Pandaka

Not to be confused with Pandaka (fish), a kind of fish.

Pandaka is a Sanskrit and Pali sexuality term which does not have precise English translation, but incorporates (or perhaps confuses) multiple concepts associated with homosexuality, immaturity, voyeurism, impotence and infertility. It has been studied under the auspices of Theravada Buddhist thought.

Historic context

In the Vinaya Pali Canon, 4 gender types are defined: male, female, ubhatobyanjanaka and pandaka. ubhatobyanjanaka refers to intersex or literally a person with the signs of both sexes/genders. (Historic references to hermaphroditism have been superseded by the understanding that true hermaphroditism has never been observed in humans.) Pandaka is a less clear cut case, all references have a central theme: some form of deficiency in male sexual reproductive capacity or reproductive desire. In traditional Hindu pre-scientific thought, all reproductive capacity (or burden) has been assigned to the sperm and lingam with no credit to the female or egg.

There are 5 pandakas compiled by Bunmi from Pali Cannons:[1][2]

Modern context

In the crackdowns on crime in post-coup Thailand, there is draft legislation to clean out crime and sociopaths from the Sangha, and in this drive, a motion to criminalise sexual deviant behaviours within it, yet the very definitions of sexual deviancy or paraphilia are being challenged and revisited by scholars.[3]

See also

References

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