Dakinī

In the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Kalika Purana, the Dakinis are described as beings created from or adopted into the retinue of the goddess Kali and Chamunda. They occupy the cremation ground shrines of the fierce goddess, tending the pyres and consuming what is left. The term 'Dakini' appears in the Atharva Veda, making these among the oldest documented supernatural entities in the subcontinent.

The 64 Yogini shrines scattered across North India — circular open-air temples at Khajuraho, Hirapur, Ranipur-Jharial — are dedicated to Dakinis and related beings in their role as fierce feminine powers surrounding the central Shiva or Devi figure. Tantric practitioners who sought siddhi (supernatural accomplishment) would visit these shrines at night, particularly on Ashtami and Chaturdashi tithi, to propitiate the Dakinis directly.

In classical iconography, the Dakini is depicted as nude or semi-nude, with wildly disheveled hair, carrying a skull-cup (kapala) filled with blood, a curved blade (khatanga), and wearing a garland of severed heads. Her skin is described as blue-black or deep crimson across different texts — the colours of sky at the moment before a storm.

When encountered at cremation grounds, witnesses across North India describe a gaunt woman running with unnatural speed at the edge of pyre-light, her hair flying, her laughter high and unrecognisable as human.

Dakinis can possess people who trespass on their cremation ground territory, causing violent fits and speaking in the voices of the recently dead through the afflicted person. They are said to steal the life-force (prana) of children and cause progressive wasting illness in those who disturb their domain.

For the tantric siddha who approaches correctly — with the right mantra, offering, and state of mind — the Dakini is a teacher rather than a predator. Classical texts record that a propitiated Dakini grants the ability to travel through space, access hidden knowledge, overcome enemies, and ultimately achieve liberation. The same being that destroys the unprepared illuminates the prepared.