Tantric Object as Tantric Subject: Material Agency and the Feminine Tantric Body

Objects of worship in Tantric ritual vary, such as iconic or aniconic murtis, or yantras, but they can also be living human bodies. Such bodies most often belong to cisgender woman and girls. While the Tantric body is typically theorized as a philosophical construction beyond gender, this paper argues for an expansion of the concept of Tantric bodies to include the feminine ritual participant who is the object or tool of ritual worship. This paper explores these Tantric objects as Tantric subjects—Tantric bodies that are explicitly gendered, and possess material agency, the power of material objects to enact effects on the world around them. Drawing on numerous Kaula texts from a wide range of periods, traditions, and locations, this paper argues for a new lens for understanding gender, power, and agency in Tantric ritual that also informs our understanding of feminine power dynamics in the broader scope of Hinduism.