Koothandavar festival is the biggest annual transgenders festival in India. It is a celebration of love and death, of sacrifice and life. The festival takes place at the Koothandavar Temple dedicated to Aravaan. The transgenders marry Lord Aravaan, thus reenacting an ancient myth of Lord Krishna who married Aravaan after taking a form of a woman called Mohini. The next day, all transgenders mourn the god Aravaan death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangles and removing their mangalsutra.
