The Hijras cult in Delhi

by Jakob Berr

My pictures from Delhi are excerpts from a reportage I did on hijras, an ancient eunuch cult in India. They are said to have the gift of blessing and cursing and are thus met with a kind of fearful respect by Indians. At the same time however, due to their differentness, they pass a deprived existence at the bottom of social hierarchy.

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They live of public dance shows, performances of blessings at marriages and births, begging and - one of their most important sources of income - prostitution. HIV / AIDS is a huge problem among their community. Over thousands of years, they developed a strict hierarchic system, starting with the chelas (students) at the bottom, who live in the custody of a guru (teacher).

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The top of the pyramid are the nayaks. There are seven nayaks in India, each of them the head of a khandan (house - these are the different "families"). When they are begging, most of them are very persistent to the point that it becomes uncomfortable even unbearable. Thus they contribute their half to the circle of discrimination and retaliation that they are caught up in.

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For my partner Sabina Yasmin Saba and me it was a thrilling experience to work with them. We got a totally new idea of what gender means and does not mean. Who defines where female ends and male starts? And who cares, anyway?

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I hope you like these pictures and I hope they make you think a little. They are not yet edited properly and this is just a rough selection, so you might get bored at times. I'd be happy about any criticism.