Yogini
A yogini is a female master practitioner of tantra and yoga, as well as a formal term of respect for female Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teachers in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Greater Tibet. The term is the feminine Sanskrit word of the masculine yogi, while the term "yogin" is used in neutral, masculine or feminine sense.
A yogini, in some contexts, is the sacred feminine force made incarnate, as an aspect of Mahadevi, and revered in the yogini temples of India. These often revere a group of 64 yoginis, and are named as such, but can also have 42 or 81 yoginis. The names of the 64 yoginis vary in different classifications.
The story goes that, once upon a time, there lived a demon named Raktabija. As demons are often portrayed in the Puranas, Raktabija was ruthless and oppressive. To bring an end to his tyranny, the Gods turned to Adi Shakti, i.e., Mother Parvati, for help. Responding to their plea, the goddess assumed the fierce form of Durga, and a ferocious battle unfolded. Although Raktabija was defeated, he could not be destroyed easily, for every drop of his blood that touched the ground gave rise to another clone of himself. To counter this, Goddess Durga’s divine energy manifested into 64 shadow forms known as the Yoginis. During the battle, each time Raktabija bled, a Yogini jumped into action and swiftly drank his blood before it could fall to the ground. It was through this powerful strategy that the demon was finally annihilated. As a reward for their devotion and valor, the Yoginis were blessed by Goddess Durga with a shrine each of their own. Thus, the tradition of 64 Yogini temples came to existence.
History
According to Indologist and Yoga-Tantra scholar David Gordon White, yoginis are first mentioned in Indian literature in the sixth-century Hindu Agni Purana, with their origins rooted in the Vedic tradition. Their development reflects a synthesis of Vedic and classical Hindu elements. The characteristics of Yoginis can be found in Vedic and Hindu reservoirs:1. Vedic goddesses, Apsarasas, Grahīs or Grahaṇīs, Yakṣinīs and Ḍākinīs
2. Various groupings of unnumbered maternal deities and other female entities central to Vedic ritual practices.
3. Broader societal views of women and femininity that influenced the symbolism and practices associated with the Yoginī traditions.
According to Vidya Dehejia, the worship of yoginis began outside Vedic Religion, starting with the cults of local village goddesses, the grama devatas. Each one protects her village, sometimes giving specific benefits such as safety from the stings of scorpions. Gradually, through Tantra, these goddesses were grouped together into a number believed powerful, most often 64, and they became accepted as a valid part of Hinduism.
Historical evidence on Yogini Kaulas suggests that the practice was well established by the 10th century in both Hindu and Buddhist tantra traditions. The nature of the yoginis differs between the traditions; in Tantra they are fierce and scary, while in India, celibate female sanyassins may describe themselves as yoginis.
Devi
In ancient and medieval texts in Hinduism, a yogini is associated with or directly an aspect of Devi, the goddess. In the 11th century collection of myths, the Kathāsaritsāgara, a yogini is one of a class of females with magical powers, sorceresses sometimes enumerated as 8, 60, 64 or 65. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika mentions yoginis. Devi is sometimes portrayed with a superimposed Yogini Chakra, wheel of the 64 Yoginis, placing them as aspects of Devi.Nath Yoga
The term yogini has been in use in medieval times for a woman who belongs to the Nath Yoga tradition founded around the 11th century. They usually belong to the Shaiva tradition, but some Natha belong to the Vaishnava tradition. Either way, states David Lorenzen, they practice Yoga and their principal God tends to be Nirguna, that is, without form and semi-monistic, influenced in the medieval era by Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, Madhyamaka Buddhism, and by Tantra. Human yoginis were a large part of this tradition, and many 2nd-millennium paintings depict them and their Yoga practices. Lorenzen states that the Nath yogis were popular with the rural population in South Asia, with medieval era tales and stories about Nath yogis continuing to be remembered in contemporary times, in the Deccan, western and northern states of India and in Nepal.Tantra
Women in Tantra traditions, whether Hindu or Buddhist, are similarly called yoginis. In Tantric Buddhism, Miranda Shaw states that many women like Dombiyogini, Sahajayogicinta, Lakshminkara, Mekhala, Kankhala Gangadhara, Siddharajni, and others, were respected yoginis and advanced seekers on the path to enlightenment.64 yoginis
Characteristics
From around the 10th century, yoginis appear in groups, often of 64. They appear as goddesses, but human female adepts of tantra can emulate "and even embody" these deities, who can appear as mortal women, creating an ambiguous and blurred boundary between the human and the divine. Yoginis, divine or human, belong to clans; in Shaiva, among the most important are the clans of the 8 Mothers. Yoginis are often theriomorphic, having the forms of animals, represented in statuary as female figures with animal heads. Yoginis are associated with "actual shapeshifting" into female animals, and the ability to transform other people. They are linked with the Bhairava, often carrying skulls and other tantric symbols, and practising in cremation grounds and other liminal places. They are powerful and dangerous. They both protect and disseminate esoteric tantric knowledge. They have siddhis including the power of flight; many yoginis have the form of birds or have a bird as their vahana or animal vehicle. In later Tantric Buddhism, dakini, a female spirit able to fly, is often used synonymously with yogini. The scholar Shaman Hatley writes that the archetypal yogini is "the autonomous Sky-traveller ", and that this power is the "ultimate attainment for the siddhi-seeking practitioner".Into the late 20th century, yoginis inspired a "deep sense of fear and awe" among "average" people in India, according to the scholar Vidya Dehejia. She notes that such fear may be ancient, as the Brahmanda Purana and the Jnanarnava Tantra both warn that transmitting secret knowledge to non-initiates will incur the curse of the yoginis.
Association with Matrikas
In Sanskrit literature, the yoginis have been represented as the attendants or manifestations of Durga engaged in fighting with the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha, and the principal yoginis are identified with the Matrikas. Other yoginis are described as born from one or more Matrikas. The derivation of 64 yoginis from 8 Matrikas became a tradition. By the mid-11th century, the connection between yoginis and Matrikas had become common lore. The mandala and chakra of yoginis were used alternatively. The 81 yoginis evolve from a group of 9 Matrikas. The 7 Mothers or Saptamatrika, joined by Chandi and Mahalakshmi, form the nine-Matrika cluster. Each Matrika is considered to be a yogini and is associate with 8 other yoginis resulting in the troupe of 81. Some traditions have only 7 Matrikas, and thus fewer yoginis.Names
There is no universally-agreed list of the names of the 64 yoginis; Dehejia located and compared some 30 different lists, finding that they rarely corresponded, and that there must have been multiple traditions concerning the 64. She states that the lists can be categorised into those that include the Matrikas among the Yoginis and give the Yoginis high status, and those that do neither. The high status means that the Yoginis are either aspects of the Great Goddess Devi, or her acolytes.The Kalika Purana includes 16 Matrikas among the yoginis. 9 of these Matrikas are of the Brahmi series; Dehejia comments that in this tradition, the yoginis are "64 varying aspects of Devi herself"; they are to be worshipped "individually".
The Agni Purana does not include the Matrikas among the yoginis, but states that they are related. It divides the yoginis into 8 family groups, each one led by a Matrika, who is either the mother or another relative of each of her yoginis.
The Agni Purana, the Skanda Purana and the Kalika Purana each contain two lists of yoginis with often wholly differing contents. The Sri Matottara Tantra tells that the Khechari Chakra and the Yogini Chakra are both circles of 64 yoginis, while the Mula Chakra has a circle of 81 and the Malini Chakra has a circle of 50. The number 8 is auspicious; its square, 64, is "even more potent and efficacious". In tantric texts there are supposedly 64 Agamas and Tantras, 64 Bhairavas, 64 mantras, 64 sites sacred to the Goddess, and 64 extraordinary powers. Dehejia notes that the yoginis are closely associated with the siddhis.
Temples
Yogini temples are simple compared to typical Indian temples, without the usual towers, gateways and elaborate carvings that attract scholarly attention.Major extant hypaethral temples of the 64 yoginis in India built between the 9th and 12th centuries include two in Odisha at Hirapur and Ranipur Jharial; and three in Madhya Pradesh, at Khajuraho, Bhedaghat, and the well-preserved hilltop temple at Mataoli in Morena district.
The iconographies of the yogini statues in the various temples are not uniform, nor are the yoginis the same in each set of 64. In the Hirapur temple, all the yoginis are depicted with their Vahanas and in standing posture. In the Ranipur-Jharial temple the yogini images are in dancing posture. In the Bhedaghat temple, the yoginis are seated in lalitasana.