Drag occurs for religious reasons, for burlesque, disguise, status gain, even for sexual excitement. It is as old as clothing itself. Mythology and history are full of drag incidents, mainly of men dressing or acting as women. Women cross-dressing and living as men began to appear in the early Christian Church where there are a number of women saints who were found to be women only upon their death. In fact, women living as men seemed to have been more successful at it in the past three centuries than men living as women, perhaps because their motivations were different. Many of them did so to overcome the barriers that women had to face in terms of economic opportunities and independence in the past.
Men dragging is part of religious worship in different Hindu sects. Sakti worshipers consider the godhead be essentially feminine, and men present themselves in women's costumes. In one Hindu cult, the Sakhībhāva, which holds that the god Krishna is the only true male while every other creature in the world was female, male followers dress like women and affect the behavior, movements, and habits of women, including imitating having a menstrual period.
Also , Geographically, Asian subcontinent, a land rich in great Muslim mystics and Sufis. The poetry of these poets has been a source of inspiration for its successor. The great Sufi poets, the likes of Nizam ud din Auliya, Ameer Khusro (died 1325), Bulleh Shah (1680- 1758), and Shah Inayat, dissolved gender identities through their poetry and sometimes personal appearance. In the 18th century, Punjab Baba Bulleh Shah (1680-
1758), a Sufi saint, raised voices against the oppressive institutions of the society and questioned the very basis of everything that was taken for granted.
Here are some mentions of gods and saints in multiple traditions who dressed in drag
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