India, March 26 -- The year is 1852. It is high noon of British rule in India. The East India Company has a chokehold over Bengal and is creeping up the Gangetic heartland - its mercantile impulses honed sharper by the tacit backing of the crown. The sepoy revolution is five years away.

That year, a Hijra named Bhoorah was found dead, her head nearly severed clean off her body, in the streets of a Mainpuri town. A guru within the intricate discipleship lineage of the Hijra community, Bhoorah lived with her two chelas, Dullah and Mathee. Like many other people from her community, Bhoorah performed and asked for badhai, a congratulatory gift following the birth of a child.

For two years, Bhoorah had lived with her lover, Ali Buksh, but sh...