One of the features of Karaga festivals celebrated in and around Bangalore is the ritual of getting the evil eye removed by the transgenders or Hijras . It is believed that during the Karaga festival it is very divine and effective to get evil eye removed through Hijras . Hijras come along with their god’s idols to the festival and few hijras use lemon to remove the evil eye of the people visiting the Karaga . They get a small amount of money ( Rs 10, 15, 20 up to 100 ) paid as dakshina . Dasappa who came all the way from a village to the Hoskote karaga along with his granddaughter just to get the evil eye removed from his granddaughter who is a frequent sufferer from fever . He recalls his daughter had similar issue but cured after the removal of evil eye from Hijras of Hoskote few years ago.
Karaga festival itself being five centuries old this ritual shows the fairs and festivals in India allowed Hijras live respectfully and also supported financially as well in the society from centuries . From past few hundred years these people from third sex are hated and abused. They have become the target of the cruel society which thinks any form of gender variant behavior as social evil or highly unnatural. The continuation of this downfall can be seen in Karaga festivals too. Bindu a hijra at Hoskote Karaga festival says , the people from this generation who are going to schools, colleges are never treat them like human beings. They are not interested in such rituals too which Bindu feels very scary for those who want to live respectfully in the society.
Location : Hoskote, Bangalore
Type: Karaga fair
Occurrence: Annual
Time : April-May
Hindu Calendar time: Vaishakha poornima ( full moon day)
