Queerness has always existed in this world and yet, despite all the progress humanity has made over the centuries, we still haven’t been able to accept people for who they are. ‘Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don’t Tell You’ is a collection of 30 stories about gender and sexual identity that will change the way you think about sex.

Growing up on a healthy dose of Mahabharata on television, most of us are aware of Shikhandi. But Pattanaik also ferrets out instances from other epics and folk tales where various gods and goddesses have chosen to switch genders to restore order in the world. There is, of course, Shikhandi, who was born a woman but raised as a man; Krishna, who became a woman for one day to marry a man fated to die the very next day of his marriage; Chudala, who became a man so that her husband wouldn’t disregard her views; and Mandhata whose mother was a man. There are many other queer characters.

Where reinterpreting Hindu epics and mythology is concerned, there is perhaps no one who can do it better than Pattanaik. His writing is simple and to the point while being extremely detailed. In Shikandi and Other Queer Tales They Don’t Tell You, he is out to show that homosexuality is perfectly natural, and it has always been so. Nor is it a modern or a western concept. With gods and goddesses changing forms as readily as changing their clothes, homosexuality has always been a part of our life and culture.  

Also, our ancient texts and oral traditions are filled with references to queerness. Rigveda says ‘Vikruti Evam Prakriti’, which means ‘what seems unnatural is also natural’. According to many scholars, this refers to queerness. In the Puranas, Vishnu, time and again, morphs into a woman to trick demons and tempt sages.

The first part of the book, before Pattanaik delves into the stories, is an important discussion on queer behavior across the world. Just as patriarchy asserts men to be superior to women and feminism clarifies men and women are equal, queerness questions what constitutes male and female, says Pattanaik. And it is this idea that he explores in the book.

Retellings of epics and myths, Pattanaik says, have, over the years, adopted a patriarchal bias, which is how stories of queerness have been overshadowed, if not altogether lost. In Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don’t Tell You, he shines light on instances where the line between male and female has blurred. Reading the book will force you to confront your thoughts and views on gender. It will make you pause and reflect on the battles of the LGBTQI+ community and wonder how the world came to be so intolerant.

Pattanaik’s works, I believe, make for brilliant alternate readings of our myths and epics. These are the stories we should be telling our children, for a better, more inclusive future.

Mythology

Shikhandi and Other Queer Tales They Don’t Tell You

Devdutt Pattanaik

Published: 2014

Publisher: Zubaan Books and Penguin India

Language: English

Pages: 179, Paperback