(Culture peek ) The Eunuch society

Neither man nor woman, a truly fascinating thing. Over a million people in India are classified as Eunuch or Hijras. They are considered the third sex in many parts of the world. A eunuch IPA: /ˈjuː.nək/) is a castrated man, in particular one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the twenty first century BC. They have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as courtiers domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In some translations of ancient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs seem to include men who were impotent with women, those we would now call transgender or homosexual and those who were simply celibate.

The English word eunuch is from the Greek eune ("bed") and ekhein ("to keep"), effectively "bed keeper." Servants or slaves were usually castrated in order to make them safer servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter or even relaying messages could in theory give a eunuch "the ruler's ear". Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion.


Sources: Wikipedia and Things Asian