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Last updated: May 03, 2023, 19:58 IST
Koovgam is an 18-day festival. (News 18)
The 18-day Koovagam Festival, a grand celebration for the transgender community, is taking place in the Koovagam district of Tamil Nadu.
The 18-day Koovagam Festival, a major celebration for the transgender community, takes place in the small village of Koovagam in the Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.
After the beauty pageant, a tie-in event was held on May 2 in the evening as part of this popular festival. Many transvestites, assuming Lord Aravan as their husband, perform the binding ritual.
Transwoman Priya from Mumbai spoke to News18, who is originally from Virudhachalam in Tamil Nadu. She said that she attended the Koovagam festival for the third year in a row.
“We look at the Kovagam festival as a way to let go of our losses and hardships. We finally appeal to society to accept us, because this festival is something we expect every year.”
Another transgender woman, Rekh, from Andhra Pradesh, said she has been visiting Villupuram for the past 20 years to worship Lord Aravan during the Kovagam festival.
“Neither our mother nor father is with us, so it is a relief to meet our community members and friends at this festival. We appeal to the Government of Tamil Nadu to help us by providing food, shelter and toilets during the annual festival.”
The history behind the ritual of tying the thali goes back to the era of the Mahabharata, who claims that Arjuna’s son Lord Aravan is not his biological child. In exchange for marriage first, he agrees to offer it as a sacrifice to Goddess Kali to end the battle between Pandavas and Kauravas.
Since no one wants to marry a man who is about to be sacrificed, Lord Krishna takes the form of Mohini and marries him. After the rituals, he voluntarily gives himself up to the Goddess.
Subsequently, it is generally claimed that the Mohini avatar of Sri Krishna was given to him for this marriage, and so transgender people are said to be on ‘Lord Krishna’s side’.
Transgender women consider Aravan to be their husband and tie the thali (Mangalsutra) with the priest’s hands. Today a ‘Koothandavar chariot’ is held which is considered to be the finale of the folk festival, where transgender people remove their thali and wear white sarees to signify the sacrifice of Lord Aravan.
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