Shaktism

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Shaktism focuses worship upon the Hindu Divine Mother, here manifested as Tridevi – the conjoined forms of Lakshmi (wealth/material fulfillment), Parvati (love/spiritual fulfillment), and Saraswati (learning and arts/cultural fulfillment).

Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that worships Shakti or Devi – the Hindu name for the Divine Mother – in her many forms, both gentle and fierce. Shaktism is, along with Saivism and Vaisnavism, one of the three primary schools of Hinduism.

Overview

Shaktism reveres Devi, the Divine Mother, as the absolute, ultimate godhead. She is considered the Supreme Brahman Itself, the "one without a second," and all other forms of divinity, female or male, are considered to be merely her diverse manifestations.

In the details of its philosophy and practice, Shaktism greatly resembles Saivism. However, Shaktas (practitioners of Shaktism) tend to focus worship on Shakti exclusively, as the feminine dynamic aspect of the Supreme Divine. Shiva, the masculine aspect of divinity, is considered solely transcendent, and his worship is usually relegated to an auxiliary role.

In his seminal History of the Shakta Religion, N. N. Bhattacharyya stated, "Those who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Shakta. The Shaktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the source and the spring as well as the controller of all the forces and potentialities of nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across such a completely female-oriented system."

That is not to say that Shaktism rejects the importance of masculine and neuter divinity; however, they are deemed to be inactive in the absence of Shakti. In Hinduism, Shakti is considered the motivating force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos. The cosmos itself is Brahman; i.e., the concept of an unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that provides the divine ground of all being. Masculine potentiality is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous goddesses who are ultimately reconciled into one.

As religious historian V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (1896-1953) expressed it, "Shaktism is dynamic Hinduism. The excellence of Shaktism lies in its affirmation of Shakti as Consciousness and of the identity of Shakti and Brahman. In short, Brahman is static Shakti and Shakti is dynamic Brahman." In religious art, this cosmic dynamic is powerfully expressed in the half-Shakti, half-Shiva deity known as Ardhanari.

Shakti and Shiva

Shiva and Shakti in the half-male, half-female form of Ardhanari. Elephanta caves, Mumbai, India.

Thus the relationship between Shakti and Shiva – the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine – is understood somewhat differently in Shaktism than in other forms of Hinduism, and this sometimes causes confusion and inaccuracy among commentators. The Shakta conception of the Devi is that virtually everything in creation, seen or unseen (and including Shiva), is none other than her.

Indeed, in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, a central Shakta scripture, the Devi declares:

"I am Manifest Divinity, Unmanifest Divinity, and Transcendent Divinity. I am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, as well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the Sun and I am the Stars, and I am also the Moon. I am all animals and birds, and I am the outcaste as well, and the thief. I am the low person of dreadful deeds, and the great person of excellent deeds. I am Female, I am Male, and I am Neuter."

The religious scholar C. MacKenzie Brown explains that Shaktism "clearly insists that, of the two genders, the feminine represents the dominant power in the universe. Yet both genders must be included in the ultimate if it is truly ultimate. The masculine and the feminine are aspects of the divine, transcendent reality, which goes beyond but still encompasses them. Devi, in her supreme form as consciousness thus transcends gender, but her transcendence is not apart from her immanence."

Brown's analysis continues, "Indeed, this affirmation of the oneness of transcendence and immanence constitutes the very essence of the divine mother [and her] ultimate triumph. It is not, finally, that she is infinitely superior to the male gods – though she is that, according to [Shaktism] – but rather that she transcends her own feminine nature as Prakriti without denying it."

Alternative interpretations of Shaktism – primarily those of Shaiva commentators, such as Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami – posit the feminine manifest as ultimately a mere vehicle through which the masculine unmanifest Parasiva (Shiva in his highest aspect) can be reached. In this interpretation, the Divine Mother becomes something of a mediatrix, worshiped only in order to attain union with Shiva, who in Shaivism is the impersonal unmanifest absolute. These Shaiva views thus conclude that Shaktism is effectively little more than a sub-denomination of Saivism. In Shaktism itself, this interpretation remains a minority viewpoint.

Tantra and Shaktism

The Sri Yantra (shown here in the three-dimensional projection known as Sri Meru or Maha Meru used mainly in rituals of the Srividya Shakta sects) is central to most Tantric forms of Shaktism.

Another widely misunderstood aspect of Shaktism is its close association in the public mind with Tantra – an ambiguous, loaded concept that suggests everything from orthodox temple worship in the south of India, to black magic and occult practices in North India, to ritualized sex in the West.

It should noted at the outset that not all forms of Shaktism are Tantric in nature (just as not all forms of Tantra are Shaktic in nature); and also that the term "Tantra" is itself highly fluid:

"Tantra is a highly variable and shifting category, whose meaning may differ depending on the particular historical moment, cultural milieu, and political context. If tantra in the Sanskrit texts simply means a particular treatise that "spreads knowledge and saves," tantra in the popular imagination means something quite different indeed – a frightening, dangerous path that leads to other-worldly power and control over the occult forces on the dark side of reality."

When the term "Tantra" is used in relation to authentic Hindu Shaktism, it most often refers to a class of ritual manuals, and – more broadly – to an esoteric methodology of Goddess-focused spiritual discipline (sadhana) involving mantra, yantra, nyasa, mudra and certain elements of traditional kundalini yoga, all practiced under the guidance of a qualified guru after due initiation (diksha) and oral instruction to supplement various written sources.

More controversial elements, such as the infamous Five Ms or panchamakara, are indeed employed under certain circumstances by some Tantric Shakta sects. However, these elements tend to be both overemphasized and grossly sensationalized by commentators (whether friendly or hostile) from outside the tradition who are ill-informed regarding authentic doctrine and practice. Moreover, even within the tradition itself there are wide differences of opinion regarding the proper interpretation of the panchamakara (i.e., literal vs. symbolic meanings; use of "substitute" materials, etc.), and some lineages reject them altogether.

In sum, the complex social and historical interrelations of Tantric and non-Tantric elements in Shaktism (and Hinduism in general) are an extremely fraught and nuanced topic of discussion. However, as a general rule:

"Ideas and practices that collectively characterize Tantrism pervade classical Hinduism. [...] It would be an error to consider Tantrism apart from its complex interrelations with non-Tantric traditions. Literary history demonstrates that Vedic-oriented brahmins have been involved in Shakta Tantrism from its incipient stages of development, that is, from at least the sixth century. While Shakta Tantrism may have originated in [ancient, indigenous] goddess cults, any attempt to distance Shakta Tantrism from the Sanskritic Hindu traditions [...] will lead us astray."

Early Origins

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The roots of Shaktism? A Harappan goddess figurine, c. 3000 BCE. (Musée Guimet, Paris)

The roots of Shaktism penetrate deep into India's prehistory. The earliest Mother Goddess figurine unearthed in India (near Allahabad) belongs to the Upper Paleolithic, and has been carbon-dated to approximately 20,000 BCE. Also dating to that period are collections of colorful stones marked with natural triangles; discovered near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, they are similar to stones still worshiped as Devi by local tribal groups. Moreover, they "may demonstrate connections to the later Tantric use of yantras, in which triangles manifest a vital symbolism connected with fertility."

Thousands of female statuettes dated as early as c. 5500 BCE have been recovered at Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic sites in world archaeology, and a precursor to the great Indus Valley Civilization. Such figurines represent yet another early "embodiment of the primitive Mother Goddess in the Indian context."

The later Indus Valley population centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (c. 3300 - 1600 BCE) "sheltered a mixed population, the major section of which came from the adjacent villages to seek their fortune in the great cities. They also brought with them their own cults and rituals, the Female Principle of the the agricultural communities, which formed the basis of Harappan [i.e., Indus Valley] religion. Some of the cults and rituals of the simpler peoples were adopted by the higher, but probably not in the original, unsophisticated form. They were given an aristocratic colour [befitting their new adherents' more] elevated position in the society."

While it is impossible to precisely reconstruct the religious beliefs of a civilization so distantly removed in time, it has been proposed, based on archaeological and anthropological evidence, that this period contains the first seeds of the Shakta religion:

"[In] the Mother Goddess cult of Mohenjo-daro, [...] the Devi is transformed into the eternally existing, all-powerful Female Principle, the prakriti or sakti, and – having associated with the Male principle, the purusa – she becomes Jagadamba or Jaganmata, the mother of the universe, the creator of the gods. In her highest form she is Mahadevi, the consort of Shiva but [also] his creator."

As these philosophies and rituals developed in the northern reaches of the subcontinent, additional layers of Goddess-focused tradition were expanding outward from the sophisticated Dravidian civilizations of the south. The "cult of the Female Principle was a major aspect of Dravidian religion," Bhattacharyya notes. "The concept of Shakti was an integral part of their religion and their female deities eventually came to be identified with the Puranic Parvati, Durga or Kali. [...] The cult of the Sapta Matrika, or Seven Divine Mothers, which is an integral part of the Shakta religion, may [also] be of Dravidian inspiration."

Philosophical Development

The historical beginnings of Shaktism as we know it today began with the literature of the Vedic Age; further evolved during the formative period of the Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, which also saw the advent (and influence) of Buddhism and Jainism; reached its full flower during the Gupta Age (300-700 CE), and continued to expand and develop thereafter.

The Vedas

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A sandstone sculpture of Lajja Gauri or Aditi, also called uttānapad ("she who crouches with legs spread"), c. 650 CE (Badami Museum, India).

As the Indus Valley Civilization slowly declined and dispersed, its peoples mixed with other groups to eventually give rise to Vedic Civilization (c. 1500 - 600 BCE), a more patriarchal society in which female divinity continued to have a place in belief and worship, but generally in a much more subordinate role, with goddesses serving principally as consorts to the great gods.

Nonetheless, the Great Goddess of Indus Valley and Dravidian religion still loomed large in the Vedas, taking the mysterious form of Aditi, the "Vedic Mother of the Gods" who is mentioned about 80 times in the Rigveda, and whose appellation (meaning "without limits" in Sanskrit) marks perhaps "the earliest name invented to express the infinite as visible to the human eye, the endless expanse beyond the earth and the clouds."

According to Bhattacharyya, "it may be said that Aditi was the most ancient mother of the gods, whose features [had already become] obscure even in the Vedic Age. [...] The Harappan Magna Mater was probably reflected in [the Vedic] conception of Aditi, thought to be a goddess of yore even in the Rigveda itself." Indeed, Vedic descriptions of Aditi are vividly reflected in the countless so-called Lajja Gauri idols – depicting a faceless goddess in birthing posture – that have been worshiped throughout India for millennia:

"In the first age of the gods, existence was born from non-existence. The quarters of the sky were born from she who crouched with legs spread. The earth was born from she who crouched with legs spread, and from the earth the quarters of the sky were born."

Also in the Vedas, the historically recurrent theme of the Devi's all-encompassing, pan-sexual nature explicitly arises for the first time in such declarations as: "Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the air, Aditi is all gods. [...] Aditi is the Mother, the Father, and the Son. Aditi is whatever shall be born."

Other goddess forms appearing prominently in the Vedic period include Ushas, who governs the dawn and is mentioned more than 300 times in no less than 20 hymns; and Prithvi, an Earth Mother form.

More significant is the appearance in the famous Rigvedic hymn, Devi Sukta, of two of Hinduism's most widely known and beloved goddesses: Vāc, today better known as Saraswati; and Srī, now better known as Lakshmi, who unambiguously declares, in words still recited by thousands of Hindus each day:

"I am the Sovereign Queen; the treasury of all treasures; the chief of all objects of worship; whose all-pervading Self manifests all gods and goddesses; whose birthplace is in the midst of the causal waters; who in breathing forth gives birth to all created worlds, and yet extends beyond them, so vast am I in greatness."

The Upanishads

The great Kena Upanishad, though not a Shakta Upanishad per se, tells a tale in which the Vedic trinity of Agni, Vayu and Indra – boasting and posturing in the flush of a recent victory – suddenly find themselves bereft of divine power in the presence of a mysterious yaksha, or forest spirit. When Indra tries to approach and identify the yaksha it vanishes, and in its place the Devi appears in the form of a beautiful yakshini, luminous and "highly adorned":

"It was Uma, the daughter of Himavat. Indra said to her, 'Who was that yaksha?' She replied, 'It is Brahman. It is through the victory of Brahman that you have thus become great.' After that he knew that it was Brahman."

The canonical Shakta Upanishads are much more recent, most dating between the 13th and 18th centuries. While their archaic Sanskrit usages "tend to create the impression that [they] belong to a hoary past, not one of the verses cast in the Vedic mold can be traced to a Vedic source."

For the most part, these Upanishads are sectarian tracts reflecting doctrinal and interpretative differences between the two principle sects of Srividya upasana (a major Tantric form of Shaktism; see section on "The Tantras" below). As a result, the many extant listings of "authentic" Shakta Upanisads are highly variable as to content, inevitably reflecting the sectarian bias of their compilers:

"Past efforts to construct lists of Shakta Upanisads have left us no closer to understanding either their 'location' in Tantric tradition or their place within the Vedic corpus. [...] At stake for the Tantric is not the authority of sruti per se, which remains largely undisputed, but rather its correct interpretation. For non-Tantrics, [it is a text's] Tantric contents that brings into question its identity as an Upanisad. At issue is the text's classification as sruti and thus its inherent authority as Veda."

A Sunga-period Mother Goddess figure. Chandraketugarh. Sunga 2nd-1st century BCE. (Musee Guimet)

Of the Upanishads listed in the Muktika – the final Upanisad of the Hindu canon of 108 texts, cataloging the preceding 107 – only nine are classified as Shakta Upanisads. They are here listed with their associated Vedas; i.e., the Rigveda (RV), the Black Yajurveda (KYV), and the Atharvaveda (AV):

1. Sītā (AV)
2. Annapūrṇa (AV)
3. Devī (AV)
4. Tripurātapani (AV)
5. Tripura (RV)
6. Bhāvana (AV)
7. Saubhāgya (RV)
8. Sarasvatīrahasya (KYV)
9. Bahvṛca (RV)

The list excludes several notable Shakta Upanisads, including the Kaula Upaniṣad, the Śrīvidyā Upaniṣad and the Śrichakra Upaniṣad.

The Epic Period

Within the Vedic tradition itself, this was the period of the great Vaishnava epics, Mahabharata (c. 400 BCE - 400 CE) and Ramayana (c. 200 BCE - 200 CE). While the Ramayana marked the definitive entry into the Hindu pantheon of the hugely popular goddess Sita, "no goddess of a purely Shakta character is mentioned" therein. The Mahabharata, by contrast, is full of references that confirm the ongoing vitality of Shakta worship:

"Goddesses of the later Vedas – Ambika, Durga, Katyayani, Śrī, Bhadrakali, etc., whose cults became very popular in subsequent ages – must have been widely worshiped. [...] In fact, from he later Vedic period down to the age of the Mauryas and Shungas, the cult of the Female Principle had a steady growth. It appears that the original tribal religion of the Maurya kings was that of the Mother Goddess."

Although "orthodox followers of the Vedic religion" did not yet count Shiva and Devi within their pantheon, the "tribal basis of the Mother Goddess cult evidently survived in the days of the Mahabharata, as it does survive even today. The Great Epic thus refers to the goddess residing in the Vindhyas, the goddess who is fond of wine and meat (sīdhumāṃsapaśupriyā) and worshiped by the hunting peoples." The ongoing process of Goddess-worshiping tribals "coming into the fold of the caste system [brought with it] a religious reflex of great historical consequence."

The Mahabharata introduces the popular Draupadi, whose legends remain among the best-known in Hinduism. However it is in the Epic's Durga Stotras that "the Devi is first revealed in her true character, [comprising] numerous local goddesses combined into one [...] all-powerful Female Principle."

Meanwhile, the great Tamil epic, Silappatikaram (c. 100 CE) was one of several literary masterpieces amply indicating "the currency of the cult of the Female Principle in South India" during this period -- and, once again, "the idea that Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati, etc., represent different aspects of the same power."

The Puranas

Taken together with the Epics, the vast body of religious and cultural compilations known as the Puranas (most of which were composed during the Gupta period, c. 300 - 600 CE) "afford us greater insight into all aspects and phases of Hinduism – its mythology, its worship, its theism and pantheism, its love of God, its philosophy and superstitions, its festivals and ceremonies and ethics – than any other works." Indeed, "the Puranic legends prepared the substratum for what is known as popular Hinduism."

The most important Puranas from the Shakta standpoint are probably the Markandeya Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, and the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, from which the most important Shakta scriptures are drawn.

Devi Mahatmya

Devi portrayed as Mahishasura Mardini, Slayer of the Buffalo Demon – a central episode of the Shakta religion, and one of the most famous in all of Hindu mythology.

The keystone text is the Devi Mahatmya which combines earlier Vedic theologies, emergent Upanishadic philosophies and developing tantric cultures in a laudatory exegesis of Shakti religion. Demons of ego, ignorance and desire bind the soul in maya (illusion) (also alternately ethereal or embodied) and it is Mother Maya, shakti, herself, who can free the bonded individual. The immanent Mother, Devi, is for this reason focused on with intensity, love, and self-dissolving concentration in an effort to focus the shakta (as a Shakti worshipper is sometimes known) on the true reality underlying time, space and causation, thus freeing one from karmic cyclism.

Lalita Sahasranama

A common hymn describing the 1000 names of Devi is the Lalita Sahasranama.

The Bhakti Movement

Although Shaktism is ultimately monist in philosophical outlook, its actual practice displays a rich tradition of dualist Bhakti yoga and devotional worship. In a certain sense, one could consider oneself a Shakta (a devotee of Shakti), a Shaiva (a devotee of Shiva), and a Vaishnava (a devotee of Vishnu) all at the same time.

The Tantras

Shaktism is strongly associated with Tantric Hindu philosophies (though some more elite and recent schools draw upon Vedanta and Samkhya, these do not reflect the mainstream of Shakta practice and belief).

"Our evidence suggests that there are not clear notrmative differences between the traditions and texts regarded as 'Vedic' and 'Tantric.' Rather, there exist substantive differences regarding content. Thus, the relationship between Vedic and Tantric traditions depends on the interpreter, who will likely be involved at some point in an emotionally charged dispute."

Sir John Woodroffe went to great pains to clarify and "demystify" the actual nature of Tantra as it applies to Shakta practice:

"Mystical states in all religions are experiences of joy. [...] The creative and world-sustaining Mother, as seen in Shakta worship, is a joyous figure crowned with ruddy flashing gems, clad in red raiment, more effulgent than millions of red rising suns, with one hand granting all blessings, and with the other dispelling all fears. It is true that she seems fearful to the uninitiate[d] in her form as Kali, but the worshipers of this form know her as the Wielder of the Sword of Knowledge which, severing man from ignorance – that is, partial knowledge – gives him perfect experience."

Worship in Shaktism

Gopuram of the Meenakshi temple, a Shakta temple at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

There are many forms of Shaktism, with endless varieties of practices which seek to capture divine energy or power for spiritual transformation. Geographically, Shaktism has two main forms: (1) the "Srikula", or family of the Sri (Lakshmi), which is strongest in South India; and (2) the "Kalikula", or family of Kali, which prevails in Northern and Eastern India.

Among the manifestations of Devi most favoured for worship by Shaktas are Kali, Durga, and Parvati. Durga is an epithet of Mahadevi, or "Great Goddess," who is celebrated in the Devi Mahatmya. Kali is the goddess of destruction and transformation, as well as the devourer of time, as her name implies (kala means "time," and also means "black"). Parvati is the gentle wife of Shiva, one of the most popular gods of modern Hinduism, and is strongly associated with Kali and other goddesses.

Kalikula: Kali Family

"Kali is none other than Brahman. That which is called Brahman is really Kali. She is the Primal Energy. When that Energy remains inactive, I call It Brahman,and when It creates, preserves, or destroys, I call It Shakti or Kali. What you call Brahman I call Kali. Brahman and Kali are not different. The are like fire and its power to burn:if one thinks of fire one must think of its power to burn.If one recognizes Kali one must also recognize Brahman; again, if one recognizes Brahman one must recognize Kali. Brahman and Its Power are identical. It is Brahman whom I address as Sakti or Kali." - Sri Ramakrishna, quoted in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, trans. by Swami Nikhilananda.

Major Festivals

Major annual festivals throughout India include Durga Puja (October, national), Divali (November, national), Kali Puja (October/November, national), Minakshi Kalyanam (April/May in Madurai, Tamil Nadu) and Ambubachi Mela (June/July in Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati, Assam), which is the most important festival to Shakta Tantriks.

Folk Shaktism

Shakta worship takes many forms, but is heavily influenced by Tantra. Shakti is worshipped in several ways in the course of a puja (worship ceremony), including offerings of sweets and flowers, chanting mantras, using mudras, and typically offering some sort of sacrifice. She is most powerfully worshipped by chanting her bija mantra, which is different for each goddess.

There are many varieties of folk Shaktism gravitating around various forms of the Goddess, such as Kali, Durga and a number of forms of Amman. Shaktism is also fused with local beliefs in villages throughout India. In Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, she is known as Amma (mother). Rural Bengalis know her as Tushu. The Brahmanical idea of Shakti has become fused with local beliefs in protective village goddesses who punish evil, cure diseases and bring boons and blessings to the people of the village.

"The goddess is the Adya Shakti, the original energy out of which all things were created. This form has many aspects, and all of them have to be honored and served in the remaining days of the Durgapuja. The long series of oblations, libations, and flower offerings are devoted to the recognition of and deference to the multiple aspects in the original form of the goddess.

This recognition is central to sakti puja; bhed, division within the one goddess, must be revealed so that the full significance of Durga may be comprehended and everything may be reintegrated into the idea, form, and appearance of the goddess. These aspects must be adored separately; otherwise the goddess is not satisfied."

Misperceptions of Shaktism

Shaktism has at times – both in the past and, to a certain extent, into the present day - been dismissed by its critics as a superstitious, black-magic inflected practice that hardly qualifies as a true religion. Typical of such criticism is this broadside issued by an Indian scholar in the 1920s:

"The Tantras are the bible of Shaktism, [...] identifying all Force with the female principle in nature and teaching an undue adoration of the wives of Shiva and Vishnu to the neglect of their male counterparts. [...] It is certain that a vast number of the inhabitants of India are guided in their daily life by Tantrik teaching, and are in bondage to the gross superstitions inculcated in these writings. And indeed it can scarcely be doubted that Shaktism is Hinduism arrived at its worst and most corrupt stage of development."

As with most prejudices, this one is based principally on ignorance and misunderstanding, particularly related to some of folk-shamanic and left-handed Tantric practices that have traditionally been associated with Shakta systems.

For example, animal sacrifice is performed in some places in India, including such major sites as Kalighat in Calcutta, West Bengal, where goats are sacrificed on days of Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Kamakhya in Guwahati, Assam. Black male goats are typically sacrificed, as well as male buffalo during Durga Puja, and this practice is a controversial one. The brahmin performing the sacrifice is not allowed to cause pain to the animal, and must wait for the animal to surrender before cutting off the head with a single stroke. The blood is used to bless icons and worshippers, and the meat cooked and served to the worshippers and poor as prasad. Those who are averse to animal sacrifice, however, will use a pumpkin or melon instead, which has become an increasingly popular and acceptable substitute.

Further reading

• Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair : Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess, Ramprasad Sen (1720-1781). (ISBN 0-934252-94-7)
• The Play of the Gods: Locality, Ideology, Structure and Time in the Festivals of a Bengali Town, Akos Ostor, University of Chicago Press (1980), (ISBN 0-226-63954-1)
• Cosmic Puja, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Devi Mandir (2001), (ISBN 1-877795-70-4)

See also

• Ardhanari
• Devipuram: Shakta Temple
• Hindu views on God and gender
• Mahadevi
• Mahakali
• Mother Goddess
• Ramakrishna Paramahamsa - Shakta mystic (1836-1886).
• Ramprasad Sen - Shakta poet (1720-1781) Author of "Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair".