The third gendered in Sri Lanka are not as openly discussed as in other parts of South Asia. Though a strong tradition of transgender people exists in Sri Lanka, and even though these people have been allowed to convert for a long period of time, third gendered people have mostly avoided mainstream discussion on the island. A number of reports state that the concept of third gender is not found on island, but binary concepts are found that are similar to third gender. History Hinduism The concept of gender changing is very common within historic and ancient Indian culture, and distinction between biological sex and cultural gender was not made. Sri Lanka's third gendered "hold an ancient association with a Hindu goddess of fertility to which they are said to sacrifice their own fertility for the sake of others. By becoming eunuchs, Hijras become semi-sacred, and can bless the health and fertility of newlyweds and newborns." The Tamils of the Northern Province have a culture of cross-dressing, "so [a male] being feminine isn’t an entirely alien concept". Buddhism The term 'pandaka' can be used to trace the history of third gender back to the awakening of the Buddha and the arrival of Buddhism to Sri Lanka over two millennia ago. Buddhaghosa, a monk in Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka, wrote about pandaka; they "are full of defiling passions (ussanakilesa); their lusts are unquenchable (avupasantaparilaha); and they are dominated by their libido (parilahavegabhibhuta) and the desire for lovers just like prostitutes (vesiya) and coarse young girls (thulakumarika)". He also stated that they are “whose sexual burning is assuaged by taking another man’s member in his mouth and being sprayed by semen” and usuya (“jealous”) pandakas as those “whose sexual burning is assuaged by watching other people having sex”. The Pali Tipitaka, the form of Buddhism followed in Thailand and Sri Lanka, and the most complete transmission being held custodian in Sri Lanka, "mentions several different types of transgendered states and individuals – the man-like woman (vepurisikā), sexual indistinctness (sambhinna), one having the characteristics of both genders (ubhatovyañjanaka), etc.". Peter Jackson of the Australian National University felt that the Pali Canon had significant influence on the third gender cultures of Sri Lanka and similar countries such as Thailand; ", what makes accounts of sex and gender in these ancient Indian texts especially fascinating is their contemporary relevance in Thailand, which together with Sri Lanka,