{"id":11341,"date":"2017-04-18T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T05:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=11341"},"modified":"2019-04-04T22:26:32","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T16:56:32","slug":"yogini-female-yogi-wild-erotic-witch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/yogini-female-yogi-wild-erotic-witch\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a Yogini a Female Yogi or a Wild, Erotic Witch?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The answer depends on what feelings are evoked in you by these four words: yogi, wild, erotic and witch. Does “yogi” evoke a sense of tranquillity resulting from letting go? Or does it evoke feelings of righteous puritanism, associated with disgust for sex and sensuality? Are you repulsed by words such as “wild”, “erotic” and “witch”, or intrigued by them?<\/div>\n

Some Hindus are (sadly) puritanical \u2013 ashamed of all things sexual.\u00a0These are Victoria\u2019s children, still stuck in the 19th century, still striving hard to convince Queen Victoria that they are not effeminate luxury-loving sensuous Hindoos, that they are mommy\u2019s good boys, who don\u2019t look at women that way. They are conditioned to be embarrassed of their desires and refuse to acknowledge women as autonomous sexual beings. So they deny the Tantrik aspect of Hinduism, where the divine feminine is central, and prefer to explain Hinduism through the filter of Middle American Christian or Middle Eastern Islamic fundamentalist groups where sex is sin (hence erotic is evil), and women are handmaidens of the Devil (and, therefore, must be tamed before they turn wild).<\/p>\n

For the rest, who are comfortable with the divine feminine, a yogini opens the door to the tantrik approach to wisdom, not via ritual as in Mimansika, or the head as in Vedanta, or the heart as in Bhakti, but via the body, the rush of sensations, the pleasure, pain and the terror it evokes. If mantra, deals with mind (mantra), then tantra deals with body (tan).\u00a0Due to its esoteric nature, tantra has always shunned mainstream, presented its ideas in code, rather reluctantly (first Tantrik texts emerge around 1400 years ago, though tradition is much older), preferring oral transmission from teacher to student.<\/p>\n

But first the word witch.<\/p>\n

The word witch is a derogatory term used like the colloquial Hindi word “dayan”. Both words refer to women (though there are wizards too) – it refers to a magician, a sorcerer, who casts spells and causes all kinds of problems like miscarriage, sickness in children, epidemics, infertility, wasting, and impotency. People feared their knowledge, but also used it against their enemies.\u00a0The word witch may have its roots in pagan (pre-Christian) traditions, and probably referred to women who practised medicine and knew how to use herbs and minerals to heal or harm. They saw the forest as a Goddess and surrendered to her mysterious cycles. They refused to be part of the mainstream society and preferred living alone, in communes, using men only as lovers, friends and assistants, rejecting the institution of marriage and the confinement that came with it. Mainstream society feared, but simultaneously respected and venerated these forest women.\u00a0The word “dayan” probably comes from words like “dakini” or “dankuni” found in folk Hindu and tantrik Buddhist tradition, referring to wild goddesses associated with the forest, who are sexual and violent, in contrast to tamed, domesticated gentle goddesses. There was always palpable tension between these women and mainstream society.\u00a0With the rise of Christianity, these women were systematically massacred. Even today, in rural India, it is not uncommon to hear tales of women killed brutally after being accused of witchcraft. In Islamic communities, these women were associated with the dreaded djinns. In Victorian Europe, there were tales of the succubi who seduced men and stripped them of their virility. Similar tales of yakshinis are told in Kerala. Was the yakshini just another name for the yogini? We can only speculate.<\/p>\n