Dear Marco, Androgyny probably doesn't count as gender change per se but there is the depiction of Prajāpati in a few places in Vedic literature, not as fully androgynous (in the manner of Ardhanārīśvara), but as a male god with breasts (*stána-*) that lactate. There is also the case of Indra assuming the form of a woman, this is probably already covered in some of the secondary literature you mention.
Best wishes, Robert On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 8:47 PM Marco Franceschini via INDOLOGY < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends and colleagues, > > one of my students is writing her undergraduate thesis on the theme of > gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature. > So far, we have identified the following cases: > - Ila/Sudyumna-Ilā (*Rāmāyaṇa*, *Bhāgavatapurāṇa*, *Viṣṇupurāṇa*, > *Vāyupurāṇa*) > - Bhaṅgāsvana (*Mahābhārata*) > - Śikhaṇḍin (*Mahābhārata*) > - Mūladeva (*Vetālapañcaviṃśati*) > - Rūpāvatī (*Divyāvadāna*) > - Arjuna (*Mahābhārata*) > > As for studies on the subject, we have been able to identify only these > three: > - M. Bloomfield, *On the Art of Entering Another's Body: A Hindu Fiction > Motif* > - N. Brown, *Change of Sex as a Hindu Story Motif* > - R. Goldman, *Transsexualism, Gender, and Anxiety in Traditional India* > > I would be grateful for any additional suggestions you might wish to > provide. > > Thank you in advance for your suggestions. > Best wishes, > > Marco > --- > Marco Franceschini > ———————————--- > Associate Professor > University of Bologna > Department of History and Cultures > Personal web page <https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.franceschini3/en> > Academia web page <http://unibo.academia.edu/MarcoFranceschini> > — > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > [email protected] > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology >
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