Mathura and its adjoining areas of Nandgaon, Barsana, Govardhan, Vrindavan, etc. is well-known for its special kind of Holi which is played with canes and sticks, the latthmar holi. In this peculiar form of Holi, there is a central role played by the trangender and the transvestite community where men dress up as Radha, gopis, and Sakhis. As per the tradition, Krishna is the only man in the Vrindavan region, and everyone else is a woman. Thus, the men of Vrindavan identify themselves as one of the women who were a part of Krishna’s life. The tradition goes that, even when Lord Shiva himself wanted to participate in the Raasleela of Vrindavan, he had to go there in the form of a Gopi. This form of Shiva is popularly worshipped as Gopeshwar Mahadev in Vrindavan, where there is a temple dedicated to him by the same name. Across India, several saints and bhakti poets have also adopted the Gopi bhava. For example, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who is otherwise popular as a distinguished Kali devotee, immersed himself in the Gopi bhava to the extent that he dressed, behaved, and lived as a girl for six months altogether. The Vaishanava saint poet Narsi Mehta was so immersed in Krishna’s devotion that he given up his manhood altogether, imagining himself more as a dancing and singing Gopi.