I teach a class on Gender and Religion, and for several years I've had a unit on hijras, and the book I've used in Serena Nanda's Neither Man Nor Woman. Now, I'm considering switching to this book.Neither Man Nor Woman presents hijras as an example of a third gender, and it includes potted biographies of several hijras. It is very accessible: a good introductory book. Gayatri Reddy is determined to contribute something new to the discussion of hijras. Consequently, there's a lot of discussion about theories of gender, some of which might be heavy going for students. Those sections are really aimed at fellow anthropologists and theorists. Reddy does not describe the ceremony of castration in great detail because that has already been done by Serena Nanda. However, her determination to present hijras as more than just an example of a third gender does have its benefits. Not only are hijras neither men nor women, they are both Muslims and Hindus. They are Hindus in so far as they worship a Hindu Goddess, Bedhraj Mata (or Bahuchara Mata), but they frequently make the claim that "We are all Muslims", seeing castration as an extreme form of circumcision, a mark of Muslim identity. Reddy devotes more attention to this apparent paradox than Nanda does. Since my class is specifically about Gender and Religion, not just Gender Theory, this might be a more useful book.I cannot agree with the publisher that this is the definitive book on hijras, and I think that Serena Nanda's book is still the best introductory text. But it is still a useful addition to the literature.