Same Sex Love In India: A Book Exploring India’s Cultural Past Of Homosexuality & More

The idea of ‘Love is love’ has gained tremendous support, traction, and awareness over the past few years. As India and its society still inch toward complete acceptance, members of the LGBTQIA+ community continue to fight for their rights and dignity.

Indians’ orthodox mindsets are rigid. Once an outlook has been ingrained in someone, it is in the vicinity of impossible to alter that, and the same goes for how society perceives same-sex love. Heterosexuality has dominated Indian society for years and same-sex attraction remains a taboo.

In her book, ‘Same Sex Love In India’, author Ruth Vanita explores the history of India, and what it could have dictated to our present and future about homosexuality. Through the British colonisation and other influences, our idea and perception of love and attraction and what constitutes ‘normal’ and what does not has altered. Beyond the Kamasutra, too, there exists an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove India’s historical celebration of homosexuality.

Concepts of polygamy, polyandry, non-binary identities, and more also present themselves as common through our history, but through erasure and re-narration, our rich culture remains represented wholly differently. Poetry, literature, and many other forms of information that once held imperative details that could have shaped our society’s nature are now simply non-existent. This is why books like Same Sex Love In India are as important as they are needed.

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