Hijra tend to have few options for earning a wage, with many turning to sex work and others performing ritualistic songs and dances. They are integral to several Hindu ceremonies, such as dance programs at marriage ceremonies. They may also earn a living by going uninvited to large ceremonies such as weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events, and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away. The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Hijra often engage in prostitution and begging to earn money, with begging typically accompanied by singing and dancing. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion—they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, embarrassing them into paying. Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination, such as the Shemale Foundation Pakistan. Religious castration
Castration as part of religious practice, and eunuchs occupying religious roles, have been established prior to classical antiquity. Archaeological finds at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia indicate worship of a Magna Mater figure, a forerunner of the goddess Cybele found in later Anatolia and other parts of the near East. Later Roman followers of Cybele were called Galli, who practiced ritual self-castration, known as sanguinaria.
First millennium BCE
Mutakkil-Marduk (8th century BCE): Assyrian chief eunuch, eponym of the year 798 BCE in an Assyrian eponym chronicle. Yariri (8th century BCE): regent of Neo-Hittite Carchemish thought likely to be a eunuch. Sin-shumu-lishir (7th century BCE): Assyrian eunuch who attempted to usurp power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Aspamistres or Mithridates (5th century BCE): bodyguard of Xerxes I of Persia, and (with Artabanus) his murderer. Artoxares: an envoy of Artaxerxes I and Darius II of Persia. Bagoas (4th century BCE): prime minister of king Artaxerxes III of Persia, and his assassin (Bagoas is an old Persian word meaning eunuch). Bagoas (4th century BCE): a favorite of Alexander the Great. Influential in changing Alexanders attitude toward Persians and therefore in the kings policy decision to try to integrate the conquered peoples fully into his Empire as loyal subjects. He thereby paved the way for the relative success of Alexanders Seleucid successors and greatly enhanced the diffusion of Greek culture to the East. Batis (4th century BCE): resisted Alexander the Great at the Siege of Gaza. Philetaerus (4th/3rd century BCE): founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum
Zhao Gao (died 210 BCE): favourite of Qin Shihuangdi, who plotted against Li Si. Sima Qian (old romanization Ssu-ma Chien; 2nd/1st century BCE): the first person to have practiced modern historiography – gathering and analyzing both primary and secondary sources to write his monumental history of the Chinese Empire. Ganymedes (1st century BCE): highly capable adviser and general of Cleopatra VIIs sister and rival, Princess Arsinoe.