VAIBHAV SARIA, Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India, Fordham University Press, 2021, 249pp., ISBN 9780192873767

Keywords: Queer Ethnography, Sexuality and Desire, Asceticism and Eroticism, Temporalities of Desire, Hijra Identity

“Why do men have sex with men?” […] The answers further link the anxieties of pleasure with the substratum economy of semen as it is inherited and understood through the Hindu-Muslim cosmogony, offering reasons such as “anus is tighter than vagina and gives more pleasure” “protecting a girl’s virginity, maintaining chastity” and “no commitment to marriage.” Other reasons given are “play” and “curiosity.” (pg. 10)

The book Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India by Vaibhav Saria presents a profound ethnographic exploration of the lived realities of hijras. It delves into the nuanced connotations of the term hijra, often associated with transgender identities, and examines their complex social and cultural existence in India. Drawing on twenty-four months of ethnographic research conducted between 2008 and 2019—including sixteen uninterrupted months of cohabitation with a hijra community—the study focuses on two of India’s most economically disadvantaged regions, Bhadrak and Kalahandi, in the eastern state of Odisha.

Bhadrak, the primary field site, provided a rich setting for understanding the economic strategies hijras employ for survival. They sustained themselves through various means, including selling goods near the shrine of a revered Muslim saint (mazar), soliciting alms aboard trains, participating in customary rituals related to childbirth and marriage, performing at religious festivities, and engaging in sex work.

Saria’s investigation was driven by three primary objectives: to analyze the complex dynamics between hijras and their biological families, to examine how rural settings increasingly provided more sustainable opportunities for hijras compared to urban environments, and to explore the nature of sexual interactions and intimate relationships within rural communities, where limited anonymity shaped social and personal dynamics.

Conceptually, Saria frames hijra identity as a form of political theology that both exists within and transcends the liberal political framework. The ethnographic immersion becomes palpable from page six, where the section Desiring Men vividly portrays the affirmation of sexuality. The text introduces specific linguistic expressions used within hijra communities, such as batli to denote the rectum, offering deeper insight into their lived realities. Expanding on these themes, the study further examines the politics of penetration in hijra relationships, emphasizing how semen is symbolically invoked as never being wasted. Saria weaves personal experiences into the narrative, detailing both moments of engagement and obstacles encountered in the field:

“It was not only my sexuality but also my long hair and feminine attire that identified me as a hijra, allowing me to remain among them by the highway, where we engaged in long conversations during the