Drag Culture In India

Where does your mind wander when you hear the word Drag? Is it the verb drag, which essentially means to pull something/somebody with difficulty? The fact that we did not think of the Drag Community, who use exaggerated clothing and makeup to express themselves celebrating LGBTQ pride, suggests that we have a long way to go.

June, being the Pride month, we wanted to shed light upon the culture of drag, how it came into being and the importance of drag today.

We can all agree that drag puts the ‘extra’ in ‘extravagance’. Majorly the whole culture of ‘drag’ is said or assumed to be about men dressing up with bold, loud dresses and make up that makes you stand and stare. But that is not it, drag is much more than just that. Priyadarshi Shastri in a Times of India blog writes something that we highly agree with,? “But for me, drag is a persona that a person (usually a gay person) develops inside of him. It is how he perceives his inner feminine side. It can be quirk, funny, dark, or whatever you want it to be. It is an alter ego that allows a gay to be how he wants to live or how he feels. Entertaining the people through that side is what drag performances are.”

It is widely said that drag culture began in the Shakespearean theater era, which was the late 19th century, as the church was stringent about women getting on stage and endorsing in acting and theater play. So as to keep the essence of the plays alive and apt while performing, men would often dress as women. But the evidence of the existence of drag in its gist, dates way back than we would like to go. The long annals describing different aspects of the Mughal era which dates from the early 16th to mid 18th century,? to be taken for example, have numerous instances of fair and very common existence of men who dressed as women and owned it. The rich description of a harem, where a king’s wives, concubines and all female relatives would stay, had eunuchs for the protection and guardian of the harem. Taking a look back at the Bollywood hit movie Jodha Akbar, gives us some sort clarity of how it might have been in the olden days. The prominence of all of these was lost along the lines of British invasion due to their strict cultural prism of view which wasn’t prismatic enough to fit the rich cultural heritage we carry.? “Launda Naach” from the state of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and “Kaniyan Koothu” of Tamil Nadu, are all evidence of the existence of a subculture of drag which still exists in the pockets of our country, and have been since time immemorial. Just the connotation of the term "drag" is relatively fair as it grows in popularity in the west, and now globally.

With the abolition of article 377 the movement of drag in India is taking a turn for the better. It is blooming with baby steps and creating an environment that we so need for not just drag but for the whole LGBTQ+ community and the amalgamation of culture that forms it. Famous drag artists in India like Lushmoon aka Ayushmaan who is a human rights lawyer, Nilya who is known as Miss Bhenji, a psychologist and Sushant Divgikr, aka Rani KoHEnur, is the quintessential powerful drag queen and a performer at heart.

But Maya The Drag Queen is known to be the first queen to grace the Indian queer scene! These are all just many of the few drag artists that are educating the masses and bringing a wave of revolution not just in the community of drag but as a citizen of a culturally rich country? that demands authenticity and acceptance of all the volcanic aspects of our culture that we were once stripped off of.