Shaktism

File:Tridevi.png

Shaktism focuses worship upon the Hindu Divine Mother, here manifested as Tridevi – the conjoined forms of Lakshmi , Parvati and Saraswati.

Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that worships Shakti or Devi – the Hindu name for the Divine Mother – in her many forms, both gentle and fierce. Shaktism is, along with Saivism and Vaisnavism, one of the three primary schools of Hinduism.

Shaktism reveres Devi, the Divine Mother, as the absolute, ultimate godhead. She is the Supreme Brahman itself, the "one without a second," with all other forms of divinity, female or male, considered to be merely her diverse manifestations.

In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism greatly resembles Saivism. However, Shaktas (practitioners of Shaktism) tend to focus worship on Shakti exclusively, as the feminine dynamic aspect of the Supreme Divine. Shiva, the masculine aspect of divinity, is considered solely transcendent, and his worship is usually relegated to an auxiliary role.

In his seminal History of the Shakta Religion, N. N. Bhattacharyya stated, "Those who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Shakta. The Shaktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the source and the spring as well as the controller of all the forces and potentialities of nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system."

Overview

Shakti and Shiva

Shaktism's focus on the Divine Feminine does not imply a rejection of Masculine or Neuter divinity. They are, however, deemed to be inactive in the absence of Shakti:

Shiva and Shakti in the half-male, half-female form of Ardhanari. (Elephanta caves, 5th century CE. Mumbai, India.)

"In practice the Shaktas focus their worship on the goddess, and Shiva is often seen as inferior or dependent, the servant or gatekeeper of the goddess. [...] Shiva would be a corpse (shava) without the power of the goddess to enliven him. [Thus] one of the most frequently seen statues of Kali [...] is the image of the goddess stepping on her husband, who is lying down like a corpse.

This belief is "the basic and fundamental tenet in Shaktism." Shakti (i.e., the Supreme Goddess as Power, or Energy) is considered the motivating force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos. The cosmos itself is Brahman; i.e., the concept of an unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that provides the divine ground of all being. Masculine potentiality is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately reconciled into one.

As religious historian V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (1896-1953) expressed it, "Shaktism is dynamic Hinduism. The excellence of Shaktism lies in its affirmation of Shakti as Consciousness and of the identity of Shakti and Brahman. In short, Brahman is static Shakti and Shakti is dynamic Brahman." In religious art, this cosmic dynamic is powerfully expressed in the half-Shakti, half-Shiva deity known as Ardhanari.

The Shakta conception of the Devi is that virtually everything in creation, seen or unseen (and including Shiva), is none other than her. Indeed, in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, a central Shakta scripture, the Devi declares:

"I am Manifest Divinity, Unmanifest Divinity, and Transcendent Divinity. I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, as well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the Sun and I am the Stars, and I am also the Moon. I am all animals and birds, and I am the outcaste as well, and the thief. I am the low person of dreadful deeds, and the great person of excellent deeds. I am Female, I am Male, and I am Neuter."

The religious scholar C. MacKenzie Brown explains that Shaktism "clearly insists that, of the two genders, the feminine represents the dominant power in the universe. Yet both genders must be included in the ultimate if it is truly ultimate. The masculine and the feminine are aspects of the divine, transcendent reality, which goes beyond but still encompasses them. Devi, in her supreme form as consciousness thus transcends gender, but her transcendence is not apart from her immanence."

Brown's analysis continues, "Indeed, this affirmation of the oneness of transcendence and immanence constitutes the very essence of the divine mother [and her] ultimate triumph. It is not, finally, that she is infinitely superior to the male gods – though she is that, according to [Shaktism] – but rather that she transcends her own feminine nature as Prakriti without denying it."

Tantra and Shaktism

Another widely misunderstood aspect of Shaktism is its close association in the public mind with Tantra – an ambiguous, loaded concept that suggests everything from orthodox temple worship in the south of India, to black magic and occult practices in North India, to ritualized sex in the West.

Sri Amritananda Natha Saraswathi, a modern Shakta adept and guru, performing the Navavarana Puja, a central ritual in Srividya Tantric Shaktism, at the Sahasrakshi Meru Temple at Devipuram, Andhra Pradesh, India.

It should noted at the outset that not all forms of Shaktism are Tantric in nature (just as not all forms of Tantra are Shaktic in nature). When the term "Tantra" is used in relation to authentic Hindu Shaktism, it most often refers to a class of ritual manuals, and – more broadly – to an esoteric methodology of Goddess-focused spiritual discipline (sadhana) involving mantra, yantra, nyasa, mudra and certain elements of traditional kundalini yoga, all practiced under the guidance of a qualified guru after due initiation (diksha) and oral instruction to supplement various written sources.

More controversial elements, such as the infamous Five Ms or panchamakara, are indeed employed under certain circumstances by some Tantric Shakta sects. However, these elements tend to be overemphasized and grossly sensationalized by commentators (both friendly and hostile) who are ill-informed regarding authentic doctrine and practice. Moreover, even within the tradition itself there are wide differences of opinion regarding the proper interpretation of the panchamakara (i.e., literal vs. symbolic meanings; use of "substitute" materials, etc.), and some lineages reject them altogether.

In sum, the complex social and historical interrelations of Tantric and non-Tantric elements in Shaktism (and Hinduism in general) are an extremely fraught and nuanced topic of discussion. However, as a general rule:

"Ideas and practices that collectively characterize Tantrism pervade classical Hinduism. [...] It would be an error to consider Tantrism apart from its complex interrelations with non-Tantric traditions. Literary history demonstrates that Vedic-oriented brahmins have been involved in Shakta Tantrism from its incipient stages of development, that is, from at least the sixth century. While Shakta Tantrism may have originated in [ancient, indigenous] goddess cults, any attempt to distance Shakta Tantrism from the Sanskritic Hindu traditions [...] will lead us astray."

Principal Deities

Hindus in general, and Shaktas in particular, approach the Devi in innumerable forms, depending on many factors, including family tradition, regional practice, guru lineage, personal resonance and so on. There are literally thousands of goddess forms, many of them associated with particular temples, geographic features or even individual villages. However, they are all considered to be but diverse aspects of the One Supreme Goddess.

The Devi as benign Parvati, suckling her son Ganesha. Opaque watercolor on paper. Jaipur, India, c. 1820. (Smithsonian Institution)

Nonetheless, several highly popular – pan-Indian or pan-Hindu – goddess forms are known and worshiped throughout the Hindu world, and virtually every female deity in Hinduism is believed to be a manifestation of one or more of these "basic" forms. The best-known benevolent goddesses of popular Hinduism include:

1. Adi Parashakti: The Goddess as Original, Transcendent Source of the Universe.
2. Durga (Ambika): The Goddess as Mahadevi, Supreme Divinity.
3. Sri-Lakshmi: The Goddess of Material Fulfillment (wealth, health, fortune, love, beauty, fertility, etc.); consort (shakti) of Vishnu
4. Parvati: The Goddess of Spiritual Fulfillment, Divine Love; consort (shakti) of Shiva
5. Saraswati: The Goddess of Cultural Fulfillment (knowledge/education, music, arts and sciences, etc.); consort (shakti) of Brahma; identified with Saraswati River
6. Gayatri: The Goddess as Mother of Mantras
7. Ganga: The Goddess as Divine River (Ganges)
8. Sita: The Goddess as Rama's consort
9. Radha: The Goddess as Krishna's consort
10. Sati: The Goddess of Marital Relations; original consort (shakti) of Shiva

Mahavidyas, Matrikas and Yoginis

Main articles: Mahavidyas, Matrikas, and Yogini

Goddess groups – such as the "Nine Durgas" (Navadurga) or "Eight Lakshmis" (Ashta-Lakshmi) – are very common in Shaktism. But no group better reveals the elements of Shaktism better than the Ten Mahavidyas (Dasamahavidya). Through them, Shaktas believe, "the one Truth is sensed in ten different facets; the Divine Mother is adored and approached as ten cosmic personalities." The Mahavidyas are considered Tantric in nature, and are usually identified as:

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The Devi as Kali, standing on Shiva's chest. In Shakta theology, this configuration symbolizes Shakti as the dynamic aspect and Shiva as the static aspect of Supreme Divinity. Neither is complete without the other.

1. Kali: The Goddess as Cosmic Destruction, Death or "Devourer of Time" (Supreme Deity of Kalikula systems)
2. Tara: The Goddess as Guide and Protector, or Who Saves
3. Tripurasundari (Shodashi): The Goddess Who is "Beautiful in the Three Worlds" (Supreme Deity of Srikula systems); the "Tantric Parvati"
4. Bhuvaneshvari: The Goddess as World Mother, or Whose Body is the Cosmos
5. Bhairavi: The Fierce Goddess
6. Chhinnamasta: The Self-Decapitated Goddess
7. Dhumavati: The Widow Goddess
8. Bagalamukhi: The Goddess Who Paralyzes Enemies
9. Matangi: The Outcaste Goddess (in Kalikula systems); the Prime Minister of Lalita (in Srikula systems); the "Tantric Saraswati"
10. Kamala: The Lotus Goddess; the "Tantric Lakshmi"

Another major goddess group is the Sapta-Matrika ("Seven Little Mothers"), "who are the energies of different major gods, and described as assisting the great Shakta Devi in her fight with demons." According to Bhattacharyya:

"The growing importance of Shaktism [of the matrikas and yoginis in the first millennium CE] brought them into greater prominence and distributed their cult far and wide. [...] The primitive Yogini cult was also revived on account of the increasing influenced of the cult of the Seven Mothers. In Sanskrit literature the Yoginis have been represented as the attendants or various manifestations of Durga engaged in fighting with [various demons], and the principal Yoginis are identified with the Matrikas."

Worship in Shaktism

Shaktism encompasses a nearly endless variety of practices – from primitive animism through philosophical speculation of the highest order – that seek to access the shakti (divine energy or power) that is believed to be both the Devi's nature and form. Shaktism is vigorously practiced throughout the Indian subcontinent and beyond; however, its two most visible and numerically significant schools are the Srikula, or family of Sri (Lakshmi), strongest in South India; and the Kalikula, or family of Kali, which prevails in Northern and Eastern India.

Srikula: Family of Sri

Srikula is the tradition (sampradaya) focused on the worship of Tripurasundari. Rooted in first-millennium Kashmir, it became a force in South India no later than the seventh century, and is today the prevalent form of Shaktism practiced in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Sri Lanka.

A Srividya homa (fire sacrifice) to the Goddess, with the hearth in the shape of an inverted triangle, an ancient symbol of the Devi. South India, 2007.

The Srikula's best-known school is undoubtedly Srividya, "one of Shakta Tantrism's most influential and theologically sophisticated movements. Its central image, the Sri Chakra, is probably the most famous visual image in all of Hindu Tantric tradition. Its literature and practice is perhaps more systematic than [that of] any other Shakta sect."

"Srividya's principal deity, Lalita-Tripurasundari, is a great goddess (mahadevi) conceived to subsume and surpass all others. [...] Shakti in her supreme aspect (parashakti) manifests as benign (saumya) and beautiful (saundarya), rather than as terrifying (ugra) and horrifying (ghora). Thus, Lalita is deliberately contrasted with such figures as Kali and Durga. Lalita Tripurasundari, however, is a totalization of great goddess conceptions. In other words, Lalita is identified with every aspect of the goddess, in every possible form and mode of depiction. [Her apparently opposing traits] are not mutually exclusive, but encompassing and dynamic."

Sri Chakra is worshiped as Lalita's subtle form, either as a two-dimensional diagram (whether temporarily drawn for worship or permanently engraved in metal) or in the three-dimensional, pyramidal form known as the Sri Meru. It is not uncommon to find a Sri Chakra or Sri Meru installed in South Indian temples, because – as modern practitioners report – "there is no disputing that this is the highest form of Devi and that some of the practice can be done openly. But what you see in the temples is not the srichakra worship you see when it is done privately."

A modern Kaula Srividya adept performs Tantric puja at his home altar. Kerala, India, 2006.

The Srividya paramparas can be broadly categorized into two streams, the Kaula (a vamamarga practice) and the Samaya (a dakshinamarga practice). The Kaula or Kaulacharya, "first appeared as a coherent ritual system" in the eighth century in central India, and its great champion is the 18th century philosopher Bhaskararaya, generally considered "the best exponent of Shakta philosophy."

The Samaya or Samayacharya finds its roots in the works of a 16th century commentator, Lakshmidhara, and is "fiercely puritanical [in its] attempts to reform Tantric practice in ways that bring it in line with high-caste brahmanical norms."Many Samaya practitioners, in fact, would explicitly deny being either Shakta or Tantric, though Brooks argues that their cult remains technically both, "even if Samayins would reject this appellation." In any event, the Samaya/Kaula division marks "an old dispute within Hindu Tantrism."

Outside brahamanic circles, Kaula lineages remain alive and well – though their practitioners generally prefer to worship in private, in keeping with the Hindu adage, "When in public, be a Vaishnava. When among friends, be a Shaiva. But in private, always be a Shakta."

Kalikula: Family of Kali

The Kalikula form of Shaktism is most widely prevalent in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Orissa, as well as parts of Maharashtra and Bangladesh. Kalikula lineages focus upon the Devi as the source of wisdom (vidya) and liberation (moksha), and generally stand "in opposition to the brahmanic tradition," which they view as "overly conservative and denying the experiential part of religion."

The Devi as Durga, in her form as Mahishasura Mardini, "Slayer of the Buffalo Demon, Mahisha. Photographed at a pandal (temporary shrine) in Cossipore, North Calcutta, on October 17, 2004, during Durga Puja.

The main deities are Kali, Chandi and Durga. Tara also enjoys a very large following, and all of the Ten Mahavidyas are worshiped. Other pan-Indian goddesses – as well as lesser-known regional local goddesses such as Manasa, the snake goddess, and Sitala, the smallpox goddess – and understood as aspects of one supreme Goddess.

Two major centers of Shaktism in West Bengal are Kalighat in Calcutta and Tarapith in Birbhum District. In Calcutta, emphasis is on devotion (bhakti) to the goddess as Kali:

She is "the loving mother who protects her children and whose fierceness guards them. She is outwardly frightening – with dark skin, pointed teeth, and a necklace of skulls – but inwardly beautiful. She can guarantee a good rebirth or great religious insight, and her worship is often communal – especially at festivals, such as Kali Puja and Durga Puja. Worship may involve contemplation of the devotee's union with or love of the goddess, visualization of her form, chanting [of her] mantras, prayer before her image or yantra, and giving [of] offerings."

Shakta Hindus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, pray to the goddess during Durga Puja, October 2003.

At Tarapith, Devi's manifestation as Tara ("She Who Saves") or Ugratara ("Fierce Tara") is ascendant, as the goddess who gives liberation (kaivalyadayini). [...] The forms of sadhana performed here are more yogic and tantric than devotional, and they often involve sitting alone at the [cremation] ground, surrounded by ash and bone. There are shamanic elements associated with the Tarapith tradition, including 'conquest of the goddess', exorcism, trance, and control of spirits."

The philosophical and devotional underpinning of all such ritual, however, remains a pervasive vision of the Devi as supreme, absolute divinity. As expressed by the nineteenth-century saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, one of the most influential figures in modern Bengali Shaktism:

"Kali is none other than Brahman. That which is called Brahman is really Kali. She is the Primal Energy. When that Energy remains inactive, I call It Brahman,and when It creates, preserves, or destroys, I call It Shakti or Kali. What you call Brahman I call Kali. Brahman and Kali are not different. The are like fire and its power to burn:if one thinks of fire one must think of its power to burn.If one recognizes Kali one must also recognize Brahman; again, if one recognizes Brahman one must recognize Kali. Brahman and Its Power are identical. It is Brahman whom I address as Sakti or Kali."

Major Festivals

Gopuram (tower) of the Meenakshi Amman Temple, a Shakta temple at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, which was shortlisted for the "New Seven Wonders of the World" competition in 2007.

Major annual festivals throughout India include Durga Puja and Navaratri (October, national), Diwali (November, national), Kali Puja (October/November, national), Minakshi Kalyanam (April/May in Madurai, Tamil Nadu) and Ambubachi Mela (June/July in Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati, Assam), which is the most important festival to Shakta Tantriks.

Shakti Temples

Further information: [[:Shakti Peethas]]

"In this vast country, holy resorts of the goddess are innumerable and the popularity of her cult is proved even in the place-names of India."

Animal sacrifice is performed in some places in India, including such major sites as Kalighat in Calcutta, West Bengal, where goats are sacrificed on days of Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Kamakhya in Guwahati, Assam.

Early Origins

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The roots of Shaktism? A Harappan goddess figurine, c. 3000 BCE. (Musée Guimet, Paris)

The roots of Shaktism penetrate deep into India's prehistory. The earliest Mother Goddess figurine unearthed in India (near Allahabad) belongs to the Upper Paleolithic, and has been carbon-dated to approximately 20,000 BCE. Also dating to that period are collections of colorful stones marked with natural triangles. Discovered near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, they are similar to stones still worshiped as Devi by local tribal groups. Moreover, they "may demonstrate connections to the later Tantric use of yantras, in which triangles manifest a vital symbolism connected with fertility."

Thousands of female statuettes dated as early as c. 5500 BCE have been recovered at Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic sites in world archaeology, and a precursor to the great Indus Valley Civilization. These and other archaeological discoveries compellingly suggest that "the principles of Tantrism, the philosophical Samkhya, the practice of yoga, and present-day Shaktism [are among] the living features of later Hindu religion [that] may be traced directly to this pre-Vedic source."

The later Indus Valley population centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (c. 3300 - 1600 BCE) "sheltered a mixed population, the major section of which came from the adjacent villages to seek their fortune in the great cities. They also brought with them their own cults and rituals, the Female Principle of the the agricultural communities, which formed the basis of Harappan [i.e., Indus Valley] religion. Some of the cults and rituals of the simpler peoples were adopted by the higher, but probably not in the original, unsophisticated form. They were given an aristocratic colour [befitting their new adherents' more] elevated position in the society."

While it is impossible to precisely reconstruct the religious beliefs of a civilization so distantly removed in time, it has been proposed, based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, that this period contains the first seeds of the Shakta religion:

"[In] the Mother Goddess cult of Mohenjo-daro, [...] the Devi is transformed into the eternally existing, all-powerful Female Principle, the prakriti or sakti, and – having associated with the Male principle, the purusa – she becomes Jagadamba or Jaganmata, the mother of the universe, the creator of the gods. In her highest form she is Mahadevi, the consort of Shiva but [also] his creator."

As these philosophies and rituals developed in the northern reaches of the subcontinent, additional layers of Goddess-focused tradition were expanding outward from the sophisticated Dravidian civilizations of the south. The "cult of the Female Principle was a major aspect of Dravidian religion," Bhattacharyya notes. "The concept of Shakti was an integral part of their religion and their female deities eventually came to be identified with the Puranic Parvati, Durga or Kali. [...] The cult of the Sapta Matrika, or Seven Divine Mothers, which is an integral part of the Shakta religion, may [also] be of Dravidian inspiration."

Philosophical Development

The historical beginnings of Shaktism as we know it today began with the literature of the Vedic Age; further evolved during the formative period of the Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, which also saw the advent (and influence) of Buddhism and Jainism; reached its full flower during the Gupta Age (300-700 CE), and continued to expand and develop thereafter.

Vedas

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A sandstone sculpture of Lajja Gauri or Aditi, also called uttānapad ("she who crouches with legs spread"), c. 650 CE (Badami Museum, India).

As the Indus Valley Civilization slowly declined and dispersed, its peoples mixed with other groups to eventually give rise to Vedic Civilization (c. 1500 - 600 BCE), a more patriarchal society in which female divinity continued to have a place in belief and worship, but generally in a subordinate role, with goddesses serving principally as consorts to the great gods. Nonetheless, the Great Goddess of Indus Valley and Dravidian religion still loomed large in the Vedas, taking the mysterious form of Aditi, the "Vedic Mother of the Gods" who is mentioned about 80 times in the Rigveda.

According to Bhattacharyya, "it may be said that Aditi was the most ancient mother of the gods, whose features [had already become] obscure even in the Vedic Age. [...] The Harappan Magna Mater was probably reflected in [the Vedic] conception of Aditi, thought to be a goddess of yore even in the Rigveda itself." Indeed, Vedic descriptions of Aditi are vividly reflected in the countless so-called Lajja Gauri idols – depicting a faceless, lotus-headed goddess in birthing posture – that have been worshiped throughout India for millennia:

"In the first age of the gods, existence was born from non-existence. The quarters of the sky were born from she who crouched with legs spread. The earth was born from she who crouched with legs spread, and from the earth the quarters of the sky were born."

Moreover, the historically recurrent theme of the Devi's all-encompassing, pan-sexual nature arises explicitly here for the first time in such declarations as: "Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the air, Aditi is all gods. [...] Aditi is the Mother, the Father, and the Son. Aditi is whatever shall be born."

Also significant is the appearance in the famous Rigvedic hymn, Devi Sukta, of two of Hinduism's most widely known and beloved goddesses: Vāc, today better known as Saraswati; and Srī, now better known as Lakshmi, who unambiguously declares, in words still recited by thousands of Hindus each day:

"I am the Sovereign Queen; the treasury of all treasures; the chief of all objects of worship; whose all-pervading Self manifests all gods and goddesses; whose birthplace is in the midst of the causal waters; who in breathing forth gives birth to all created worlds, and yet extends beyond them, so vast am I in greatness."

Upanishads

The great Kena Upanishad, though not a canonical Shakta Upanishad, tells an early tale in which the Devi appears as the shakti, or essential power, of the Supreme Brahman. The story begins with the Vedic trinity of Agni, Vayu and Indra boasting and posturing in the flush of a recent victory over a demon hoard – until they suddenly find themselves bereft of divine power in the presence of a mysterious yaksha, or forest spirit. When Indra tries to approach and question the yaksha, it disappears, replaced by the Devi in the form of a yakshini:

It was Uma, the daughter of Himavat. Indra said to her, 'Who was that yaksha?' She replied, 'It is Brahman. It is through the victory of Brahman that you have thus become great.' After that Indra and the devas realized the Truth [...] having known Brahman through such direct experience.

Significantly, Bhattacharyya notes that "a study of the extant yaksha and yakshini images [of this period] shows that the later images of the gods and goddesses were shaped after them."

A yakshini, or forest deity; the form the Devi assumed in the Kena Upanishad as the dynamic aspect of Brahman. Shunga Empire, 2nd-1st century BCE. (Musee Guimet, Paris)

The canonical Shakta Upanishads are much more recent, most dating between the 13th and 18th centuries. While their archaic Sanskrit usages "tend to create the impression that [they] belong to a hoary past, not one of the verses cast in the Vedic mold can be traced to a Vedic source."

Epic Period

Within the Vedic tradition itself, this was the period of the great Vaishnava epics, Mahabharata (c. 400 BCE - 400 CE) and Ramayana (c. 200 BCE - 200 CE). While the Ramayana marked the definitive entry into the Hindu pantheon of the hugely popular goddess Sita, "no goddess of a purely Shakta character is mentioned" therein. The Mahabharata, by contrast, is full of references that confirm the ongoing vitality of Shakta worship:

"Goddesses of the later Vedas – Ambika, Durga, Katyayani, Śrī, Bhadrakali, etc., whose cults became very popular in subsequent ages – must have been widely worshiped. [...] In fact, from the later Vedic period down to the age of the Mauryas and Shungas, the cult of the Female Principle had a steady growth. It appears that the original tribal religion of the Maurya kings was that of the Mother Goddess."

Although "orthodox followers of the Vedic religion" did not yet count Shiva and Devi within their pantheon, the "tribal basis of the Mother Goddess cult evidently survived in the days of the Mahabharata, as it does survive even today. The Great Epic thus refers to the goddess residing in the Vindhyas, the goddess who is fond of wine and meat (sīdhumāṃsapaśupriyā) and worshiped by the hunting peoples." The ongoing process of Goddess-worshiping tribals "coming into the fold of the caste system [brought with it] a religious reflex of great historical consequence."

However, it is in the Epic's Durga Stotras that "the Devi is first revealed in her true character, [comprising] numerous local goddesses combined into one [...] all-powerful Female Principle."

Meanwhile, the great Tamil epic, Silappatikaram (c. 100 CE) was one of several literary masterpieces amply indicating "the currency of the cult of the Female Principle in South India" during this period -- and, once again, "the idea that Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, etc., represent different aspects of the same power."

Puranas

Taken together with the Epics, the vast body of religious and cultural compilations known as the Puranas (most of which were composed during the Gupta period, c. 300 - 600 CE) "afford us greater insight into all aspects and phases of Hinduism – its mythology, its worship, its theism and pantheism, its love of God, its philosophy and superstitions, its festivals and ceremonies and ethics – than any other works."

Some of the more important Shakta-oriented Puranas include the Devi Purana and the Kalika Purana, in which Devi is described as "the supramental Prakriti" to whom the world owes its origin, "while she does not owe her origin to anything." By far, however, the most important Puranas from the Shakta standpoint are the Markandeya Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, and the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, from which the key Shakta scriptures are drawn.

Devi Mahatmya

Devi portrayed as Mahishasura Mardini, Slayer of the Buffalo Demon – a central episode of the Devi Mahatmya, and one of the most famous in all of Hindu mythology.

Main article: Devi Mahatmya

By far, the most important text of Shaktism is the Devi Mahatmya (also known as the Durga Saptashati, Chandi or Chandi-Path), found in the Markandeya Purana. Composed some 1,600 years ago, c. 400-500 CE, the text "wove together the diverse threads of already ancient memory and created a dazzling verbal tapestry that remains even today the central text of the Hindu Goddess." Here, for the first time, "the various mythic, cultic and theological elements relating to diverse female divinities were brought together in what has been called the 'crystallization of the Goddess tradition.'" It is the earliest Hindu scripture "in which the object of worship is conceptualized as Goddess, with a capital G."

The Devi Mahatmya also marks the birth of "independent Shaktism"; i.e. the cult of the Female Principle as a distinct philosophical and denominational entity.

"The influence of the cult of the Female Principle [had already] placed goddesses by the sides of the gods of all systems as their consorts, and symbols of their energy or shakti. But the entire popular emotion centering round the Female Principle was not exhausted. So need was felt for a new system, entirely female-dominated, as system in which even the great gods like Vishnu or Shiva would remain subordinate to the goddess. This new system – containing vestiges of hoary antiquity, varieties of rural and tribal cults and rituals, and strengthened by newfangled ideas of different ages – came to be known as Shaktism."

Lalita Sahasranama

Main article: Lalita sahasranama

Sri Lalita-Tripurasundari (Parvati) enthroned with her left foot upon the Sri Chakra, holding her traditional symbols, the sugarcane bow, flower arrows, noose and goad.

Within Hindu sacred literature, Sahasranamas – literally, "thousand-name" hymns, extolling the names, deeds and associations of a given deity – constitute a genre in their own right. And within that genre, the Lalita Sahasranama is considered "a veritable classic, widely acknowledged for its lucidity, clarity and poetic excellence."

The Lalita Sahasranama is part of the Brahmanda Purana, but its specific origins and authorship are lost to history. Based upon textual evidence, it is believed to have been composed in South India not earlier than the 9th century CE and not later than the 11th century CE. The text is closely associated with another section of the Brahmanda Purana entitled Lalitopakhyana ("The Great Narrative of Lalita"), which extols the greatness Devi in the form of Lalita-Tripurasundari, with particular reference to her slaying of the demon Bhandasura.

The text operates on a number of levels, containing not just references to the Devi's physical qualities and exploits but also an encoded guide to philosophy and esoteric practices of the Srividya denominations. In addition, every name and group of names within the Sahasranama is considered to have high mantric value independent of its content, and are often prescribed in sadhanas or prayogas to accomplish particular purposes.

Bhakti and Vedanta

The Puranic age also saw the beginnings of the Bhakti movement – a series of "new religious movements of personalistic, theistic devotionalism" that would come to full fruition between 1200 and 1700 CE, and which still defines the mainstream of Hindu religious practice to this day. The Devi Gita is an important milestone, as the first major Shakta "theistic work [to be] steeped in bhakti, seeing the ultimate reality as a supreme, personal deity, Bhuvaneshvari, and not just as the relatively abstract, philosophical Absolute (the nirguna Brahman)."

Devi Gita

The Devi Gita is the final and most famous portion of the vast scripture known as the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, an 11th-century document dedicated exclusively to the Devi "in her highest iconic mode, as the supreme World-Mother Bhuvaneshvari, beyond birth, beyond marriage, beyond any possible subordination to Shiva." Indeed, "the text's most significant contribution to the Shakta theological tradition is the ideal of a Goddess both single and benign."

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Sri Bhuvaneshvari, the form of the Great Goddess Parvati praised in the Devi Gita, together with her yantra form. She is also one of the Ten Mahavidyas.

The Devi-Bhagavata Purana retells the tales of the Devi Mahatmya in much greater length and detail, embellishing them with Shakta philosophical reflections, while recasting many classic tales from other schools of Hinduism (particularly Vaishnavism) in a distinctly Shakta light:

"The Devi-Bhagavata was intended not only to show the superiority of the Goddess over various male deities, but also to clarify and elaborate on her nature on her own terms [...]. The Goddess in the Devi-Bhagavata becomes less of a warrior goddess, and more a nurturer and comforter of her devotees, and a teacher of wisdom. This development in the character of the Goddess culminates in the Devi Gita."

The Devi Gita "repeatedly stresses the necessity of love for the goddess, with no mention of one's gender, as the primary qualification," a view "inspired by the devotional ideals of Shaktism."

Mahishasura Mardini Stotram

Another important text on Durga is the 21-verse long hymn Mahishasura Mardini Stotram (Prayer to the Goddess who killed Mahishasura), considered to be derived from Devi Mahatamya.

Southern Influence

The decline and fall of the Gupta Empire around 700 CE marked "not only the end of Northern supremacy over the South [of India], but also the beginning of Southern supremacy over the North [...] political as well as cultural." From this time onward, "religious movements of the South began to exert tremendous influence on the North," and the Southern contribution to Shaktism's emergence was significant:

"Korravai, the Tamil goddess of war and victory, was easily identified with Durga. [...] Durga was kendali, a Tamil word meaning the Divine Principle, beyond form and name and transcending all manifestations. [She] was also identified with the Bhagavati of Kerala and the eternal virgin enshrined in Kanyakumari. She was invoked in one or another of her nine forms, Navadurga, or as Bhadrakali. The Tamil tradition also associates her with Saraswati or Vāc, Cinta Devi and Kalaimagal, as also with Srī and Lakshmi. Thus in Durga the devotee visualised the triple aspects of power, beneficence and wisdom.

Many of the larger southern temples of this period had shrines dedicated to the Sapta Matrika and Jyestha, and "from the earliest period the South had a rich tradition of the cult of the Village mothers concerned with the facts of daily life."

Samkhya and Vedanta

As noted above, Shaktism has strongly associated with Tantric philosophy and methodology; however, its philosophical association with Samkhya and Vedanta also merits note.

"The Samkhya concept of Prakriti [...] evolved out of the primitive conception of a material Earth Mother and later became the strongest theoretical basis of Shaktism. [In fact,] the origin of the Samkhya system may be traced to a pre-Vedic stream which is likely to be matriarchal in nature, while the other stream – represented by the Vedic tribes – is decidedly patriarchal. [This] hypothesis [...] may be substantiated by the fact that (i) the Samkhya conception of Prakriti as the material cause of the universe is incompatible with the Vedantic conception of Brahman; (ii) that the greatest care is taken in the Brahmasutra to refute the Samkhya; and (iii) that there had always been a conscious attempt to revise the Samkhya in light of Vedanta."

However, the Vedanta could not quite rid itself of Shaktism's expanding influence:

In fact, "the Shakta philosophy amplifies the Samkhya theory of categories (tattvas) in a way that reconciles Samkhya and Vedanta [i.e., by expanding the number of evolutionary categories to '36 Tattvas.' It is worthy of note that this scheme of tattvas enables the Shakta philosophy to solve the conundrum, which is insoluable in the Advaita philosophy, as to how the changeless Brahman becomes the changing universe, and how the One can become the Many. In the Shakta cosmogony the central idea is that Shakti issues out of the Absolute and is not different from Brahman, being [rather] the kinetic aspect of Brahman."

Tantras

In most schools of Shaktism, the Tantras – a genre of ritual manuals dating from as early as 5th century CE and onward into the 19th century – are central scriptures. As noted in the "Tantra and Shaktism" section at the beginning of this article, the meaning of the term Tantra is both fluid and emotionally charged; however, in Shaktism Tantra can generally be understood as follows:

The Sri Yantra (shown here in the three-dimensional projection known as Sri Meru or Maha Meru used mainly in rituals of the Srividya Shakta sects) is central to most Tantric forms of Shaktism.

"The practical side of the Tantric cult of the goddess [...] lays special emphasis upon the mantras, bijas, yantras, mudras and nyasas. The aim of the Shakta worshiper is to realise the universe within [him or herself] and become one with the goddess." The Tantras prescribe various means of worship appropriate to the individual aspirant, according to his or her competence (adhikāra), as determined by the guru. The three successive levels are:

• the tamasic pasu, or ordinary person not particularly given to spiritual pursuits, and mainly preoccupied with worldly matters;

• the rajasic vira, or active and vigorous spiritual seeker, qualified to "heroically" engage more intensive forms of sadhana; and

• the sattvic divya, or holy-natured person, who has already reached an extremely high level of spiritual maturity.

Based upon one's personal nature, level of competency and other factors (such as the parampara of one's guru), the Tantra "has devised two main margas (paths of sadhana) to reach the same goal":

• The left-hand path (vāma mārga), lineages generally favoring external worship (puja, murtis, etc.) and permitting use of the panchamakara at various levels in certain controlled circumstances; and

• The right-hand path (dakṣiṇa mārga), lineages generally preferring internal worship (meditative techniques, etc.) and for the most part disapproving of the panchamakara under any circumstances.

Sri Chaitanyananda Natha Saraswathi (at far right) of the Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam, a Shakta temple in Rush, N.Y., leads devotees in performing the Tantric ritual known as Kamakhhya Puja, 2007.

In the social sphere, the Tantra is "free from all sorts of caste and patriarchal prejudices. A woman or a shudra is entitled to function in the role of [guru]. All women are regarded as manifestations of Shakti, and hence they are the object of respect and devotion. Whoever offends them incurs the wrath of the great goddess. Every [male aspirant] has to realize the latent Female Principle within himself, and only by [thus] 'becoming female' is he entitled to worship the Supreme Being"

Tantric Shaktism received an high-profile boost when the legendary sage Adi Shankara, c. 800 CE, composed the powerful (and still widely recited and recorded) ode to the goddess known as Saundaryalahari ("Waves of Beauty"). Shankara, while "not a Shakta in the sectarian sense, [...] had a soft corner for Shakta religion, perhaps due to its popularity among the masses."

By the thirteenth century, "the Tantras had assimilated a very large number of cults of various origins – regional, tribal and sectarian – [and] had assumed a completely Shakta character." From the fourteenth century onward, "the Shakta-Tantric cults had [...] become woven into the texture of all the religious practices current in India," their spirit and substance infusing regional and sectarian vernacular as well as Sanskritic literature.

Bharat Mata and Hindu Identity

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Bharat Mata or Bharathamba ("Mother India") embodies the nation of India as a Durga-like mother goddess, often superimposed over a map of India, clad in a saffron sari and holding a flag.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, "a good number of Shakta-Tantric works were composed," which "attempted to make the Tantric ideas popular among the masses." Notable examples include the Mahanirvana Tantra, characterized by its "special modernism" and "liberal outlook, especially towards women." Among other important works of this period were the commentaries of Bhaskararaya, India's most "outstanding contributor to Shakta philosophy" – his works (including Saubhāgyabhāskara and the Guptavati, expanding upon the Lalita Sahasranama and Devi Mahatmyam, respectively) remain central to Srikula practice.

Mughal age

In eastern India, the passionate Shakta lyrics of Ramprasad Sen (1720-1781) "opened not only a new horizon of the Shakti cult but made it acceptable to all, irrespective of caste or creed. [...] More than eighty Shakta poets appeared in Bengal after

Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775–1835),'s Kamalamba Navavarna Kritis "It is to the credit of Dikshitar that [...] he set to music the cardinal principles of [the initiatory and usual very secret Shakta ritual known as] Navavarana Puja in his gems of krithis [devotional songs] , thus throwing open the doors of [High Tantra] to all those who are moved to approach the Divine Mother through devotional music."

Ramakrishna (1836-1886) a man "very deeply influenced by the shakta tantras [...]

At the turn of the 20th century, two of the most important (and still deeply influential) voices regarding Shaktism and Tantra were those of Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936), "the father of modern Tantric studies," and Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), the chief disciple of Ramakrishna and "one of the greatest spiritual leaders of modern India."

The erudite Woodroffe , paradoxically a High Court judge in the British Raj and a Tantric initiate, wrote prolifically on Hindu Tantra and Shaktism but "was also an apologist, seeming to have bent over backward to defend the Tantras against their many critics and to prove that they represent a noble, pure, ethical system in basic accord with the Vedas and Vedanta." Vivekananda, on the other hand, considered Tantric practice "a source of scandal and embarrassment" and was intent on reinterpreting Ramakrishna's teachings "in terms of highly abstract, philosophical Advaita Vedanta and Hindu nationalism."

"Yet both Woodroffe and Vivekananda [...] sought to redefine and reinterpret Tantra from a modern perspective informed by the encounter between India and the West during the colonial era. And each [...] in different ways suppressed, edited, and covered over those aspects of Tantra that were considered most offensive to both Western and Indian audiences."

Sri Aurobindo

Brahmo Samaj

Theosophy

Bharat Mata Today, the "cult of Bharat Mata pertain[s] to the politics of nationalism," particularly to the Hindutva movement as it evolved in the 1980s, 1990s and onward. "Bharat Mata's apotheosis in her present form combines European political concepts of the nation-state, progress, order, and patriotism with a complex heritage of the mythological elaboration and ritual worship of Hindu goddesses." ref. eight-story Bharat Mata Mandir in Haridwar, consecrated in 1983.

Modern Developments

From the Devi's earliest appearance in Indian paleolithic settlements 20,000 years ago, through the refinement of her cult in the Indus Valley Civilization, her partial eclipse during the Vedic period, and her subsequent resurfacing and expansion in the Sanskritic tradition, it has been suggested that, in many ways, "the history of the Hindu tradition can be seen as a reemergence of the feminine."

Cover art for the DVD release of the 1975 film "Jai Santoshi Ma", the extrordinary popularity of which bred a "new" form for the ancient Hindu goddess.

"Today just as 10,000 years ago, images of the Goddess are everywhere in India. You'll find them painted on the sides of trucks, pasted to the dashboards of taxis, postered on the walls of shops. You'll often see a color painting of the Goddess prominently displayed in Hindu homes. Usually the picture is hung high on the wall so you have to crane your neck backward, looking up toward her feet. [...] In India, Goddess worship is not a 'cult,' it's a religion, [...] an extraordinarily spiritually and psychologically mature tradition. [...] Millions of people turn every day with heartfelt yearning to the Mother of the Universe."

Shakta-oriented temples and pilgrimage sites draw ever-growing crowds and recognition. For example, in 2004 the monumental Meenakshi Amman Temple was shortlisted in the "New Seven Wonders of the World" competition. Meanwhile, the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir attracts record numbers of pilgrims – five million in the 2007 as of September – despite its geographically remote and politically dangerous location.

The Indian film industry turns out scores of Shakta devotional films, perhaps none more famous than 1975's Jai Santoshi Ma ("Hail to the Mother of Satisfaction"), a low-budget box-office phenomenon that propelled a previously unknown deity, Santoshi Mata, to dizzying heights of devotional fervor. A 36-episode television miniseries ion 2003 and a successful 2006 remake of the original Jai Santoshi Ma, suggest that this "new" goddess's following continues to expand.

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Mother Meera, one of a new wave of female Hindu gurus and saints, is believed by her devotees to be an embodiment (avatar) of the Devi as Parashakti.

"As her film brought her to life, Santoshi Ma quickly became one of the most important and widely worshiped goddesses in India, taking her place in poster-art form in the altar rooms of millions of Hindu homes. [...] Yet it is hard to conceive that Santoshi Ma could have granted such instant satisfaction to so many people had she not been part of a larger and already well-integrated culture of the Goddess. Her new devotees could immediately recognize many of her characteristic moods and attributes, and feel them deeply, because she shared them with other goddesses long since familiar to them."

Another notable phenomenon of the past decade or so is the increasing visibility of Hindu female saints and gurus "through Web sites, world tours, ashrams and devotional groups across the globe, devotional publications and videos." While some of these gurus represent conservative and patriarchal lineages of mainstream Hinduism, Pechilis notes that others – for example Mata Amritanandamayi and Mother Meera – operate in a strongly "feminine mode" that is distinctly bhaktic and Shakta in nature. She observes:

"Female gurus are understood by Hindu tradition and by their followers alike to be manifestations of the Goddess; that is, as perfect embodiments of shakti. [...] The nature, presence, and teaching of the Hindu female gurus is universal. As gurus, they distinctively blend the formality and authority of classical tradition with the spontaneity of interactive encounter, harmonizing personal experience and the ultimate."

Expansion West

The practice of Shaktism is no longer confined to South Asia. Traditional Shakta temples have sprung up across Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, Australia and elsewhere – most of them enthusiastically attended by non-Indian as well as Indian diaspora Hindus. Examples in the United States include the Kali Mandir in Laguna Beach, California,; and Sri Rajarajeshwari Peetam, a Srividya Shakta temple in rural Rush, New York (recently the subject an in-depth academic monograph exploring the "dynamics of diaspora Hinduism," including the serious entry and involvement of non-Indians in traditional Hindu religious practice).

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A modern Western representation of the goddess Kali.

Shaktism has also become a focus of some Western spiritual seekers attempting to construct new Goddess-centered faiths. An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, 'as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment." However, these East-West fusions can also raise complex and troubling issues of cultural expropriation:

"A variety of writers and thinkers [...] have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. [...] The most important issue arising from this discussion – even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation – concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. [...] It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available."

Another powerful motivation behind Western interest in Shaktism has been suggested by Linda Johnsen, a popular writer on Eastern spirituality, who asserts that many central concepts of Shaktism – including aspects of kundalini yoga, as well as goddess worship – were once "common to the Hindu, Chaldean, Greek and Roman civilizations," but were largely lost to the West, as well as the Near and Middle East, with the rise of the Abrahamic religions:

"Of these four great ancient civilizations, working knowledge of the inner forces of enlightenment has survived on a mass scale only in India. Only in India has the inner tradition of the Goddess endured. This is the reason the teachings of India are so precious. They offer us a glimpse of what our own ancient wisdom must have been. The Indians have preserved our lost heritage. [...] Today it is up to us to locate and restore the tradition of the living Goddess. We would do well to begin our search in India, where for not one moment in all of human history have the children of the living Goddess forgotten their Divine Mother."

Misperceptions

Shaktism has at times been dismissed as a superstitious, black magic-infested practice that hardly qualifies as a true religion at all. Typical of such criticism is this broadside issued by an Indian scholar in the 1920s:

"The Hindoo Goddess Karle", an illustration from Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers About the Heathen, by Dr. John Scudder (London, 1849).

"The Tantras are the bible of Shaktism, [...] identifying all Force with the female principle in nature and teaching an undue adoration of the wives of Shiva and Vishnu to the neglect of their male counterparts. [...] It is certain that a vast number of the inhabitants of India are guided in their daily life by Tantrik teaching, and are in bondage to the gross superstitions inculcated in these writings. And indeed it can scarcely be doubted that Shaktism is Hinduism arrived at its worst and most corrupt stage of development."

These prejudices are based principally on ignorance and misunderstanding – both on the part of uninformed observers and unscrupulous practitioners of the left-handed Tantric practices traditionally associated with some Shakta systems. "It is in this context that many Hindus in India today deny the relevance of Tantra to their tradition, past or present, identifying what they call tantra-mantra as so much mumbo-jumbo."

Further muddying the waters, "a number of Indian and Western spiritual entrepreneurs have been offering 'Tantric Sex' to a mainly American and European clientele for the past several decades. Presenting the entire history of Tantra as a unified, monolithic 'cult of ecstacy' and assuming that all that has smacked of eroticism in Indian culture is by definition Tantric, New Age Tantra eclectically blends together Indian erotics, techniques of massage, Ayurveda, and yoga into a single invented tradition [...] pitched at a leisured populace of seekers who treat 'Tantric sex' as a consumer product."

Nor is it uncommon to encounter assertions that the Shaiva and Vaishnava schools of Hinduism lead to moksha, or spiritual liberation, whereas Shaktism leads merely to siddhis (occult powers) and bhukti (material enjoyments) – or, at best (according to some Shaiva interpreters), to Shaivism. Such claims are dismissed by serious theologians within Shaktism:

"Each of the [Divine Mother's] vidyas [aspects of wisdom, i.e. forms] is a Brahma Vidya [path to Supreme Wisdom]. The sadhaka of any one of these [Shakta paths] attains ultimately, if his aspiration is such, the supreme purpose of life – self-realisation and God-realisation, [for] realising the Goddess is not different from [realising] one's self."

References

• Anonymous (author), Doniger O'Flaherty, Wendy (translator), The Rig Veda: An Anthology. Penguin Classics Books (London, 1981).
• "Bengali Shakta," World Culture Encyclopedia, South Asia.
• (a) Bhattacharyya, N. N., History of the Sakta Religion, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi, 1974, 2d ed. 1996).
• (b) Bhattacharyya, N. N., The Indian Mother Goddess, South Asia Books (New Delhi, 1970, 2d ed. 1977).
• Bolon, Carol Radcliffe, Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art, The Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, Penn., 1992).
• (a) Brooks, Douglas Renfrew, The Secret of the Three Cities: An Introduction to Hindu Shakta Tantrism, The University of Chicago Press (Chicago, 1990).
• (b) Brooks, Douglas Renfrew, Auspicious Wisdom: The Texts and Traditions of Srividya Shakta Tantrism in South India, State University of New York Press (Albany, 1992).
• (a) Brown, C. MacKenzie, The Triumph of the Goddess: The Canonical Models and Theological Issues of the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, State University of New York Press (Suny Series in Hindu Studies, 1991).
• (b) Brown, C. Mackenzie. The Devi Gita: The Song of the Goddess: A Translation, Annotation and Commentary. State University of New York Press (Albany, 1998).
• Coburn, Thomas B., Encountering the Goddess: A translation of the Devi-Mahatmya and a Study of Its Interpretation. State University of New York Press (Albany, 1991).
• Dempsey, Corinne G., The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York: Breaking Convention and Making Home at a North American Hindu Temple. Oxford University Press (New York, 2006).
• Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, The Lalita Cult, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1942, 2d ed. 1991, 3d ed. 1999).
• Erndl, Kathleen M., Victory to the Mother: The Hindu Goddess of Northwest India in Myth, Ritual, and Symbol, Oxford University Press (New York, 1992).
• Harper, Katherine (ed.), The Roots of Tantra, State University of New York Press (Albany, 2002).
• Hawley, John Stratton (ed.) and Wulff, Donna Marie (ed.), Devi: Goddesses of India. University of California Press (Berkeley, 1996).
• (a) Johnsen, Linda. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism. Alpha Books (Indianapolis, Ind., 2002).
• (b) Johnsen, Linda, The Living Goddess: Reclaiming the Tradition of the Mother of the Universe." Yes International Publishers (St. Paul, Minn., 1999).
• Joshi, L. M., Lalita Sahasranama: A Comprehensive Study of the One Thousand Names of Lalita Maha-tripurasundari. D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd (New Delhi, 1998).
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• Kapoor, Subodh, A Short Introduction to Sakta Philosophy, Indigo Books (New Delhi, 2002, reprint of c. 1925 ed.).
• (a) Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. University of California Press (Berkeley, 1988).
• (b) Kinsley, David. Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas. University of California Press (Berkeley, 1997).
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• Kumar, Girish, "Introduction to Tantra Sastra, Part I." Interview with Sri Girish Kumar, former director of Tantra Vidhya Peethama, Kerala, India, Mohan's World
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• Nikhilananda, Swami (trans.), The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center (New York, 1942, 9th ed. 2000).
• Pechilis, Karen (ed.), The Graceful Guru: Hindu Female Gurus in India and the United States. Oxford University Press (New York, 2004).
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Further reading

• McDaniel, June, Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal, Oxford University Press (2004). (ISBN 0195167902)
• Ostor, Akos, The Play of the Gods: Locality, Ideology, Structure and Time in the Festivals of a Bengali Town, University of Chicago Press (1980). (ISBN 0-226-63954-1)
• Satyananda Saraswati, Swami, Cosmic Puja, Devi Mandir (2001). (ISBN 1-877795-70-4)
• Sen, Ramprasad, Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair : Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess. (ISBN 0-934252-94-7)

See also

• Ardhanari
• Hindu views on God and gender
• Mahadevi
• Mother Goddess
• Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Shakta mystic (1836-1886).
• Ramprasad Sen - Shakta, poet (1720-1781)

External Links

• Bengali Religious Lyrics, Śākta