We celebrate diversity and symbolise it with the colours of the rainbow, but trans people are challenged by intersecting oppressions and find it difficult to express their genuine selves. Not everybody is able to turn around their lives. Manjamma is an exception.
What makes her a role model is evident in her autobiographical account, From Manjunath to Manjamma, co-written by journalist Harsha Bhat. Born Manjunath Setty, the young boy discovered that he felt more like a woman, and thereby hangs many tales of ostracisation and mockery. Labelled a curse, beaten up and treated like a criminal, Manjunath came out at 15, and things were very difficult.
For the parents, the son born to them, who now identified as a woman, was no longer important in their lives. Homeless and orphaned, Manjunath ended up in hospital with depression and suicidal thoughts, and fought an embittered battle with loneliness, sexual abuse and depravity.
A transformation
Determined to make something out of her life against all odds, she learnt how to dance the Jogathi nritya, a folk art form of north Karnataka, performed by female devotees of goddess Yellamma. Now known as Manjamma, she performed and taught the dance form. It gave Manjamma a new identity, as an embodiment of the divine, and she used it to popularise the art and fight against social boycott of the transgender community.
In her native northern districts of Karnataka, a woman’s body inside a man is seen as an aberration and as lives taken over by the goddess worshipped by the locals. Belonging to the Aryavaishya community, it was a disgrace for her family because such things were presumed to be confined to the lower castes.
Art — not activism — earned her recognition and respect and Manjamma became the first transgender president of the Karnataka Folk Academy in 2019. She received the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 2010 and the Padma Shri in 2021 for her contribution to the preservation and promotion of Jogathi nritya. It marked a turning point, as those who had derided her earlier, now honoured her for her achievements.
As we read the chapters about her trials and turmoil, the caste politics, the rituals and culture of the Jogathis, Manjamma emerges as an inspiring story of hope and survival. She radiates positivity to turn every challenge into opportunity. The book inspires everyone struggling on the margins that they could craft their destiny; it’s also a lesson for parents — and society — to be more accepting of people.
From Manjunath to Manjamma; B. Manjamma Jogathi with Harsha Bhat, HarperCollins, ₹399.
soma.basu@thehindu.co.in
