How to talk like a Yoginī: On Rājaśekhara's comments in the Kāvyamīmāṃsā

In the seventh chapter of his Kāvyamīmāṃsā Rājaśekhara describes the different kinds of speech spoken by various celestial and mythological beings. The list includes the progeny of Brahmā, ṛṣis, vidyādharas, gandharvas, and serpents (Skt.: bhaujaṅgamam). Interestingly, another category of being is labeled yoginīgata (“abiding with yoginīs”). Rājaśekhara describes the speech of yoginīs as “a string of words with deep meaning, abounding in compounds and metaphors, and abiding within doctrine and convention.” However, who was Rājaśekhara referring to, divine mythological beings or their followers? What about human women, like Lakṣmīṅkarā? This paper will address this question by examining several texts attributed to divine female beings and teachers, will examine their style and content in light of Rājaśekhara’s comments. By so doing this paper will investigate how well an important alaṅkāraśāstra theorist was acquainted with Tantric traditions, and what insight his works might have on the style of the latter.