Editing Third gender (section)

==== Indic culture ====
[[Image:Ardhanari.jpg|thumb|upright|The Hindu god [[Shiva]] is often represented as [[Ardhanarisvara]], with a dual male and female nature. Typically, Ardhanarisvara's right side is male and left side female. This sculpture is from the [[Elephanta Caves]] near [[Mumbai]].]]
References to a third sex can be found throughout the texts of India's religious traditions like [[Jainism]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zwilling |first1=L |last2=Sweet |first2=MJ |year=1996 |title="Like a city ablaze": The third sex and the creation of sexuality in Jain religious literature |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=359–84 |jstor=4629615 |pmid=11609126}}</ref> and [[Buddhism]]<ref name="Jackson10996">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Peter A. |date=April 1996 |title=Non-normative Sex/Gender Categories in the Theravada Buddhist Scriptures |journal=Australian Humanities Review |hdl=1885/41884}}</ref> – and it can be inferred that [[Vedic culture]] recognised three genders. The [[Vedas]] (c. 1500 BC–500 BC) describe individuals as belonging to one of three categories, according to one's nature or [[prakrti]]. These are also spelled out in the [[Kama Sutra]] (c. 4th century AD) and elsewhere as ''pums-prakrti'' (male-nature), ''stri-prakrti'' (female-nature), and ''tritiya-prakrti'' (third-nature).<ref>Alternate transliteration: ''trhytîyâ prakrhyti''</ref> Texts suggest that third sex individuals were well known in premodern India and included male-bodied or female-bodied<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Penrose |first=Walter |year=2001 |title=Hidden in History: Female Homoeroticism and Women of a "Third Nature" in the South Asian Past |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=10 |pages=3–39 [4] |doi=10.1353/sex.2001.0018 |s2cid=142955490 |quote=distinct social and economic roles once existed for women thought to belong to a third gender. Hidden in history, these women dressed in men's clothing, served as porters and personal bodyguards to kings and queens, and even took an active role in sex with women.}}</ref> people as well as [[intersex]] people, and that they can often be recognised from childhood.

A third sex is discussed in ancient [[Hindu law]], medicine, [[linguistics]] and [[astrology]]. The foundational work of Hindu law, the [[Manu Smriti]] (c. 200 BC–200 AD) explains the biological origins of the three sexes:

<blockquote>A male child is produced by a greater quantity of male seed, a female child by the prevalence of the female; if both are equal, a third-sex child or boy and girl twins are produced; if either are weak or deficient in quantity, a failure of conception results.<ref>[[Manu Smriti]], [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu03.htm 3.49].</ref></blockquote>

Indian linguist [[Patañjali]]'s<ref>Not to be confused with the [[Patañjali]] who was the author of the ''[[Yoga sutras]]''.</ref> work on [[Sanskrit]] grammar, the [[Mahābhāṣya]] (c. 200 BC), states that Sanskrit's three [[grammatical genders]] are derived from three natural genders. The earliest [[Tamil language|Tamil]] grammar, the [[Tolkappiyam]] (3rd century BC) refers to hermaphrodites as a third "neuter" gender (in addition to a feminine category of unmasculine males). In [[Vedic astrology]], the nine planets are each assigned to one of the three genders; the third gender, ''tritiya-prakrti'', is associated with [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Saturn]] and (in particular) [[Ketu (mythology)|Ketu]]. In the [[Puranas]], there are references to three kinds of [[deva (Hinduism)|deva]]s of music and dance: [[apsaras]] (female), [[gandharva]]s (male) and [[kinnar]]s (neuter).

The two great [[Sanskrit]] [[epic poem]]s, the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Mahabharata]],<ref>Lord [[Arjuna]] takes a "vow of eunuchism" to live as the third sex for a year: "O lord of the Earth, I will declare myself as one of the neuter sex. O monarch, it is, indeed difficult to hide the marks of the bowstring on my arms. I will, however, cover both my [[Scarification|cicatrized]] arms with bangles. Wearing brilliant rings on my ears and [[conch]]-bangles on my wrists and causing a braid to hang down from my head, I shall, O king, appear as one of the third sex, Vrihannala by name. And living as a female I shall (always) entertain the king and the inmates of the inner apartments by reciting stories. And, O king, I shall also instruct the women of Virata's palace in singing and delightful modes of dancing and in musical instruments of diverse kinds. And I shall also recite the various excellent acts of men..." [[gutenberg:15475|Mahabharata (Virata-parva)]], Translated by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan. [[Project Gutenberg]].</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Pattanaik |first=Devdutt |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1085374530 |title=Ramayana versus Mahabharata : my playful comparison |date=2018 |isbn=978-93-5333-230-3 |location=New Delhi |publisher=Rupa Publications |oclc=1085374530}}</ref> indicates the existence of a third gender in ancient Indic society. Some versions of [[Ramayana]] tell that in one part of the story, the hero [[Rama]] heads into exile in the forest. Halfway there, he discovers that most of the people of his hometown [[Ayodhya (Ramayana)|Ayodhya]] were following him. He told them, "Men and women, turn back", and with that, those who were "neither men nor women" did not know what to do, so they stayed there. When Rama returned from exile years later, he discovered them still there and blessed them, saying that there will be a day when they, too, will have a share in ruling the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kakar |first=Sudhir |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33043083 |title=The colors of violence : cultural identities, religion, and conflict |date=1996 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-42284-4 |location=Chicago |pages=163 |oclc=33043083}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nanda |first=Serena |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20091288 |title=Neither man nor woman : the Hijras of India |date=1990 |publisher=Wadsworth Pub. Co |isbn=0-534-12204-3 |location=Belmont, Calif. |pages=13 |oclc=20091288}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lorber |first=Judith |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/47008359 |title=Paradoxes of gender |date=1994 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-585-35777-3 |location=New Haven |pages=93 |oclc=47008359}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

In the Buddhist [[Vinaya]], codified in its present form around the 2nd century BC and said to be handed down by oral tradition from [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] himself, there are four main sex/gender categories: males, females, ''ubhatobyañjanaka'' (people of a dual sexual nature) and ''[[Pandaka|paṇḍaka]]'' (people of non-normative sexual natures, perhaps originally denoting a deficiency in male sexual capacity).<ref name="Jackson10996" /> As the Vinaya tradition developed, the term ''paṇḍaka'' came to refer to a broad third sex category which encompassed intersex, male and female-bodied people with physical or behavioural attributes that were considered inconsistent with the natural characteristics of man and woman.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gyatso |first=J. |year=2003 |title=One Plus One Makes Three: Buddhist Gender, Monasticism, and the Law of the Non-Excluded Middle |journal=[[History of Religions (journal)|History of Religions]] |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=89–115 |doi=10.1086/423006 |jstor=3176712 |s2cid=162098679}}</ref>