Koovagam Festival – Traditional, Societal and Political Impact on Transgender Community

This paper is dedicated to Traditions and societal customs of Koovagam Festival (annual festival celebrated by Transgender community at Viluppuram, Tamil Nadu) Transgender, popularly known as ‘aravanis’, are in the midst of celebrating the 18-day-long Koovagam festival, an annual event that attracts their kind from abroad, including Singapore and Malaysia, and from across the countryside, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is a folk date backs to Mahabharata period and it’s relevance in present day is analyzed in this paper. The community and it’s interaction among the society during the 18 day long festival has been discussed in detail. Koovagam festival is an annual event where traditionally selected transgender are married to Aravan and later next day after his death the married Transgender becomes a widow. Transgender community from various part of the world and India joins and educates the community in itself on safe sex and Aids awareness. I will be discussing with the comments of the locals and their views on this festival in detail. This festival is criticized for its nature of seducing locals for sex by transgender community and it has turned to lure for sex rather than the cultural and traditional aspect to it. The paper brings focus on the issue faced by the non community members and the transgender community like shop keepers, local public, hotel owners and the transgender community itself. This paper also aims to provide solution to such problem in three category as classified as follows, Police and District administration, Acceptance among the society or inclusivity and self regulating mechanism of Transgender Community.