INTERPRETING SEXUALITY THE SPIRITUAL WAY

The Quran talks about the diversity of tribes, made so that people may know one another, and that Allah is both ‘knowing and acquainted’ in Chapter 49 verse 13. One interpretation of this is that the verse is talking only about heterosexual relationships. But Arif Jafar, an activist, and a petitioner in the case against Section 377 before the Supreme Court’s constitution bench, says this can be interpreted to mean that tribes were made for the purpose not of division but identity, and that diversity is created by Allah. The Book of Genesis talks about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, where the residents sought to commit violence on men. This has been used consistently to justify the condemnation of same-sex relationships. However, in a sermon delivered by George Zachariah, a faculty member at The United Theological College, Bengaluru, for prophet Ezekiel, Sodom’s iniquity was the unwillingness of the people to share their abundance with those who were poor and marginalised. Manusmriti, one of the texts that codified conduct of Hindu men and women lays out purification rituals as punishment for same-sex intercourse between men, digital amputation for homosexual intercourse between a woman and virgin girl, and a fine for a man having intercourse with a woman of an oppressed caste. There are examples of gender fluidity in mythology such as Vishnu’s transformation to Mohini or the king Yuvanashva who became pregnant. Scriptures like Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita allude to homosexual men and women.