Koovagam Gods and Goddesses

Koovagam Gods and Goddesses
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1

Aravan Festival

Deity worshiped: Sri Iravan (Aravan in Tamil) and Sri Krsna as Mohini-murti.

Description: This festival celebrates Sri Iravan’s marriage to Lord Krsna’s Mohini form and his subsequent sacrifice. In order to assure victory for the Pandavas in battle, Iravan, the son of Arjuna, agreed to sacrifice himself to goddess Kali. His last request before dying was to marry and lose his virginity but since no girl would marry a man about to be sacrificed, Krsna assumed His Mohini form and fulfilled Iravan’s request. The festival lasts for six days and reenacts both the unusual marriage and Iravan’s sacrifice. Tens of thousands of crossdressers, transgenders and homosexual men assemble together for what is perhaps the largest of all third-gender festivals in India. At the climax, an effigy of the local Koothandavara deity (Iravan) is burned and thousands of crossdressers express their great distress by wailing, beating their chests, breaking their bangles, etc.

When: The main festival falls on the Tuesday before the full moon of Vaishaka (April-May; called Chaitra in Tamil Nadu). The entire festival begins four days before that.

Where: Koovagam, Tamil Nadu, India. Koovagam is a very small, rural village, so accommodations should be made in the nearby town of Villupuram (174 kilometers south of Chennai).

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