VILLUPURAM : Sounds of lamentations filled the air in the early hours of Wednesday at the Koothandavar temple, as the ‘brides’ of Aravan mourned his death by breaking bangles and ripping off their mangal sutras and garlands.“We feel blessed to have Lord Aravan as our husband. Even if it is for one night, it feels so divine. Even other women may not feel as blessed as us. A transgender person can completely enjoy the divinity through this,” said Pooja (name changed), a transwoman from Bengaluru.
On Tuesday, more than 2,000 transgender people from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and other parts of India had tied mangal sutras at the Koothandavar temple, on the eve of Chitrai festival. Groups of transwomen, draped in bright silk sarees and wearing garlands and thalis, had filled the place with an aura of celebration. Every transwoman dressed like a bride seemed to revel in the freedom the festival - dedicated specially for them - seemed to provide.
Twenty eight-year-old Amudha, a transwoman, however looked different in ordinary clothes. She said, “My sister passed away this year. So I am not celebrating the festival. But I have a flower stall in the place so I could spend time with fellow people from the community.”
According to Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, disguised as a woman, fulfilled Aravan’s last wish – to get married. A day after the wish was granted Aravan was killed in the Kurukshetra war. As an reenactment to this story, transgender people get married on the last day of Koovagam festival. They get the holy knots tied by a priest and the same night is considered to be the consummation night. The next day, they make themselves widows and sob for the death of their partner, Lord Aravan, who was killed in the war.