The word yoginī is an ambivalent term, generally defined as a female yogin. For the purposes of the University of Hawai′i′s Center for South Asian Studies’ Symposium on the Ineffable in Religion and Ritual, I envisioned the ambivalence of the yoginī as characterized by semantic ineffability. This ineffability is seen in the divergence of definitions and descriptions of the yoginī in text and ethnography. The tantras portray her as flying, blood thirsty, and the object of tantric sex rites; she is rarely portrayed as a yoga practitioner. Human yoginīs in India, by in contrast, often identify themselves as sannyāsinī (renunciate), practice some form of yoga, and are often celibate. To address the question of why textual and human yoginīs bear little in common, I render a polythetic definition of the yoginī by first looking at the many modes of definition and classification used to render meaning of the concepts that are integral to the formation of the yoginī. I then problematize the categorical construction of the yoginī and the disjunction between textual references to the yoginī in tantras of the Vidyāpīṭha (“Wisdom Mantra Corpus” or “Seat of Wisdom”), the Śaiva and Śākta Purāṇas, and ethnographic accounts of embodied yoginīs. These three sources, which emerge from various sectarian, historical, and social milieus offer interrelated yet distinct descriptions of the yoginī and as such provide a broad base of signification upon which to render a polythetic definition.

1. Tantra, when written as a proper noun, refers to a monistic, non-dualistic theological system, which uses rituals, images, mantras, and deities as devices through which to attain non-dual, liberated awareness; tantra, written as common noun, refers to the ritual texts that emerge out of various Tantric schools. Tantric philosophy, in general, subverts hierarchical norms that govern the stratification of gender and caste (usingadharma rather thandharma as a means to liberation).

2. Cited by Hausner, Sondra L., “The Category of the Yoginī as a Gendered Practitioner,” in“Yoginī” in South Asia: Interdisciplinary Approaches (New York: Routledge,2013), 1472.

3. For the purposes of this paper, yoga is defined in its broadest sense as any practice aimed toward liberated consciousness.

4. The Vidyāpīṭha is particular branch of Kashmir Śaivas who worship Śakti as well as Bhairava (Śiva in his fierce form).

5. The Manu smriti lays out two things in regard to women,strī-svabhāva andstrīdharma (trans. by Dave1972):

   2.213svabhāva eṣa narīnāṃ narānām iha dūṣṇam / ato arthān na pramādyanti pramadāsu vipaścitaḥ // women’s nature (svabhāva eṣa narīnāṃ) is to seduce men in the world; for that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females.

   2.214avidvāṃsam alaṃ loke vidvāṃsam api vā punaḥ / pramadā hyutpthaṃ metuṃ kāma-krodhavaśānugam // Women can lead astray in the world (loke) not only a fool, but also a learned man, and make him a slave to desire and anger (kāma-krodha)

   According toStrī-svabhāva, a woman’s nature, is unstable, weak, fickle, wicked, and impure and that her womanly nature should never be allowed to surface. To meet the goals of this, she should be married before puberty, she should be a righteous wife (dharmapatni) and devoted to her husband (pativrata).

   5.147bālayā vā yuvatyā vā vṛddhayā vā api yoṣitā/ na svātatrtheṇa kartkyaṃ kiṃ cid kāryaṃ gṛheṣvapi// Nothing should be done by a girl, young woman, or even an old woman, even in her own house.

   5.148bālaye pitūr vaśe tiṣṭhet pāṇigrāhasya yaivane/ putrāṇāṃ bhartari prete na bhajet strī svatantratāṃ// In childhood a woman must be subject to her father, in her youth to her husband, and when her husband is dead, to her sons; a woman should never be independent.

   5.155: No sacrifice (yajña), no vow (vrata), no fast (apuyupoṣaṇa) must be performed by women apart (from their husbands); if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that reason be exalted in heaven.

6. Trans. James Mallinson,Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classic) (UK: Penguin Random House UK,2017).

7. Trans. Stella Kramrisch,The Presence of Śiva (Princeton: Princeton University Press,1981), 313.

8. Kriyā yoga in this sense is not the samekriyā yoga mentioned in thePatañjali Yoga Śāstra. It is more akin tokarma andseva yoga-s in that it is centered around moral and ethical behavior and service to her community.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Graduate Theological Union, 2564 Virginia Street, apt. 3, Berkeley, CA, 94709, USA

   Laura M. Dunn

Corresponding author

Correspondence toLaura M. Dunn.

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