Dedicated to Yellamma, but not a blessed life

Jogappas, a small transgender subculture, sing folk songs or beg for a living

While many Jogappas are from Dalit and Backward Class communities, there are some Lingayats and Muslims too.

“I was born this way. Accept me as I am and respect my art,” says Ucchamma.

A transgender belonging to the small Jogappa community from Bagalkot district, Ms. Ucchamma can sing over 50 folk songs back-to-back, in praise of goddess Yellamma and on a range of social themes. Her repertoire is largely Kannada, but she can also sing Marathi and Telugu songs, to the accompaniment of the one-stringed chudike .

Ms. Ucchamma was among the 38 Jogappas whose life and problems were closely studied by Aneka, a non-governmental organisation that works with sexuality minorities, along with members of the Jogappa community.

It found that ostracisation by the family, lack of access to healthcare and other welfare programmes, limited livelihood options and harassment by the police were the most pressing problems faced by the Jogappa community.

The Jogappas are a small transgender subculture in north Karnataka and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, who are dedicated to goddess Yellamma (Renuka). They make a living by Joga (begging), singing and dancing.

Some of them become sex workers, pushing themselves into risk.

Bibijaan (alias Dawalsaab), a Jogappa aged 36, said that she was HIV positive and receiving treatment at an ART centre. There were hardly any job opportunities for the community, forcing them to be sex workers, she added.

Syncretic tradition

The oral histories collected by Aneka shows that Jogappas came from a wide social spectrum. While many are from Dalit and Backward Class communities, there are Jogappas from Lingayat and Muslim communities too. Twenty-six-year-old Durgamma (named Mehboob by parents) recounted how the family and neighbours had ostracised her because she had joined the Jogappa community.

Shubha Chacko, director of Aneka, said that as many as 3,000 Jogappas were in touch with the NGO, though their exact number was unknown. While some were “dedicated” to Yellamma by the family at a young age, some choose to join the community later, she said.

Axel Harnei-Seivers, India head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, a non-governmental organisation affiliated to the German Green Party, said that “small steps” were being taken by all countries to bring transgender community to mainstream.