Mystic Mantra: Homosexuality and the Vedas

Vedas predate all the other texts in the world and vedic culture is the basis of spiritual wealth of Bharatvarsh. It comes as no surprise then that while the 21st century world and modern religions are still shying away from the subject of homosexuality, the vedic Indians 3,000 years ago recognised the third sex or tritiya prakriti which was very much a part of the vedic society. Arjun as Brihannala in the court of King Virat and Shikhandi as the prince of Panchala kingdom are examples from the previous yug of Dwapar.

Sushruta Samhita (Sharira Sthana, chapter 3, verse 4) states that the preponderance of semen over ovum begets a male child; that of ovum over semen begets a female child; and equal potency of both results in a neuter child. Sushruta Samhita (Sharira Sthana, chapter 2, verse 38-42) and Charaka Samhita (Sharira Sthana, chapter 2, verse 17-21) further detail the symptoms as well as reasons for various kinds of sexual behaviours.

Without getting into the specifics of each text, some general terms to describe sexual behaviour of an individual included puns prakriti (male), stri prakriti (female), tritiya prakriti (has both male and female qualities), napumsa (deficient in manhood), nastriya (deficient in womanhood), kliba (impotent with women by nature), panda (impotent with women for various reasons), shandha (he who has qualities and behaviour of a woman), svairini (she who engages in sex with women), stripumsa (she who has qualities and behaviour of a man).

The deviations from male and female characteristics were attributed to inadequacies of the parental sperm or ova, cohabitation process or the thoughts of the parents. Vedas never termed homosexuality as a crime. It is the loss of vedic culture which is being exploited. Vedas perceived all beings as equal and the laws of nature are applicable to all.