In East India, a Marian shrine draws in Christian, Hindu and Muslim pilgrims

(RNS) — The historic Catholic minor basilica attracts thousands of pilgrims annually — the majority of them Hindu and Muslim — seeking what they call the power of the divine feminine from the Virgin Mary.

Devotees pray at the Basilica of the Holy Rosary, locally known as the Bandel Church, on May 30, 2026, near Kolkata, India. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)

Priyadarshini Sen
July 9, 2026   

RNS

BANDEL, India (RNS) — Each week for the last 13 years, 28-year-old Rimpa Chowdhury, who describes herself as a devout Hindu, has visited the Basilica of the Holy Rosary — a historic 16th-century Catholic church on the banks of the Hooghly River in eastern India with a shrine to the Virgin Mary.

For Chowdhury, the Bandel Church, as it is known locally, is more than a place where her prayers have been answered. Its vast riverside grounds, 50 miles north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, are where she has found community and peace.

“There’s something about this place,” said Chowdhury, wearing a loose green tunic. “A shrine becomes something else when a woman has power over it.”

Over decades, thousands of pilgrims — the majority of them Muslims and Hindus — have been visiting the basilica for feast days every year, led by what they call the “power of the divine feminine” — their belief in the power of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The Basilica of the Holy Rosary in Bandel, India, near Kolkata. It was declared a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1988. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

Against its grand façade, featuring soaring arches and a vaulted-ceiling nave of ancient murals, a statue of Mary, “Our Lady of Happy Voyage,” stands out as the main attraction. Sailors and travelers visit her shrine frequently, praying for protection from danger. In 1988, Pope John Paul II declared the historic sanctuary a minor basilica, recognizing the church’s spiritual significance.

According to historical records, Catholic Augustinian friars and Portuguese traders settled in this region of Bengal in the late 16th century. Portugal’s monarchy tied Marian devotion to their colonial conquests, placing their outposts under the protection of the Virgin Mary.

An entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Rosary, locally known as the Bandel Church, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)

Although the original church, built in 1599, was destroyed during an invasion by Muslim rulers of the Portuguese outpost in 1632 and again by an earthquake, legends say the rescue of Mary’s statue from the depths of the Hooghly River cemented her place as a divine protector.

“In Bengal, the goddess is revered as the ultimate primordial force in the universe,” said Father John Chalil, lead priest of the Bandel Church. “Devotees from all over India come here seeking sanctuary, and the nuns cater to their various needs.”

Since the 1950s, Chalil says, nuns from five congregations have been serving at the shrine and building social harmony in an area dotted with terracotta temples, mosques and churches. Local communities lean on each other, often transcending religious differences.

India’s Christian leaders work to convince Modi government to curb attacks

The shrine community around the church stretches across several villages — each village informally named after Marian apparitions, including Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Vailankanni (Good Health).

People pass through Bandel, India, on May 30, 2026, near Kolkata. 

(Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)

The harmony is historically rooted. Though once a vital Portuguese outpost on the Hooghly River, the town of Bandel has evolved into a shared space where people of all faiths venerate local shrines. The church’s community programs reach non-Christian populations.

“We go to the surrounding villages to educate the masses about women’s rights and tribal welfare,” said Sister Nirmala, a nun involved with spiritual work at Bandel for more than 15 years. “Religious differences have not interfered with people’s faith in Mary.”

The nuns have been offering spiritual nourishment to the devotees and smoothing sectarian differences despite the growing religious polarization in India.

Those with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity provide vital care and health services in the nearby areas. The Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate offer retreats and counseling to pilgrims, and the Auxilium Convent Sisters run a boarding home for young, underprivileged girls, providing them an education and assistance to live independently after graduation.

Nuns pray at the Basilica of the Holy Rosary, locally known as the Bandel Church, on May 30, 2026, near Kolkata, India. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)

Sister Philomena Mathew, a nun with the Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, another Catholic order in the local community, is concerned about the growing attacks on Christians across the country.

“We’re willing to confront anyone who obstructs the peace and harmony in this region,” she said.

Anti-Christian violence spearheaded by Hindu nationalist mobs has escalated across India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. Vigilante groups have disrupted prayer gatherings, vandalized church properties and assaulted pastors and nuns, accusing them without evidence of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.

“Last year there were 831 attacks against Christians in India,” said AC Michael, the national coordinator for United Christian Forum, a New Delhi-based human rights coalition that advocates for the rights of religious minorities. “From isolated localized incidents, the violence has become systemic, operating through a network of persecutions.”

Even though West Bengal has in the past been a safer state for religious minorities compared to the rest of the country, the recent election of a BJP state government has sparked apprehension, with attacks against Christians rising in the region.

Why anti-Christian persecution demands our collective action

Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, a global Catholic order founded in Kolkata, has been coming under severe scrutiny from Hindu nationalist organizations, which claim its charitable work is aimed at converting vulnerable Hindus to Christianity. In December 2021, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs revoked the organization’s license, but reversed its decision after weeks of pushback.

Mother Teresa shown with an Indian child in 1977. (RNS archive photo)

“If nuns from the Missionaries of Charity were able to fend off attacks from religious extremists, I’m sure nuns at Bandel will also keep the community safe,” Michael said.

Mother Teresa visited Bandel Church in 1995, two years before her death. Her work in the region was centered on maintaining a mutually supportive relationship with the local Salesian order.

The town of Bandel has not been a focal point of targeted minority violence, but the broader region has occasionally witnessed political and festival-related communal clashes. On July 5, a mob barged into a newly constructed church south of Kolkata, threatening the congregants and vandalizing crosses.

“It’s the vision of the great saints that we are carrying forward,” said Sister Jesline Rose, a nun with the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate who serves at the church. “No doubt the political landscape in Bengal is changing, but we’ll keep our pluralistic spirit alive.”

Rose and her fellow nuns regularly visit Hindu and Muslim families in the neighborhood to offer spiritual support and solace to individuals facing personal and medical hardships.

The altar and interior of the Basilica of the Holy Rosary near Kolkata, India. (Photo by Priyadarshini Sen)

The pilgrims, aided by the nuns, write down their prayer intentions on small slips of paper that are dropped into the wish box located near the statue of the Virgin Mary.

During festivals and winter walk pilgrimages, the nuns manage thousands of devotees — mostly Muslims and Christians — who congregate on the grounds to unite in thanksgiving.

The church is the unifying cultural monument for the devotees, and the nuns, its custodians.

They believe the power of the divine feminine in Bengal — from the Virgin Mary to Hindu goddesses Kali and Durga — will help them fight off threats from religious extremists.

“We look to the nuns for hope,” said Chowdhury, who lives in the narrow alleyways behind Bandel Church, a neighborhood of mostly Hindu and Muslim families. She’s anxious about the rising religious intolerance in the country, which she believes could trickle down to Bengal. The nuns “embody the power of Mother Mary, who is the protector of all devotees at our church,” she said.

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Remains of people exhibited in ‘human zoos’ to be returned to French Guiana

In 1892, around 30 men, women and children from the Kali’na and Arawak peoples of French Guiana were brought to Paris to be put on display at "human zoos". Six of them did not survive the winter. A bill allowing the repatriation of their remains to their homeland has now received final approval – the culmination of a long struggle waged by their descendants.


Issued on: 28/06/2026 - RFI

A shaman travelled from French Guiana to hold a spiritual ceremony for the six Arawak and Kali’na Indigenous people on 17 September, 2024 at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. © Arame Mbengue / RFI


The remains were initially buried and then later exhumed for scientific study, and have been held at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris ever since.

On 15 June, the National Assembly gave final approval to a bill already passed by the Senate allowing for the removal of the remains from public collections, which are usually inalienable, making it legally possible to return them to their community.

Martin Friess, head of the biological anthropology collections at the Museum of Mankind, part of the National Museum of Natural History, showed RFI six large grey boxes stacked on top of one another in a climate-controlled storeroom at the museum.

"Inside are the human remains of the six individuals. They were brought to France for the 1892 World’s Fair, where they were exhibited in the Jardin d’Acclimatation's 'human zoo'," he said.

These six people died in the same year.

"Most were buried and were exhumed in 1897, at which point they were transferred to the collections of the National Museum of Natural History," Friess explained.

"So we had these boxes made specifically for these individuals, because they are more or less complete skeletons that have been mounted – that is to say, articulated – which was the practice in the 19th century, mainly to facilitate exhibitions. They are assembled as if they were standing upright."

'A blessed and historic year'

For their descendants, the final vote at the National Assembly on 15 June marks 2026 as a historic year.

"It’s an exceptional year. A year which, I think, resonates with everyone’s memories, as it’s also the year of the Taubira Law," says Corinne Toka-Devilliers, chair of the Moliko Alet+po campaign group, referring to the law enacted in 2001 which made made France the first country in the world to officially classify the slave trade as a crime against humanity. This law was spearheaded by Christiane Taubira, an MP from French Guiana.

"So 2026 is truly a blessed and historic year, in every sense of the word, for the overseas territories, for the DOM-TOMs, for the local authorities and for French Guiana."

France confronts enduring legacy of slavery, 25 years on from Taubira Law

Corinne Toka-Devilliers stands before the remains of her ancestors during the spiritual ceremony held in September 2024. © Arame Mbengue / RFI

A shamanic ceremony was held in September 2024 at the museum to soothe the souls of the six people and prepare for their return.

This will take place in three stages, explained Toka-Devilliers.

"It will begin with an official ceremony at the Elysée Palace, as announced to us by the adviser to the president of the Republic.

"Next, there will be a ceremony on arrival at Félix Éboué Airport in Cayenne, and afterwards they will be taken to their burial site where a vigil will be held, in accordance with our ancestral Kali’na and Arawak culture, so that the following day they may finally find their final resting place and eternal rest."

This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Arame Mbengue.

French senators clear path for return of Kali'na remains to French Guiana

French senators are preparing to debate a law that will allow the remains of six Kali'na indigenous people brought to Paris to feature in a human zoo to be sent back to French Guiana, after more than 130 years in the vaults of a museum in Paris.


Issued on: 04/05/2026 

RFI

The remains of the Kali'na people have been kept in individual, named boxes in the Museum of Mankind archives for 132 years. © Aram Mbengue

Pékapé, Counai, Emo-Marita, Mibipi, Makéré and Miacopo have been lying in individual grey cardboard boxes bearing their names at the Museum of Mankind in Paris since 1892.

Corinne Toka Devilliers, whose great-grandmother Moliko also appeared at a human zoo in Paris but survived the experience, told RFI she wants the remains to go home.

“Our ancestors – 33 of them – were brought to France more than 130 years ago on behalf of the Jardin d’Acclimatation [amusement park in Paris] for the colonial exhibitions," she said.

"Unfortunately, eight lost their lives in France. We have therefore asked for the six [remaining] to be returned home."

Of those eight, one is believed to have been buried in a cemetery north of the French capital, while another’s body was dissected in the name of scientific research.

Six were buried in Paris and their remains later joined the archives of the Museum of Mankind.

The other 25 returned to French Guiana.

Legal precisions

French law has made it difficult to repatriate the remains to French Guiana. French museums have had strict regulations on the objects in their collections since the rule of Napoleon between 1804 and 1815.

All pieces that enter a museum's inventory are regarded as classified, important cultural heritage and need exemptions if they are to leave public collections.

Human remains originating from other countries and dating from after the year 1500 have been returned, under a law that came into force on 26 December, 2023.

However, specific wording was required to return the Kali'na remains because that law was designed for requests made by foreign states – not by a French territory, such as French Guiana.

After two years of campaigning, politicians are now backing Devilliers' fight for their restitution.

On 13 April, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard announced that the government would support a bill in the senate – the upper house of France's parliament – to facilitate the journey back to French Guiana for the six sets of remains.

Two days later, the government announced Senator Catherine Morin-Desaillyand's bill would be fast-tracked, allowing it to be debated in a public session of the senate on 18 May.

The text of the bill, which is being co-sponsored by Senators Max Brisson and Pierre Ouzoulias, stipulates that the remains “shall cease to form part” of the museum’s collections and must be returned to French Guiana within one year for funeral purposes.

“After 133 years of waiting, this is a signal we welcome,” said Guyana MP Jean-Victor Castor. "These Kali’na women, men and children were torn from their land, taken to France and exhibited in human zoos.”

Once in French Guiana, the remains will be laid to rest at a memorial unveiled in August 2024 in Iracoubo.

Cécile Kouyouri, traditional chief of the village of Bellevue-Yanu in Iracoubo, told French news agency AFP: “This repatriation is very important because our history must not remain hidden. Our ancestors suffered just as much as the slaves, and it took a great deal of effort to ensure that this traumatic history was recognised.”

'Anthropo-zoological exhibitions'

In 1882 and again in 1892, Kali’na and Arawak people from French Guiana were exhibited in Paris as part of ethnographic displays now recognised as part of the history of “human zoos”.

Between 1877 and 1931, some 30 "anthropo-zoological exhibitions", as they were known at the time, took place at the Jardin d’Acclimatation park in western Paris.

“The Jardin d’Acclimatation was one of the major venues where a major exhibition took place almost every year, bringing in a great deal of money,” wrote historian Pascal Blanchard, on the website of France's National Audiovisual Institute.

"Between 30,000 and 40,000 people, mostly from colonised populations, were exhibited in Europe, but also in America and Japan."

Cities including Hamburg, London, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Barcelona and Osaka staged shows in which men, women and children from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean were presented as exotic beings, in environments constructed to resemble their homelands.

Blanchard wrote that these human zoos served three essential functions.

"The first was entertainment. It’s a spectacle. People are shown things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see. The second is to legitimise race... to make racism popular. You see the difference. You come to see the difference. Once you believe that the other is not like you, you believe there are different races and therefore a racial hierarchy, since if there is a visitor and a visited, the visitor feels superior."

He continued: "And then the third dimension: you legitimise colonial empires. Firstly, because these exhibits were often present at major world and colonial exhibitions. Also you demonstrate that there is a civilising mission at work.”

In October 2024, Devilliers was part of a 15-member delegation that performed a shamanic ceremony over the remains in the Museum of Mankind, a stone's throw from where the Kali'na and thousands of others were put on display.

“We couldn’t mourn without this crucial step with our shaman,” she told RFI. “We had to soothe their souls, to be able to tell them 'we’ve come to find you, but first we wanted to talk to you, to comfort you so that you can return calm and content'."

This story was adapted from the original version in French, with additional reporting by Arame Mbengue.

Did Gods Eat Meat?

Ram Puniyani | 31 Mar 2026

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There are extensive quotes from the holy books about consumption of non-vegetarian food in ancient times.

Dhruv Rathee during a interview. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Recently a video by popular YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, which narrated the food habits of Lord Ram in particular, was subject of great controversy. In this video, Rathee, whose videos are very popular and based on thorough search, stated that Lord Ram was non-vegetarian. His video (with 9,2 million views) has extensive quotations from Valmiki Ramayan in particular. Based on scriptures, he also narrated the food habits of many gods and the prevalence of meat eating at that time and somaras drinking as part of their menu.

The controversy was how can Gods eat non-vegetarian food? There are extensive quotes from the holy books about consumption of non-vegetarian food in those times. Swami Vivekanand in his book, East and West, also endorses this view. Swamiji, while speaking to a large gathering in the US, said: “You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef. On certain occasions he must sacrifice a bull and eat it.” (Vivekananda speaking at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, USA (2 February 1900) on the theme of ‘Buddhistic India’, cited in Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol 3 (Calcutta: Advaita Ashram, 1997), p. 536.)

This is corroborated by other research works sponsored by the Ramakrishna Mission established by Swami Vivekananda. One of these reads: “The Vedic Aryans, including the Brahmanas, ate fish, meat and even beef. A distinguished guest was honoured with beef served at a meal. Although the Vedic Aryans ate beef, milch cows were not killed. One of the words that designated cow was agonya (what shall not be killed). But a guest was a goghna (one for whom a cow is killed). It is only bulls, barren cows and calves that were killed.” (C. Kunhan Raja, ‘Vedic Culture’, cited in the series, Suniti Kumar Chatterji and others (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol 1 (Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission, 1993), 217.)

Babasaheb Ambedkar also traces the history of dietary tradition to tell us that with the rise of Buddhism, Brahminism resorted to countering Buddhism by raising the slogan of ‘Cow as mother’. Those who could not afford vegetarianism stuck to beef eating and were made untouchables. As such, on the evolutionary scale, early human beings were hunter food gatherers till the coming up of pastoral society. During this, apart from dairy products, they continued eating animals. Animal sacrifice to please the Gods became a norm. Sacrifice of cows and other animals to Gods was resisted by Gautam Buddha. While Lord Mahavir was for total giving up of eating animals, Lord Buddha did tell his disciples to accept even non-veg food given in bhiksha, by a donor to the begging monk. Emperor Ashoka, a Buddhist, in one of the edicts says that animal sacrifice should be stopped but the animals and birds necessary for eating can be killed.

Through a long journey of time, animal sacrifice continues in many a temple even today. Today, temples of Kamakhya Devi (Assam), Dakshineshwar Kali Temple (West Bengal) amongst others continue this practice of sacrifice of meat and chicken. In Maharashtra, near Lonavala, there is a Temple of Ekvira Devi where chicken and toddy (alcoholic drink) are offered.

As per data by the Anthropological Survey of India, today in India nearly 70% of the population is non-vegetarian. More Jains are vegetarians and only 45% of Hindus are vegetarians. Most of the population in coastal regions consume fish as the first priority. In the Konkan region, this is called ‘Sagar Pushp’ while in regions of Bengal it is called ‘Sagar Fal’. Incidentally, in Bengal, fish has a place of importance in many customs.

Dietary habits are totally diverse from region to region in the world. Right in India, there is the Musahar community, which eats rats out of the compulsion of poverty. In the North Eastern states, the prevalence of beef-eating is higher than in many other states of India.

As beef was made a political issue and lynching of Muslims and Dalits became common by Hindu nationalists, we heard Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) N. Sreeprakash stating that if he is elected, he will ensure the supply of better-quality beef. In the teaser of the film, Kerala Story 2, we see a Muslim family forcibly feeding beef to a Hindu girl who has married a Muslim. What a parody. To dissuade Hindu girls from marrying a Muslim man, this is shown to discourage girls from making their choice in marriage. The fact is that beef is very common in Kerala as a food item.

Human history is replete with all types of dietary practices. Currently the trend is of veganism. This is on the grounds that milk produced by animals is for their calves, not for humans. This is a welcome moral stand. Practically speaking, vegetarianism is better for environment protection. That apart, the present practices of people have to be respected.

My friend and mentor Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer used to tell me that Gandhiji (a vegetarian)was very open about offering non-vegetarian food to his guests without much hesitation. When requested that he should ensure a ban on cow slaughter, he said that the country belongs to people of diverse food practices so it will be unfair to them to resort to such a law.

What is being popularised by communal forces is that Muslims are violent because of non-vegetarianism. The truth is that a good number of Hindus also consume meat or fish. As far as violent tendencies and non-vegetarianism is concerned, it is an absurd correlation. We have seen the biggest mass murderer, Hitler, was a strict vegetarian after 1933 till his death, and advocates of peace like Nelson Mandela must have been meat eaters. There is no medical correlation between dietary habits and the psychological make up of an individual.

The most dangerous distortion is to deny the consumption of meat in ancient times and the propaganda that Muslims are violent due to their dietary habits.

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.

 Outside the West, the Kundalini tradition presents a model of the ‘divine feminine’ beyond binary gender

(The Conversation) — Drawn from tantric traditions, Kundalini points to spiritual practices that go beyond traditionally understood concepts of the masculine and feminine.

A piece of art shows the tantric tradition's depiction of Kundalini and energy centers – or chakras. (Tantrika painting/Wellcome Collection, CC BY)

Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya FoxenDecember 10, 2025

(The Conversation) — The notion of the divine feminine is a recurring motif in American pop culture, playing with the assumptions people make when referring to God – often the deity described in the Bible – as “He.”

Whether it’s Alanis Morissette’s iconic portrayal of God in the 1999 comedy “Dogma” or Ariana Grande’s titular declaration in her 2018 track “God is a Woman,” the effect is the same: a mixture of irreverence and empowerment. It dovetails, moreover, with a ubiquitous political slogan: “The future is female.”

But in a historical moment when society is bitterly contesting ideas about gender, we’d note that these notions still rely on a simplistic binary.

As two scholars who study the entangled history of spirituality and gender, we often observe an especially fraught version of this dynamic playing out among “spiritual but not religious” practitioners, often called spiritual seekers. To many such people, the divine feminine represents an escape from oppressive gender norms, and yet many stumble in trying to reconcile the idea with the embodied realities of biological sex.

An approach that escapes this dilemma is the centuries-old Kundalini tradition, which paints a model of the divine feminine beyond gender altogether.

The feminine Shakti

There are certainly examples of the feminine divine to be drawn from Christian and other Abrahamic religious traditions. Yet many seekers quickly find themselves reaching beyond these borders.

When they do, one of the first concepts they come across is Shakti, a divine feminine energy that manifests in the human body as the electrifying force of Kundalini. Both terms originate in South Asian religions – especially Hinduism – that fall under the broad umbrella of tantra.

Tantric cultural and spiritual traditions, which began to emerge in the early centuries of the Common Era, take a positive perspective on the material world in general and the human body in particular, as opposed to traditions that regard both as inherently illusory or sinful. In tantra, the material world and physical body are suffused by divine energy. This energy is called Shakti, and it is feminine.

Another key idea common to tantric traditions is that the universe is composed of two fundamental principles – or rather that it has two poles: a dynamic energy, which is female, balanced by an unchanging consciousness, which is male. As the great Goddess, Shakti goes by many names, including Durga, Kali and myriad others. The masculine principle is usually called Shiva, though this can vary as well.

Divinity beyond binaries

Tantric traditions span over a millennium in time and a subcontinent in space, so it should come as no surprise that they are incredibly diverse. However, most practices that enjoy global popularity today, especially those centered on the divine feminine energy of Kundalini, can be traced to a specific tradition called Kaula Tantra, which developed in the northeast of modern-day India near Kashmir.

A picture of tantric art from the 19th century.
Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

This tradition is distinctive by maintaining that while the cosmos is polar, it is also nondual, meaning that there is only one ultimate reality. So, the pairing of Shakti and Shiva, feminine and masculine, energy and consciousness, is best understood not as a binary but as the two sides of a Mobiüs strip, where one seamlessly flows into the other.

Take a strip of paper, twist it into a figure eight – also the symbol we use for infinity – and glue the back to the front. That’s the Kaula model of the universe.

In such a world, Shiva is Shakti. The masculine is the feminine. Both are divine, but even more than this, both are ultimate, because there is no difference between them. God is goddess, and both are nonbinary.

Awakening Kundalini

Kundalini yoga is a centuries-old practice quite different from the branded version popularized more recently by Yogi Bhajan. It involves using complex meditative and physical techniques to awaken and raise this energy from its usual resting place in the bottom of the torso.

In doing this, tradition says the practitioner experiences a radical transformation both of the body and of consciousness. Premodern texts describe Kundalini’s fiery energy burning through the tissues of the body, shooting up to the crown of the head, where the feminine Shakti unites with her masculine counterpart and all dissolves into oneness.

While some texts treat this ascent as equivalent to a sort of voluntary death, others describe how, once she has ascended, Kundalini returns to bathe the body in a cooling nectar of immortality, resulting in an embodied state of enlightenment and liberation.

According to this tradition, the body may appear the same but is now enlivened with a new consciousness that has transcended all dualities – including male and female.

Is the divine feminine female?

Human gender norms often prove difficult to shake, however. Though the energy of Kundalini is understood as feminine, Kundalini yoga in South Asia has been traditionally practiced by men. The reasons for this are perhaps almost entirely social, and yet they remain a powerful force.

Ironically, the very fact that Kundalini is often believed to be associated with womanhood has resulted in women being excluded – or at least deprioritized – from cultivating their own practice. Instead, they have historically become assistants or accessories to the enlightenment of men.

The fieldwork we present in our recent book on the topic bears this out. Among South Asian practitioners, the common attitude is that women embody the maternal principle, and this makes them extremely powerful. In them, the energy of Kundalini operates naturally. Men, on the other hand, need to be purified by a woman through ritual in order to effectively engage in Kundalini practice.

A woman meditates during festival for a modern, branded version of Kundalini yoga.
Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Such ideas are also common among Western practitioners, who tend to believe women have a more natural aptitude for Kundalini awakening. One of our subjects said this is because women have less ego. Another attributed it to female sexual fluids.

However, cultural difference plays a role, too. Western notions of the divine feminine are much more inclined to cling to the binary, resisting the idea that male and female bodies alike are ultimately woven from the same nondual reality.

Most striking, perhaps, one man who had spent a lifetime among seekers at spiritual retreats in the U.S. and South America told us of a long-held and common belief that only women were capable of Kundalini experience. It was, to him, an energy exclusive to the female body. He recounted having been shocked, only months prior, at encountering a copy of the 1967 classic “Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man,” authored by the decidedly male Gopi Krishna.

The broader point, however, is that the historical core of Kundalini practice has always been about transcending all dualities.

Thus, even as a goddess representing the ultimate “She,” Kundalini is best understood as nonbinary. Perhaps if we can wrap our heads around this idea, we can cultivate a more inclusive empowerment.

(Anya Foxen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, California Polytechnic State University. Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Instructional Assistant Professor of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Houston. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.

The Conversation religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The Conversation is solely responsible for this content.

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