evidence: Manipur is caught, in large parts, between the authoritarian regime of The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives sweeping and unquestioning power to security personnel, and over a dozen underground outfits with their own sets of demands. The transgender community is too minor a presence in this gun-held majoritarianism. [...] Despite the street view of them being "homo", Manipuri society and the dominant Meitei community in the Imphal valley continue to be largely tolerant of the transgender presence in their midst. While centuries-old folklore suggests transgender women, known as feita, advised Meitei society on matters of importance, acceptance of the third gender has been perpetuated through the traditional involvement of transgender shamans and priests to conduct rituals for Meitei gods like the powerful Ebudhou Pakhangba. [...] "People see us as God’s messengers and instead of stigmatizing us, they look up to us as oracles," says Bobby Yambem, a 42-year-old shamanic priestess currently trying to mobilize the transgender shaman community in Manipur to protest a recent writ issued against them by a religious organization.