By Amara Das Wilhelm
The following Sanskrit lists from the Sabda-kalpa-druma,
Kamatantra, Smriti-ratnavali, and Narada-smriti
define various types of men who are impotent with women as
described in Vedic literature. These lists refute the common
misconception held by some that words such as kliba,
sandha, etc., cannot refer to homosexuals.
The Twenty Types of Sandha
The following list is from the Sabda-kalpa-druma Sanskrit-Sanskrit
dictionary and describes the twenty types of men known in Sanskrit
as sandha. The key criterion of a sandha is that
he is sexually impotent with women, whether in terms of desire,
performance, or fertility. As evident from this list, a sandha
can refer to many different types of men. Some are impotent
with women by nature (tritiya-prakriti) such as
the intersexed, homosexuals, and transgenders, while others
are ordinary males who have lost their potency due to various
physical or psychological afflictions. The term sandha
is therefore much more inclusive than widely believed, and any
context involving its usage should be carefully considered whenever
an interpretation is rendered. Simplistic definitions such as
“eunuch,” “neuter,” or “sexless”
may not always be accurate and in some cases totally incorrect.
Under the entry sandha, the Sabda-kalpa-druma
dictionary quotes the Narada-smriti, which lists fourteen
different types of men who are impotent with women. Then it
quotes the Kamatantra, which lists twenty different kinds.
Then it quotes Vacaspati’s (fourteenth century) Smriti-ratnavali,
in which the twenty types of sandha are listed and defined
as follows:
- Nisarga – he is born without genitals
(intersexed).
- Baddha – he has no testicles.
- Paksa – he is periodically impotent
with women (every other fortnight, month, etc.).
- Kilaka – due to impotence, he enjoys
the woman after first uniting her with another man.
- Sapadi – he is unable to enjoy sex due
to the power of a curse.
- Stabdha – his penis is paralyzed, with
no sperm.
- Irsyaka – he is aroused only by the
jealous feelings of seeing others in the act of sexual union.
- Sevyaka – his potency is lost because
of too much sex with women.
- Aksipta – his semen does not discharge
properly.
- Moghabija – he becomes impotent when
he attempts to unite with the woman.
- Salina – he is too shy or inhibited
to even approach women.
- Anyapati – he copulates with things
or beings other than women.
- Mukhebhaga – he performs oral sex on
men.
- Vataretas – he has no discharge of semen.
- Kumbhika – he takes the passive role
in anal sex.
- Panda – his penis does not respond to
(the woman’s) touch.
- Nasta – he is without sperm due to disease.
- Asekya – he is aroused only by swallowing
a man’s semen.
- Saugandhika – he is aroused only by
sniffing the (male or female) genitals.
- Sandha – he has the qualities of a woman.
Behaving and talking as they do, he may castrate himself.
The Sabda-kalpa-druma Sanskrit dictionary was compiled
by a team of Bengali scholars under the commission of Raj Radhakantha
Dev, a local king of the early nineteenth century. The well-known
Sanskrit dictionaries that we use today, such as the St. Petersburg
(Bohtlingk) and Monier-Williams, relied heavily upon this text
and would not even have been possible without it. Typically,
the European dictionaries edited, dismissed, or perhaps misunderstood
practically all of the entries referring to homosexuality, due
to the influence of their own Victorian culture.
Since the account in the Kamatantra ends by stating
klibani vimsatih (these are the twenty klibas),
the author takes kliba to be the same as sandha.
The eleventh-century lexicographer, Hemacandra, similarly equates
sandha with napumsaka. In other words, at least
these writers believed that the words kliba and napumsaka
could mean any of the things that the word sandha meant.
In his important twelfth-century commentary on the Kama
Sutra known as Jayamangala, the great scholar,
Yashodhara, comments that the homosexual men described in the
Kama Sutra as tritiya-prakriti are
also known as napumsaka.
Of the twenty types of sandha, at least five are also
mentioned in the Sushruta Samhita (3.2.38-43).
These are irsyaka, kumbhika, asekya, saugandhika,
and sandha. The Sushruta Samhita is an
ancient Sanskrit medical text on Ayur-veda dating back to at
least 600 B.C.
The Fourteen Types of Panda
Another list of men who are impotent with women appears
in the twelfth chapter of the Narada-smriti entitled
“The Union of Woman and Man.” Within that chapter,
men who are unfit for marriage due to impotence (panda)
are listed and defined. The Narada-smriti states: “Regarding
manliness, men must be examined on the basis of the characteristics
of their own bodily parts. The learned see in the shastra
that panda are fourteen-fold. They are said to
be curable or incurable depending on the method and the case
and are listed as follows:”
- Nisarga – he is born without genitals
(intersexed).
- Vadhri – his testicles have been cut
out.
- Paksa – he is periodically impotent
with women (every other fortnight, month, etc.).
- Abhisapad-guroh – he is impotent due
to the guru’s curse.
- Rogat – he is diseased (which may pass).
- Deva-krodhat – he is impotent due to
a god’s anger.
- Irsyaka – he is aroused only by the
jealous feelings of seeing others in the act of sexual union.
- Sevyaka – his potency is lost because
of too much sex with women.
- Vataretas – he has no discharge of semen.
- Mukhebhaga – he performs oral sex on
men.
- Aksipta – his semen does not discharge
properly.
- Moghabija – he becomes impotent when
he attempts to unite with the woman.
- Salina – he is too shy or inhibited
to even approach women.
- Anyapati – he copulates with things
or beings other than women.
The Narada-smriti also mentions various tests and possible
remedies for each type of panda. Regarding the mukhebhaga-panda
(who performs oral sex on men), it is stated that this type
of panda is not considered male by nature and is therefore
incurable and unfit to be united with the woman.
(From the book, "Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex.")
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