Tales of Yoginis
Back in 2018, I self-published a small booklet entitled Yoginis: Sex, Death, and Possession in Early Tantras. It was well-received, and I am currently working on a revised and expanded edition for Original Falcon Press. In addition to examining tantric scriptures and various purāṇas, I have also been reading tales of Yoginīs in texts such as the Kathāsaritsāraga and Rājataraṅgiṇī. Here is a selection of some of the Yoginī tales that will feature in the new edition.
The lover who was turned into a monkey
This tale is from Somadeva’s Kathāsaritsāraga. The narrator frees a monkey that is trapped in the earth. The Monkey says that he was once a man, and in gratitude, tells his tale. The monkey was once a man named Somasvāmī. He was carrying on a passionate affair with a married woman, one Bandhudattā. When Bandhudattā’s husband announced that they were to move from Vārāṇasī to Mathurā, Bandhudattā was distraught and felt that she could not live without seeing her lover. She seeks the advice of a friend, Sukhaśayā, who was a yoginī. Sukhaśayā says that she knows two mantras – one that will turn Somasvāmī into a monkey (although he will remain as intelligent as a man) and one that will turn him back into a human. In this way, Bandhudattā would be able to keep Somasvāmī around as a pet when her husband was in the house and turn him back into a man when her husband was absent.
Unfortunately, whilst Bandhudattā and her husband are journeying to Mathurā through a forest, their party is attacked by a band of wild monkeys, who seem intent on rescuing one of their kin. Despite the efforts of the party to rescue the pet monkey, they are unsuccessful, and the wild monkeys beat up the pet monkey. Praying to Śiva, Somasvāmī manages to escape his wild brethren. He wanders in the forest, wondering if it was his illicit affair that caused him to become a monkey. But his troubles are not over. He runs into a female elephant, who picks him up in her trunk and stuffs him into an anthill that had become muddy with rain. The mud hardened, and the monkey could not free himself. He spent his time imprisoned in the earth meditating upon Śiva and thereby gained knowledge.
The woman who became a yoginī
A tale in the Skanda Purāṇa tells how a woman becomes a yoginī. It begins with an apsarā named Rhambā who is sent by the gods to seduce an ascetic, one Jābāli. She is succeeds, and gives birth to a daughter. Rhambā gives the child, half-human, and half- apsarā to Jābāli, who raises her with great affection. One day a Gandharva meets the young woman and falls in love with her. The young lovers disport themselves in an abandoned temple, sacred to Śiva. As they lie together, Jābāli, worried as to where his daughter is, and fearing that she has been devoured by tigers, enters the temple and flies into a rage. The Gandharva makes a rapid exit, leaving the young woman to face the anger of her father. In his rage, he strikes her on the head with a stick, and she falls down as though dead. Jābāli lays a curse upon the Gandharva so that he will become a leper, and says that if his daughter should come back to life, she must always go naked. Jābāli departs, and the Gandharva sneaks back and awakens his lover, but he begins to suffer the effects of Jābāli’s curse.
They find themselves in the presence of Śiva and a host of yoginīs and gaṅas who have come to dance and play in the temple. The yoginīs call for offerings of human flesh. The two young lovers, freely offer their own flesh to be given to the yoginīs. Śiva and his retinue are moved by this free offering, and Śiva orders the lovers to recount their story. Śiva offers them each a boon. The Gandharva can be freed from Jābāli’s curse by setting up and worshipping a liṅga. As for the young woman, Śiva says that she will become a yoginī. Henceforth she will be known as Phalavatī. She will be worshipped in her naked form, and to those whose devotions please her, she may grant all desires. If she is worshipped at night, on the 14th day of the brightening moon, and given offerings of meat, alcohol and mantras, a devotee will gain magical powers.
A Jain Yoginī tale
This tale is from Somadeva’s ninth-century romance, Yaśatilaka. In the city of Rājapura, there dwelt a prince named Māradatta. Having ascended to the throne at a young age, he was given to adventures with his companions, hunting in the forests, and sometimes braving the cremation grounds to duel with the spirits that haunted such places. He was also fond of wine and the company of courtesans, dallying with them in the vast pleasure-gardens that surrounded his palace. One day, a tantric teacher named Vīrabhairava presented himself at court and told the prince that he could obtain a magical sword of great power that would ensure that he could not be defeated in battle, and with it, could conquer the neighbouring region. But to obtain this sword, he would have to offer animal and two auspicious human sacrifices to the goddess Candamānī.
The prince then summoned the entire population of the city to attend him at the temple of Candamānī. The temple was known to be frequented by Mahayoginīs, and the devotees of the terrible goddess were all about. There were disciples of Śiva, drinking their own blood; Kāpālikas offering pieces of their own flesh for sale; some had tugged out their own intestines as an offering to the goddess; others were offering their own flesh to the sacred fire.
Candamānī is described as wearing garlands of human skulls. The corpses of children are her ear-ornaments. The oozings of leg-bones form her cosmetics. The charnel-grounds are her pleasure gardens, and rivers of wine are about her. She is girdled about with the intestines of men. At night, she is lit by the votive fires of cremation. She eats from human skulls and her greatest pleasure is when living creatures are sacrificed to her.
At night, the Mahayoginīs come, from the depths of the earth; from the sky and the four directions of the world. They fly at great speed, holding staffs topped with skulls and bells, accompanied by great vultures, the designs on their cheeks painted with fresh blood that was being lapped at by the snakes that form their ear-ornaments.
Meanwhile, a famous and respected Jain ascetic, Sudatta, had approached the city. He made his camp on a hill just outside Rājapura. As he and his retinue approached the city, they were halted by the prince’s guards, who were searching for two suitable human sacrifices. Among the disciples of Sudatta were a boy and a girl, sister and brother, the children of Rusumāvalī, a sister of Māradatta. The guards tried to trick the youngsters, telling them that a great teacher awaited them in the temple of Bhāvanī, but the boy and girl saw through this ruse, and resigned themselves to their fate. They arrive at the temple, and although Māradatta does not recognize them, the sight of the children causes him to stay his hand, laying down his sword and asking who they are. The boy, named, Abhayaruci speaks, aiming to convert Māradatta to the Jain religion, and the ensuing narrative and frame stories occupy the remainder of Yaśatilaka.
