Koovagam Festival, the 18-day-long grand event that celebrates the spirit of the transgender community, is being held in the Koovagam hamlet in the Villupuram district. The festival goes back to the Vedic period of Mahabharata.
To mark the occasion, thousands of transgender people visit this town to worship at the Koothandavar temple. The temple is devoted to Lord Aravan.
According to Mahabharata, Lord Aravan is an illegitimate son of Arjuna. He consents to be sacrificed to Goddess Kali to put an end to the conflict between the Pandavas and the Kauravas in exchange for getting married beforehand.
Since no one wants to marry a guy who is about to be slain, thus Lord Krishna assumes the shape of Mohini and weds him. Later, he voluntarily offers himself to the goddess after the ritual.
Transgenders, often referred to as ‘Thirunangai’ in Tamil Nadu are thought to be descended from Lord Aravan. The entire Mahabharata episode is recreated and all the participants become his wives in a grand ceremony on the 17th day, however, finally, on the 18th day, a statue of Aravan is decapitated to represent his sacrifice, and the transgender community mourns his passing by assuming the role of widows and removing their thalis (Mangalsutra) and other jewels.
Local NGOs are organising beauty pageants and awareness-raising initiatives as part of the celebrations.
On April 30, a beauty pageant and dance competition was held for the Transgender community. Pragati from Salem district was chosen as Miss Transgender in the ‘Miss Transgender 2023’ in Villupuram while 20 Transgender individuals were chosen in the first round.
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