KOOVAGAM (India), May 3 -- For a few fleeting days each year, India's often-shunned transgender community is welcomed and revered at a festival that is at once sacred ritual, celebration, and a refuge.

At the heart of it is the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan - and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.

Several thousand attend the annual ceremony in Koovagam, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts that has gained prominence in recent decades.

"I need a life like a bird," said Thilothama, 34, who uses only one name, her voice steady amid the hum of drums and devotional songs.

"Freedom - to do what I want,...