Chausath Yogini

The Chausath Yogini, or Sixty-four Yoginis, are a circle of Tantric goddesses regarded as attendants and manifestations of the Great Goddess. They are known today through open-air circular temples, of which Odisha holds two of the best preserved: Hirapur near Bhubaneswar, and Ranipur-Jharial in Balangir district. The Hirapur shrine has a ring wall with niches holding black stone images of goddesses, many with animal heads or standing on animals. It is an archaeological site and a place of pilgrimage for scholars and visitors rather than a daily worship centre.

The Yoginis appear in Puranic and Tantric writing as the attendants of the goddess, born of her body or of her power, and sixty-four is the number the Agni Purana records in its list of their names. According to the Devi Mahatmya's battle accounts, the goddess and her shaktis, which in many...