Myth, Magic and Mourning in Koovagam
For eighteen days during the Chithirai month of the Tamil calendar, Koovagam, a sleepy hamlet in central Tamil Nadu, hosts one of the most extraordinary festivals in the world in which thousands of transgender women gather to participate.
While beauty pageants, sexual health awareness workshops and travelling markets define the first sixteen days, the festival crescendos over the final forty-eight hours when countless transgender women enter the Koothandavar temple in the village to marry Lord Aravan, whose sacrifice played a crucial role in ensuring the victory of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata.