David Schneider paved the new study of kinship through the dichotomy between nature and culture as substance and code. In South Asia, Mckim Marriot examined inseparable substance codes, their form/effect, and the transaction of foods, internal fluids, knowledge etc.
Hijras, neither men nor women, are recognized as a disciple and legitimate members of the local hijra community away from own name and the biological family in the urban area of north-western India, when a boy underwent initiation (castration) and forms a relationship with a particular elder hijra as a guru. They live together and follow the law of their community with 70 members approximately in a town where 25 houses gather. This guru-chela(master-disciple) relationship supports the direct hijra’s lineage and protects the permanence of the community. In addition, mother-daughter or sister relationship can be bonded between a younger hijra and other older hijra respectively. It is called Mosal which means maternal kinship.
As Substance, milk is quite significant and symbolic in their relationships. For guru-chela, the abstinence from milk, especially chai, for water devi, brings success of castration and securing of the urethra to the apprentice in the transitional and polluted period after castration. For Mosal, milk-drinking rites were often performed between mother and daughter or sisters during particular rituals. In this case, milk is used as a symbol of mother’s milk. The more Mosals are bonded, the more individual ties to other hijras expand with much of the gifts represented as a mother or elder sister’s affection. In the economy of their gifts and service to guru, relationships are constructed and maintained.
But in recent years, new relationships have been established among the legitimate community and outside hijras or non-hijra men across regions, due to the LGBTQ+ movement. This new phenomenon ties different communities through the very milk-drinking ritual.
