Paṇḍaka is a Sanskrit and Pali sexuality term which does not have a precise English translation, but incorporates (or perhaps confuses) multiple concepts associated with immaturity, voyeurism, impotence and infertility. It has been studied under the auspices of Theravada Buddhist thought.
In the Vinaya Pali Canon, 4 gender types are defined: male, female, ubhatobyañjanaka and pandaka. ubhatobyañjanaka refers to intersex or literally a person with the signs of both binary sexes/genders. (Historic references to hermaphroditism have been superseded by the understanding that true hermaphroditism has never been observed in humans.) Paṇḍaka is a less clear cut case, all references have a central theme: some form of deficiency in male sexual reproductive capacity or reproductive desire. In traditional Hindu pre-scientific thought, all reproductive capacity (or burden) has been assigned to the sperm and lingam with no credit to the female or egg.
The Pali literature makes reference to five types of pandaka:[1][2]
In the crackdowns on crimeinpost-coup Thailand, there is draft legislation to clean out crime and sociopaths from the Sangha, and in this drive, a motion to criminalize sexual deviant behaviours within it, yet the very definitions of sexual deviancyorparaphilia are being challenged and revisited by scholars.[3]
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