

How revelry, grief and care come together in the ‘Amsterdam of Tamil Nadu’ every year
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 2018, photographer and documentary filmmaker Shino Cherian decided, on an impulse, to attend the Koovagam festival in Tamil Nadu, which spans 18 days of the month of Chithirai (April-May) in the Tamil calendar.At 28, he hadn’t done anything close to as daring as venturing into a completely unknown terrain, inhabited by people who were nothing like him. However, along with his friend and fellow photographer Ram Manu Prasad, Cherian went on to document the events of the crucial two days that mark the end of the festival.
The result, after eight years and multiple failed attempts at bringing the work to a wider audience, is the recent book, Souls of Someone: Myth, Magic and Mourning in Koovagam.For two-and-a-half weeks each year, transgender women from all over south India, as well as other parts of the country, travel to the village of Koovagam to celebrate an ancient festival that takes place at the Koothandavar temple. The community worships at the altar of the deity, who is known by many names, but most widely as Aravan, son of Arjuna in the Mahabharata.Legend has it that to win the Kurukshetra War, the Pandavas were required to sacrifice one of their finest men.
Since Krishna and Arjuna were indispensable to the battle, it fell to young Aravan, Arjun’s son with a Naga princess, to offer himself up for the cause. He agreed, but on the condition that Krishna would grant him three boons, one of which was not to die a virgin.
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