Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess. She was a daughter of a charan. She and her sister were on journey with a caravan when a marauder named Bapiya attacked their caravan. It was common practice in charan men and women if overpowered by their enemies, not to surrender but to kill themselves. Being a reason for the shading the blood of charan was considered heinous sin. When Bapiya attacked caravan, Bahuchara and her sisters announced tragu and cut their breasts. Legends tells that Bapiya was cursed and became impotent. The curse was lifted only when he worshiped Bahuchara Mata by dressing and acting like woman. Wikipedia
This has to be the original bad boy to good girl story hasn't it?
I've been reading a lot lately about Indian culture lately at first because I have a lot of Indian colleagues (seconded from our Mumbai and Bangalore offices) and was a bit worried about how they might perceive me (I haven't had the nerve to ask them directly what they think of hijiras), and latterly I've been plundering it for story ideas.
It's quite surprising how many tg themes there are in their culture / religions, and given that there's hardly any in Western equivalents how many of them turn up in tg fiction.
Comments
What about Herakles
he was made to crossdress and take up spinning! I am sure there are plenty of others, the priests of Attis(?) were expected to castrate themselves and wear female attire. (See The Golden Bough - Fraser) Nero supposedly ordering the first attempt at a sex change.
Then there's Saturnalia when everything was turned upside down, the Shakespearean ploys of women dressing as men, pantomime etc. there's plenty if you look for it.
Angharad.
Angharad
Other than being newer
The Greco-Roman story doesn't really apply. It's more of a good-boy-to-good-girl-to-bad-boy story. Queen Omphale's actions made him distrustful of women, and he willinging submitted to her treatment of him out of love for her. Besides, he wasn't made to shave, so everyone was to know that he was who he was, just wearing a dress and working the spinning wheel.
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
Wasn't it Jim Henson who said, "Without faith, I am nothing," after all? Wait, no, that was God. Sorry, common mistake...
and although it didn't really work
there's Achilles' mother disguising him as a girl to prevent him going to war. The prototype 'In hiding' story perhaps.
So maybe I didn't think this through :)
And don't forget Tiresias ...
... the prophet of Zeus who ticked off Hera, and ... well, look here:
From Wikipedia:
"On Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, as Tiresias came upon a pair of copulating snakes, he hit the pair a smart blow with his stick. Hera was not pleased, and she punished Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto, who also possessed the gift of prophecy. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to Hyginus, trampled on them. As a result, Tiresias was released from his sentence and permitted to regain his masculinity. This ancient story is recorded in lost lines of Hesiod.
In a separate episode, Tiresias was drawn into an argument between Hera and her husband Zeus, on the theme of who has more pleasure in sex: the man, as Hera claimed; or, as Zeus claimed, the woman, as Tiresias had experienced both. Tiresias revealed woman's greatest secret: that she receives the greater pleasure: "Of ten parts a man enjoys one only." Hera instantly struck him blind for his impiety. Zeus could do nothing to stop her, but he did give Tiresias the gift of foresight and a lifespan of seven lives."
So, if anyone here sees a pair of copulating snakes ... *grin*
Randalynn