between the liberal values of a
secular nation and the religious visions of a nation is played out within upper caste and
upper-class communities in India (Cohen 2005; Dutta 2012; Hall 2005). The articulation
of bodies and pleasures among koti/janana disrupts the rhetoric of both the LGBT rights
and religious parties. The kotis/jananas present troubling interstices, which holds potentials
for ushering a different kind of life and personhood, often neglected in upper-class/upper-
caste activisms. The framing of the Section 377 case as the right to the privacy of sexual
minorities is the site for the emergence of modern gay and lesbian sexuality in India. To
repeat Michel Foucault’s famous saying, ‘the sodomite had been a temporary aberration;
the homosexual was now a species’ (Foucault 1978, 43). The saga related to the overthrow-
ing of the Delhi High Court Section 377 verdict by the SC of India bears testimony to the
intense knot around bodies and pleasures, which haunts appropriate family and nation for-
mation. Religious discourses haunt secular civil society attempts at constructing homosex-
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uals as right-bearing subjects of the modern Indian nation.

In the next sections, we examine two sets of religious discourses around sin and unna-
turality: (a) the religious entrepreneur Baba Ramdev’s interpretations of homosexual desire
and his claims to cure it and (b) koti/janana discourses of sin, unnaturality and desire.

Ram Dev: religious entrepreneurs curing homosexuality

Baba Ramdev is a religious entrepreneur and a yoga guru. Baba Ramdev gained popularity
in the early 2000s with a TV show popularizing yoga on Aastha (devotion) TV. His show
aimed at creating a disease-free body with the help of yoga and a yogic lifestyle. Baba
Ramdev claims that yoga is the answer to many, if not all, ailments including homosexu-
ality which he says is a vikriti (deviation). Baba Ramdev has repeatedly protested
Western products and influences, including fast food and colas. His entry into politics
began as a vocal supporter of the anti-corruption movement started by Anna Hazare in
2011. His political capital and rhetoric borrows not only from everyday Hindu rhetoric
used by right-wing Hindu groups (including his use of hyper Sankritized Hindi) but also
from Indian political rhetoric which can be understood as based on Hinduism, specifically
Gandhi’s ideas of asceticism, peaceful agitation and bodily discipline. The massive
support for Baba Ramdev comes from his ability to be religious and nationalistic by con-
necting Hinduism to projects of nation building. In his arguments, Western (and homo-
sexuality is Western) is equated with irreligious, and is hence anti-national. In keeping
with his entrepreneurial ambitions, Ramdev sells products, and yoga is a product he
sells to cure ailments including homosexuality. His products, yoga and Ayurvedic medi-
cines, are a cure for ailments caused by modern lifestyles and products (Ramdev has con-
ducted an ongoing campaign against Coca Cola and Pepsi). Ramdev has products that
have roots in Hinduism and his persona, that of a yogi (a sanyasi who has given up
worldly possessions), is Hindu.
Baba Ramdev the entrepreneur has yoga franchises in hundreds of North Indian cities;
he has conducted TV shows, has yoga ashrams and makes frequent news show appear-
ances. The emergence of religious figureheads such as Baba Ramdev needs to be contex-
tualized not within a transcendental tradition of ‘gurus and saints’, but rather as the
emergence of a form of Hindu religious enterprise. Baba Ramdev’s entrepreneurial
empire includes selling products such as herbal remedies5 (Divya Ashtagandha Churna
for Stress, Fatigue and General Health) and yoga videos6 (e.g. Yoga for Childless
 8 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

Couples, Yoga for Cancer, Yoga for Diabetes and several other ailments). Baba Ramdev is
not a Hindu Saint spinning out discourses of sin and evil, but is rather a modern-day entre-
preneur making entrepreneurial maneuvers, one of which is being the key respondent to
the Section 377 case. In this light, we present Baba Ramdev’s interview with a reporter
about curing homosexuality through the use of yoga. This video was accessed on You
Tube (as of 2/10/14 on the You Tube webpage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
CBx6h5UoazU).

Reporter: Media reports say that you can cure homosexuality.

Ramdev: Come again? Homosexuality!
Reporter: Is this claim correct? If it is correct what is the cure and how many people
have you cured?
Ramdev: First question is what the disease (beemari) is. These people from ‘Hingl-
ish’7 media, if you are in the middle than you are not entirely in their influ-
ence. I was reading in the newspaper yesterday and there was news about a
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homosexual who is from Argentina. A lady who helped him is different [for
the egg], a lady from India was taken [for surrogacy], and they want to have
a child. If these homosexuals have to have children, then why not marry
appropriately (theek-thak). Why create such a fuss (bakheda). That is one
thing. The second thing is, look, in nature there are a lot of deviations
(vikriti). Ever since the universe has existed there have been various
anomalies (vikaar). It is Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, it is the philosophy,
ideology, and principle of all our great men (mahapurush) that we will
protect what is right (niti). We will protect righteous action, we will
protect morality. This is my moral argument. The scientific argument, like
along with being an ascetic (sanyasi), I am also a healer (chikitsak). Yog
and Ayurveda are the primary aspects of my healing. There are many
kinds of disorders (disorders). The homosexuals say we are genetic. This
is in our genes. So, depression is also genetic, all diseases are genetic. So,
I feel whatever the reason, or it is in brain, what these things are, they are
a deviation (vikriti). We cannot call this healthy complete mentality
(poorna swastha mansikta). Now this is being argued all over the world.
Every kind of deviation (vikriti) can be balanced (santulan) with yoga.
This is a fact. Whether is physical, mental, habitual, based on habit (adat),
related to habit, related to body (sharirik) or mind (maanasaik), or
because of habits (adaton) some deviations come, every type of deviation
(vikriti) can be balanced (santulit) with yoga. This argument is correct.
Many people have come to me in Haridwar, some have come directly,
some have come with parents, and these people have received guidance
[margdarshan] to be in the right direction (sahi disha). And after doing
yogic practice [abhyas] they started living their life in the right direction
[theek disha]. I am not joking about this. I am saying this with ability to
prove [pramadikta].

Two themes emerge from Baba Ramdev’s response to the reporter. The first theme is the
lack and disease in the homosexual subject and the second theme is Baba Ramdev’s own
authority in making the claim that he can cure this lack or disease. In this conversation
with a reporter, Baba Ramdev starts by alluding to disease (beemari) and moves on to
making fun of homosexuality as he employs reproduction as a technique to deny the
 Contemporary South Asia 9

rights of parenthood to homosexuals, thereby pointing to the lack in the homosexual body.
Ramdev talks of ‘vikriti’ ‘deviance’ and ‘vikaar’ ‘anomaly’ existing in nature and homo-
sexuals being examples of such ‘vikriti’ and ‘vikaar’. A deviance is always from a norm
and for Baba Ramdev the norm comes from ‘niti’ and ‘naitikta’, ‘conduct of conduct’
and ‘code of conduct’. As Ramdev puts himself in the company of other ‘mahapurush’
‘great men’, such as Mahatma Gandhi, he too becomes a guardian of ‘naitikta’, thereby
becoming a model Hindu and an ideal India national simultaneously. It is as the guardian
of ‘naitikta’ ‘code of conduct’, Baba Ramdev advises against Western influences and for
yoga and bodily discipline. Ramdev assigns himself the authority to cure homosexuality
not just because he is a ‘sanyasi’ ‘ascetic’ but also because he is a healer ‘chikitsak’. It
is in his role as a ‘chikitsak’ that he makes the deduction that since all diseases are
genetic, homosexuals claim that their condition is genetic, ‘vikriti’; ‘disease’ is curable,
and therefore homosexuality must be curable too. He does not know the reason behind
homosexual behavior; it could be physical, mental or based in ‘adat’. ‘Adat’ ‘habit’ is
changeable by definition and is mostly not good because of the self-indulgence built into
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‘adat’. For Baba Ramdev, whatever the reason for homosexual behavior is, it does not
lead to completely healthy mentality ‘poorna swastha manasikta’ but it can be balanced
with yoga. Baba Ramdev validates his belief with the statement that such things are
being discussed all over the world, that he is not alone, and there are others like him
who present either scientific or social claims against homosexuality. Baba Ramdev’s state-
ments about curing homosexuality are grounded in his belief that any bodily ailment can be
cured by yoga. With correct ‘margdarshan’ ‘guidance/being looked over on right path’,
anyone’s path can be shifted to the right direction ‘sahi disha’ or correct direction ‘theek
disha’. Ramdev gives proof of his abilities by referencing the people who have been to
his ashram in Haridwar desiring a cure. He can cure homosexuality with yoga and offers
proof ‘pramadikta’ that his method works.
From the deviances of the homosexual act, we now move to the understanding of homo-
sexual desire as communicated by kotis/jananas in Lucknow.

Everyday analysis of unnaturality: kotis in Lucknow

In this section, we delineate the creative reinterpretations of religion and ideas about unna-
turality that kotis/jananas engage in as a way of enunciating a different kind of sexual
subject formation. Kotis/jananas engage in creative re-interpretations of religious icons, tra-
ditional notions related to the sex/gender binary and live out their desires. Their lived rea-
lities remain untouched by the juridical discourses around nature, homosexuality and
constitutional rights. Koti access to private space is restricted owing to limited income.
The kotis turn the right to privacy, as argued by the NAZ Foundation, upside down by enact-
ing private acts of pleasure publicly. Here, we juxtapose Baba Ramdev and the kotis
interpretation of religion, unnaturality and sexual desire. Baba Ramdev situates homosexu-
ality as an identity curable by Hindu Yogic remedies, while the kotis creatively reinterpret
religious iconographies and articulate their desires as sinful, while engaging in acts of plea-
sure. Engaging in bodily pleasures with other men for the kotis is enacting of self-will, one
which is unnatural, and needing divine forgiving. The traffic between divine will and self-
will is the zone of pleasures often enacted in public spaces.
Example 1
Ranjani: Chal main jara difecti hoti hai
Ranjani: A defect comes in walking
 10 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

Ranjini is a kade taal koti8 who did not have a job at the time of this interview. Ranjini was
answering a question about how kotis recognize other kotis in Aminabad (a busy market in
Lucknow). Ranjini’s response was that it was easy to recognize other kotis since kotis had a
‘defecti’ (a adjectival form of the English borrowed word ‘defect’) in the way kotis walk
and this made it easier to identify kotis in the crowd bazaar. That Ranjini sees the way
kotis walk as flawed implies her perception of an inherent flaw in being a koti. In her
expression, there is an inherent flaw in gender expressions of presentation of proper mas-
culinity. That jananas perceive themselves as flawed and not completely male also indicates
an understanding of the cultural discourse about them. It is this discourse of being flawed
that becomes clearer in the following example.
Example 2

Rajvati Devi: hamare mohalla main ek shaks rehta tha usne humko barbad kiya tha
Rajvati Devi: A guy lived in my neighborhood who had spoiled me

Rajvati Devi is also a kade taal koti. At the time of this interview, Rajvati Devi had a low
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paying day job and she engaged in occasional sex in exchange for payment when she was
short on money. Looking at Rajvati Devi, one could tell that poverty had a grip on her. Her
hands and fingers were stained with kattha (acacia extract used in paan), her clothes were
always torn and unlike the younger kotis she always wore a tehmat.9 This statement by
Rajvati Devi is in response to a question about when she came to know that she was a
janana. Her response was not about desire or body rather it was about someone raping
her. The rape happened quite early on in her life. Rape is often blamed on the victim
(Frazer and Miller 2009; O’Neill and Morgan 2001), and the statement of ‘being
spoiled’ is used in the context of rape in cinema, newspapers, etc. Therefore, the statement
itself, in spite of the fact that it is very loaded in its easy forgiveness to the person commit-
ting the crime and placing the weight of the crime and its consequence on the victim, is still
part of the larger discourse on rape. That kotis use this terminology to describe their first
sexual encounter indicates a powerlessness that being in ‘passive’ sexual positions brings
to them. Passivity and rape are discussed by koti/jananas as a repetitive trope. A detailed
discussion of rape and violence is outside the purview of this present paper; however,
we acknowledge the inextricability of normative masculinity with violence within the
sexual subject formation of kotis/jananas.
The next example is very similar and indicates a similar lack of power that kotis experi-
ence in their relationships. The statements surrounding rape or sexual intercourse outside of
marriage for women are framed in exactly these terms. The incident of rape is also con-
sidered permanent, if one is ‘spoiled’, they cannot be fixed. In the case of kotis, the state-
ment has taken an additional meaning of becoming ‘deviant’ in desiring a male body. The
next example is also a janana disclosing the details of being or becoming a janana.
Example 3

Amita: Kisi ne meri zindagi ke saath khilwaad kiya tha

Amita: Someone played with my life

Amita had a graduate degree from a Hindi medium college. During our interactions, we
talked about world events. Amita read Hindi newspapers often and she had a keen interest
in local and national politics. In spite of her education she was unemployed. She was a very
composed person and was more aware of her status and sexuality. That she responded with
‘Someone played with my life’ to the question of how she came to realize she was a janana
was not necessarily surprising but it did indicate the same powerless status that women have
 Contemporary South Asia 11

in their discourses with non-marital sexual encounters. The statement ‘someone played with
my life’ describes the powerlessness of the person whose life was played with, but also the
non-chalance of the person who played with someone’s life. Amita describing her first
sexual encounter as rape is not necessarily saying that she was raped. She is definitely
saying that the act of sexual intercourse with a man, whether it was rape or not, jeopardized
her chances at a ‘normal’ life. Like the previous statement ‘someone spoiled me’, this state-
ment also indicates a finality. Once someone’s life has been played with, especially in the
form of a sexual transgression, it cannot be undone. In newspaper reports about rape in
Hindi language newspapers, rape can be described as ‘playing with someone’s life’ or
‘spoiling someone for a life time’. Jananas often use such narrative styles to refer to
their first sexual experiences which were forced, or were remembered as such. The ideas
of bodies, desires and pleasures are understood as deviances brought about by the initial
act of violation. Rape is used within the koti/janana discourse not just as a violation of
the male body but also as an act that causes the body to become defective. The violation
of the masculine body and the defects that come because of the violation are permanent
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and irreversible. Kotis/jananas come to inhabit a permanently violated and therefore defec-
tive body. Kotis/jananas come into being through the injury brought upon them. In this
sense, koti/janana subject formation retains an ambivalent relationship with power and
oppression. Judith Butler argues ‘as a power exerted upon a subject, subjection is neverthe-
less power assumed by the subject, an assumption that constitutes the subjects own becom-
ing’ (Butler 1997, 11). Kotis/jananas articulate rape scenarios as processes of violation
through which they emerged as defective subjects. Their enactment of a defective
subject and partaking in acts of pleasure with other men are the condition via which
kotis/jananas draw power from subjection for their own emergence.
Baba Ramdev’s idea that homosexuality is a ‘defect’ can be juxtaposed to the kotis
saying that there is a ‘defecti’ in them. The difference between Ramdev’s desire to cure
and koti’s desire for the body is that Ramdev wants to cure the ‘defect’, while the
kotis find the ‘defect’, see the ‘defect’, but engage in creative ways to engage with the
‘defect’.
Kotis/jananas are left out of debates about activism, religion and access to health care.
Kotis/jananas are marginalized from LGBT civil society formations owing to their trou-
bling articulations of defect and gender presentations. Unlike the self-regulating, gender
normative gay and lesbian subject, kotis/jananas continue to perform their gender and
sexual transgressions in public. The arguments for the right to conduct sexual acts in
privacy do not fully comprehend the public performance of sex/gender transgression by
the kotis/jananas. Further, the koti and janana discourses around lack and defect run
counter to the scientific arguments in support of homosexuality put forward by the NAZ
Foundation in court cases related to the anti-sodomy provisions of the Indian Penal
Code. Finally, kotis/jananas creative reinterpretations of sin and religious rituals are
counter to Baba Ramdev. As the examples below will show, jananas have an understanding
of Hinduism and Islam, which simultaneously shun and accept their desires. Kotis/jananas
understand their respective religion to be non-accepting of them and often transgress into
other religions to find acceptance while still seeking forgiveness and looking for acceptance
within their own religion. In the following example, Amita talks about Shikhandi from the
Mahabharat as an example of a kinnar, a non-sex specific person. Shikhandi was used as a
tool to protect one of the heroes during the epic battle of the Mahabharat since the main
hero could not shoot an arrow at a half woman because shooting at a woman would be a
cowardly act. Amita understands the presence of a half woman in the Mahabharat as an
indication that there is a place for her and other jananas in Hinduism.
 12 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

Example 4

Amita: There is description (ullekh) in the holy books that at some point like during
the time of Mahabharat and at time of Raam, when it was dwapar yuga.10 It
is described that this (same sex love) has happened, meaning that during the
battle of Mahabharat, there was a king, Bheeshm Pitamah. He was a king. I
cannot tell in detail what he was. He was a great man (mahapurush). He kept
someone, she (the one who he kept) was a kinnar. Her name was Shikhandi.
Such a thing happened in those yuga as well. It is not as if they did not keep
(men) or they did not have relationships with kotis. But then, even then
society did not accept this and it still does not. So in my religion
(dharma) this is not right ( jayaz). Now it is a different issue if we are
getting molded (dhal rahe hain) according to Western culture in a fit of
desire (parvesh). There are influences. The things that we are doing, we
are doing for our own happiness, for happiness of self (swanteh sukhaye).
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We are doing it for ourselves but society (samaaj) will not accept this, reli-
gion (dharma) will not either. We are not doing right ( jayaz), we are doing
wrong (galat). The decision between right and wrong will be taken by the
upar vala (the one above, god), right?
Imrana: Upar vala has made all this. It is his doing (leela). This is his will (marzi)
that so many people are doing such things. It must be upar vala’s will,
then only they are doing this.

In example 4, Amita says that what kotis are doing, meaning sex with other males, is not
right as far as religion is concerned. She continues to say that the issue of being forced
by ones desires, of being influenced by Western culture, is separate from moral codes pro-
vided by religion. She uses the phrase ‘swanteh sukhaye’11 to describe pleasure achieved
from the body, a phrase borrowed from Tulsidas, a religious icon for northern Indian
Hindus. Amita negotiates her space as a conflicted and educated koti who is constantly
engaging in the deviance of her own desires. She accepts that the community, the
‘samaj’, will not accept her desires, yet she recognizes that the ultimate decision making
on one’s morality happens in the divine realm of the ‘upar vala’, the one above. To
which Imarana adds that not only does the decision of what is right or wrong lie with
god, but also the fact that people have the desires is because of ‘upar vala’ – the one
above. If it was not for his will, how could so many people indulge in such desires? The
next example engages with the discourse of forgiveness.
Example 5

Imrana: This is not related to any religion. One’s one sex, ways, and one’s situation
(decides this), he is scared too. When he goes to the temple or the mosque, he
does tauba to Allah. Oh Allah, am I committing a sin (gunah), whether I am
doing right or wrong, you forgive me. You can forgive, humans will not
forgive. If they cannot let me not do this, who are they to forgive. Only
upar vala can forgive. When I do prayer (namaz), fast (roza), or go to
dargah, I tell Allah, please forgive me, am I committing a sin (gunah).
I do not know. This is all your doing (mahima) that within us there is keetA-
mita (germs) that we do such things. Who knows what lives (konsa kya rehta
hai) inside our bodies and minds that men engage in sex with men.
 Contemporary South Asia 13

Imrana was a kade taal koti. She was much respected in the koti community because of her
kade taal status. She was a tailor by profession but did not have a regular source of income.
Since other members of her family were employed, she was not impoverished, she had also
worked in the Gulf for a few years and had some savings from the times she spent working
in the Gulf. Imrana was a Haji – she had been to Haj. She was also open about visiting
various dargahs, which are primarily Islamic, but also visited by Hindus, and visiting
some prominent Hindu sites of worship, like Vaishno Devi. Not only had she been to
Vaishno Devi but also she walked bare foot to the main temple which is on top of a hill,
solidifying her devotion to Vaishno Devi, a Hindu goddess. In example 5, Imrana empha-
sizes that while she is a devout Muslim, her prayers are situated in seeking forgiveness.
Imrana talks about kotis seeking forgiveness in general terms, but proceeds to talk specifi-
cally about herself, her confusion about the morality of what she is doing, her seeking for-
giveness from gods, and her belief that such acts are also Allah’s ‘mahima’, or making. She
situates her desire for a male body as a deviance in her own and other koti’s bodies. She does
not know what ‘keetadu’ germs, live in the koti bodies, she talks about something living in
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the mind and the body, something possessing it, that leads to males having sex with males.
It is in discourses like these that the idea of deviance is situated.
The creative reinterpretation of religious discourse and practices by the kotis/jananas
hinges around praying for divine forgiveness. Bodily practices such as stylized walking,
hip movements, clapping, voice modulations and adapting religious rituals are learnt beha-
viors. Kotis/janana gender presentation seeks to emulate normative perceptions of feminin-
ity. The disciplining of bodily presentations in relation to traditional notions of womanhood
represents the ‘multiple modalities of agency’ (Mahmood 2005, 155) adapted by kotis/
jananas. The creative reinterpretation of religious iconographies and the adaptation of
multiple religions is the site within which the architecture of self is practiced by the
kotis/jananas.

Conclusion
The gay and lesbian rights movement in India deploys constitutional basis in order to claim
homosexuality as an immutable characteristic. Sodomy is equated with homosexuality as a
social class requiring access to legal rights. The rights-bearing subject emerges as an indi-
vidual, entrepreneurial, gay and lesbian citizen. The saga over the Section 377 trial needs to
be framed as a struggle between religious moralities vs. constitutional modernity mediated
through the neutrality of courts. LGBT, HIV, and women’s rights organizations come to rep-
resent liberal civil society formations through the use of universally accepted human rights
principles, and constitutional provisions for equality and freedom for all citizens. Religious-
political formations uphold a vision of the Indian nation rooted in heteronormative family
values, ideas of sin and unnaturality. Appeals to the judicial branch of the Indian state by
both the parties mark the court as a neutral arbiter of justice. Courtroom battles framed
through the hangover of the British colonial anti-sodomy law set the stage for holy
battles over the ability to become a successful entrepreneur (citizen) of the present-day
India. The imagined dangerous Other for the gay and lesbian movement are religious entre-
preneurs such as Baba Ramdev. The courtroom struggles over the right to privacy vs. reli-
gious morality cover over the subject formation of kotis/jananas.
Two themes emerge around the everyday understanding of bodies and pleasure of the
kotis/jananas: (a) defective body and (b) forgiveness. Kotis use religious iconography as
expressions of modalities of pleasure, and perverse expression of their bodies. Two
themes emerge to describe the deviation from the norm: ‘defecti’ and ‘keetadu’. Creative
 14 I. Nagar and D. DasGupta

interpretations of sin and forgiveness are used to justify what kotis/jananas consider to be a
deviant behavior. The social habitus of the kotis hinges around the formulation and refor-
mulation of the concept of will. The agency of the koti travels between self-will and god’s
will. The agency and subjectivity of kotis/jananas trouble liberal ideas of homosexuality as
an immutable, rights-bearing category. The gay and lesbian movement at best presents itself
as the liberal savior of the kotis/jananas, and at worst marginalizes the ‘significance of sub-
ordination’ (Mahmood 2005, 188) to kotis/jananas who embody it. The language of rape,
defectiveness and seeking forgiveness represents sexual subject formation rooted in subor-
dination, and the acceptance of normative religious discourses about sin/pleasure. Neither
the civil society claims toward right to privacy, nor the self-proclaimed religious saviors can
fully comprehend the life-world of kotis/jananas. Future research around gender and sexu-
ality in South Asia needs to engage with the everyday negotiation of bodies, pleasures and
religious iconographies by marginalized communities such as the kotis/jananas.
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Notes
1. Naz Foundation v. the Government of NCT Delhi, 160 DLT, 277, 382.
2. Baba Ramdev propagates a yogic lifestyle to cure the body of any ailments. Baba Ramdev popu-
larity grew in the early 2000s with a TV show based in yoga and yoga-based lifestyle changes,
including the rejection of Western products, and material or ideological influences. Baba
Ramdev’s TV show was popular enough that it resulted in franchises of Ayurveda-based pro-
ducts all over India. Baba Ramdev’s entry into politics was marked by his support of and invol-
vement in the anti-corruption movement started by Anna Hazare in 2011. One of the
respondents in the SC case was a representative of Baba Ramdev.
3. Kotis/jananas are men who have sex with men and are labeled variously by themselves and
scholars. A detailed analysis of the labels used by and for men who have sex with men (hence-
forth MSM) is not within the scope of this work. We are asserting that the voice of men with
irregular income who have sex with men is invizibilized within discourses related to right to
privacy, and unnaturality as per the law as well as religious entrepreneurs. Scholars such as
Cohen (2005), Reddy (2005) and Hall (2005, 2009) recognize the existence of multiple
labels (zenana, jankha, janana, janani, koti, koti). Cohen traces the history of labels used for
MSMs by different non-profits, the change in these labels within the last two decades, and
the way the labels are used or not used by MSMs. Reddy’s work which is situated in Hyderabad
uses koti as the umbrella term under which are subsumed a multiplicity of MSM identities and
hijras. Cohen suggests that following works of scholars such as Reddy, the term koti came to be
used for what were understood as indigenous sexual identities for HIV/AIDS activism. Hall
(2005) signals the linguistic construction of identity amongst kotis especially in their acts of par-
odying hijra performativity. We choose to use koti/janana based on fieldwork conducted among
koti/janana communities in Lucknow. We believe that the politics and history of these labels
distracts from the goals of this research. This decision is not meant to disregard the importance
of or recognize the multiplicity of labels. We acknowledge the multiplicity, and for the conven-
ience of this paper we choose the terms koti/janana as flexible and stretched between multiple
articulations of bodies and pleasures. Further, scholars such as Aniruddha Dutta argue about the
delegitimizing of lower caste/lower class/sexual variance through the rubric of gay and trans-
gender. Dutta argues, ‘various expressions of lower class/caste gender/sexual variance are ren-
dered illegible in this rubric, delegitimizing associated subjects who are left without access to
constitutional rights and protections and/or treated as exploitable populations within the devel-
opment and HIV-AIDS industries’ (2013, 1). While a majority of the scholars focus upon the
politics of non-governmental LGBT organizations, their work does not explicitly refer to the
creative interpretations of religious discourses by kotis/jananas. The creative use of religious
discourse allows us to understand the formation of sexual subject, one who remains outside
the purview of the rights discourses.
4. Michel Foucault discusses the emergence of economic man in the works of neo-liberal econom-
ists such as Ludwig Von Mises, Gary Becker and I.M. Kirzner. The economic man is a man
of interest placed within civil society. Civil Society according to Foucault is an ensemble of
 Contemporary South Asia 15

socio-political formations which help maximize the economic interests and rights of the individ-
ual. Homo-economicus is ‘someone who pursues his own interest’ (Foucault, 2004, 270).
5. Appears at Swami Ramdev Medicines webpage http://www.swamiramdevmedicines.com/
herbal-medicine/men-health-supplements.htm. Accessed January 21 2015.
6. Appears at Swami Ramdev Medicines webpage http://www.swamiramdevmedicines.com/yoga.
html. Accessed January 21 2015.
7. Primarily referring to news channels.
8. Kotis define themselves on the axis of family and honor. Kade taal kotis follow cultural norms
pertaining to heterosexuality and are still sometimes part of the koti circles, have regular male
partners and might even engage in sex for money occasionally. Within the koti circles they are
most prestigious since they still follow all ‘rules’ of heterosexual masculinity.
9. A single piece of garment worn around the hip. While the garment can transgress class bound-
aries it is usually worn by men in lower income groups.
10. Time periods/eras are divided into yuga in the Hindu system.
11. Tulsidas at the end of the Ramayana said that the reason he wrote the Ramayana was for
(swanteh sukhaye) his own pleasure.
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