Brihannala

The Pandavas entered King Virata's kingdom in disguise.

And guess what happened to the mighty Arjuna? The great warrior, famous for his skill with Gandiva, now became Brihanala, a teacher of dance and music.

Quite a surprise, isn't it? But Arjuna did not see anything.

He went with the flow.

Why? Because a true warrior knows not only to act but also when to act.

As the year in disguise was almost over, the Kauravas attacked King Virata's kingdom and took away his cattle.

Prince Uttara set out to face them with Brihanala as his charioteer.

But seeing such a huge army of Kauravas, Uttara wanted to run away.

And in the greatest epic, there are so many incidents.

The story of King Ila, Chitrangada, Brihannala, Shikhandi, Bhagvansa.

These are so many, uh, characters who are supposed to either be transgendered, cross-dressers.

In fact, as Brihannala, Arjun was a cross-dresser.

When he was teaching dance to his would-be daughter-in-law, Uttara, he dressed as a woman, uh, to be teaching because no man could teach this beautiful daughter of the king dance, so he dressed as a woman, so he was our first cross-dresser.

[laughs]