Dear Marco, Also relevant perhaps is Kṛṣṇa's son Sāmba, who in Book 16 of the Mahābhārata, thirty-six years after the war, dresses as a pregnant woman as part of a prank that does not end well for him.
All the best, Eric Eric Steinschneider (he/him) Associate Professor Department of Philosophy and Religion Ithaca College Tel: (617) 519-5443 ________________________________ From: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> on behalf of Дмитрий Комиссаров via INDOLOGY <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2026 5:54 AM To: Robert Leach <[email protected]> Cc: Indology Indology listserve <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Gender change in pre-modern Sanskrit literature This message originated from outside the Ithaca College email system. And Hasyacudamani by Vatsaraja is also interesting. There are an ascetic and an old bawd, they form a couple. They don't exchange genders, but they do exchange gender roles. Dmitrii Komissarov сб, 14 мар. 2026 г., 11:56 Robert Leach via INDOLOGY <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>: 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]<mailto:[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]<mailto:[email protected]> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology _______________________________________________ INDOLOGY mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
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