What sets this festival apart from hundreds of others in India is that many of the participants are considered neither male nor female, but belong to what is loosely defined as a third gender--the hijras. Dressed in saris, with sprigs of fresh jasmine in their plaited hair, the hijras are eunuchs and transsexuals who sell sex for a living.

Also in attendance are the dangas, men who "become" women for the duration of the festival. The rest of the year, the dangas are husbands or single men who appear to be strictly heterosexual. But during the Chittirai-Pournami festival, they don saris, elaborate wigs, and bright plastic jewelry. They also flirt, saunter, and sell sex to other men attending the festival.

In addition to the hijras and dangas are the panthis. The majority of panthis are single or married men who attend the festival to have sex with the hijras and dangas and pay up to ten rupees--approximately fifty cents--per sexual encounter. Then there are the "husbands" of the hijras, who are both sexual partners and bodyguards. A third category of panthis are the male devotees who attend the festival with their wives and children and abstain from sex with the hijras and dangas.

The origins of this festival can be traced to a Hindu tale in which Aravan, a man about to be sacrificed to the gods, asked to experience sexual bliss before dying. To fulfill this last wish, the god Krishna is said to have assumed the form of a beautiful woman and had sexual intercourse with Aravan.

Each April, on the night of the full moon, this ancient myth comes to life in Koovagam, where Aravan is still worshipped. Scores of rickety stalls selling coconuts, flowers, and bangles spring up to cater to the nearly two thousand devotees from around the country who arrive on foot, or by train, truck, bus, or bullock cart.

In paying homage to Aravan, these pilgrims participate in thousands of unprotected sexual acts. Those selling sex do not insist that their clients use condoms, as most of them do not worry about HIV, which remains an abstract concept to many Indians. There are few reliable studies on seroprevalence among hijras, who, according to one estimate, may number ten thousand in New Delhi alone. Surveys by Ram Pal Vasisht, director of New Delhi's AIDS Control Cell, suggest, however, that one in three hijras there is infected with HIV.

The Chittirai-Pournami festival is just one example of how participation in ancient traditions facilitates the present-day sweep of HIV through India. Another tradition with deep roots in Hinduism is the initiation of poor, low-caste girls into the devadasi sect. Dedicated to the goddess Yellamma when they are young, devadasis historically served priests, assisted in religious ceremonies, and cleaned temples. With the decline of temples as power structures, however, their role was stripped of much of its religious import and they found themselves selling sex to survive.

Despite an official ban on the devadasi sect, various forms of the tradition continue to flourish, sometimes as sex work in India's temple towns. Seventy-five-year-old Savitiri dedicated her twelve-year-old granddaughter to the devadasi tradition three years ago at a small temple in Karnataka. "As long as the body can take it, she will do well for herself and will learn to survive in this world," Savitiri said. "I have done my karma and now feel free to die in peace."

Today, according to the Indian Health Organization, devadasis compose nearly 15 percent of India's approximately ten million sex workers. The number of devadasis is highest in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra, where they constitute 80 percent of all sex workers. By 1994, it had become clear that adherence to the tradition had exacted a deadly toll: in Pune, a city of two and half million people in Maharashtra, already more than half the devadasis had become HIV infected.

In the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh, some villagers continue the practice of mata, yet another ancient tradition that fuels the spread of HIV through the population. A beautiful harijan, or low-caste child, who attracts the attention of the village landlords is chosen to become a mata or "sacred mother." She is then dedicated to a life of meeting her patrons' sexual needs: she is bathed ceremoniously in the temple pond, paraded through the village, then sent to a seasoned, senior mata who tutors the girl in her new role.

When she reaches puberty, the mata is publicly auctioned. Men outbid one another to become her first sexual partner, often in the belief that sex with a virgin will cure them of sexually transmitted diseases. Afterward, the mata moves from home to home, where wives make way for her to share their beds with their husbands. The HIV prevalence in these villages is unknown, but with Andhra Pradesh reporting an HIV infection rate of one in every two hundred people, it is clear that the mata tradition is providing yet another deadly channel for the virus.

Traditions such as those of the hijras, devadasis, and matas--rooted in ancient beliefs and passed down through generations--have left legacies of vulnerability. To combat the virus, India must first reconsider practices that now carry lethal consequences.