Bahuchara Devi - Patroness of Transgender Community

Bahuchara Devi  is a Hindu goddess of chastity and fertility in her Maiden aspect, of the incarnation of the Hinglaj. She is a divine Hindu deity worshiped fervently by women who desire to conceive, or men who are unable to procreate. Bahuchara Devi is mainly worshiped by members of the transgender community known as ‘Hijras’. A rooster serves as a vehicle for the Goddess which symbolises innocence. She is depicted carrying a trident in one hand and a copy of the Hindu scripture in the other.

Bahucharaji Temple is located in Bahucharaji town in Mehsana district of Gujarat, India. The original shrine was built by a king called Sankhal Raj in 1152 CE and the first surviving mention of the shrine was found in an inscription dating 1280 CE. According to the inscription no changes were made in the temple architecture until the eighteenth century.

Bahuchara Mata is one of the pivotal Hindu deities who enjoys the patronage of the transgender and transvestite community in India, with several different tales in folklore depicting unmistakeable gender transformation and thus, shedding the trappings of heteronormativity. In ancient Hindu literary texts, there are several references to the fluid nature of sexuality.

 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuchara_Mata