# Hijras **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519 "2008-02-13T23:10:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/1 "2008-02-13T23:10:10Z")
Presumably, then it is a bunch of Hijras who sing the “Who can tell you more about yin and yang?” verse in the “Marriage has come to town” number in _Bride and Prejudice_. I _had_ been wondering about that. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/2 "2008-02-14T00:18:25Z")
[QUOTE=John W. Kennedy] Presumably, then it is a bunch of Hijras who sing the “Who can tell you more about yin and yang?” verse in the “Marriage has come to town” number in _Bride and Prejudice_. I _had_ been wondering about that. [/QUOTE] Link, John? ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/3 "2008-02-14T00:32:53Z")
Link to the Classic Column [Why are Indian eunuchs warned about unsafe sex](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_212.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/4 "2008-02-14T19:07:41Z")
(Hijak) Just how DOES one pronounce “Hijras?” I always thought they were the “Castrati” (?) Or was that just Italian. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/5 "2008-02-14T20:54:55Z")
Sorry about leaving out the link. I was called away after typing that much of the message, and didn’t get back to hitting the “Submit Message” button for about six hours, so I forgot I hadn’t finished. Anyway, “castrato” is an Italian word that literally signifies “castrated one”. I’m not sure of its full range of meaning in Italian (_i.e.,_ whether it includes gelded horses, or human adult accident victims, _etc._), but in English, it is used only to refer to boy singers who underwent castration before puberty, to retain a high singing voice. (By a weird coincidence, as I type, I’m listening to Kristen Chenoweth singing “Glitter and Be Gay”.) In any case, according to Cecil, a hijra is not necessarily castrated at all, and, in particular, the singers in _Bride and Prejudice_ have adult male voices; any Westerner would, seeing and hearing them, classify them as “drag queens”. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hijras/437519/6 "2008-02-21T15:01:41Z")
Cecil also left out another occupation of Hijras-protection scamming. When I was last in Delhi, they were going around in a large group demanding money from businesses. If the business din’t pay up, they hung around and made themselves a nusance, driving away customers. Luckily, the locals convinced them that since we made drugs for fighting cancer they should leave us alone.