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Concept
Yogini
Summary
A yogini (Sanskrit: योगिनी, IAST: ) 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 Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Greater Tibet. The term is the feminine Sanskrit word of the masculine yogi, while the term "yogin" ˈjoːɡɪn is used in neutral, masculine or feminine sense.
A yogini, in some contexts, is the sacred feminine force made incarnate, as an aspect of Parvati, and revered in the yogini temples of India as the Sixty-four Yoginis.
The worship of yoginis began outside Vedic Religion, starting according to Vidya Dehejia 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.
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.
File:Nairatmya150.jpg|Devi Yogini,[[Tibet]]9th century
File:Devi with Yogini Chakra Rajasthan C19th.jpg|Cloth painting of [[Devi]] with a superimposed Yogini Chakra, wheel of the 64 Yoginis. Rajasthan, 19th century.
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.
Official source
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