"The Young Goddess Who Dances through the Ordinariness of Life - A Study on the Tantric Traditions of Kerala" is a 2022 paper by Maciej Karasinski-Sroka and G Sudev Krishna Sharman, originally published in a special issue of the journal "Religion" dealing with Goddess traditions. The paper is now publicly available for free on a large number of websites. Believe it or not, it was recommended to me by our dear friend ChatGPT.
The paper / article throws the reader headlong into the complex and exotic world of Shaktism, specifically certain lineages of Shri Vidya in the southern Indian state of Kerala. While modern-day Keralans apparently regard Tantrism as a path open to everyone, actual initiation is in the hands of a small number of families (some of which identify as Brahmins) for whom Shri Vidya forms a central part of their group identity. Thus, Shaktism comes across as simultaneously both "inclusive" and "exclusive". Judging by context, all gurus and initiates mentioned in the paper are male.
For these particular lineages, the principal form of the Goddess is Bala Tripura Sundari, here referred to as Tripura Bala or simply Bala. She is visualized as a girl-child and contrasted with Tripurasundari (a teenager) and Tripurabhairavi (presumably an adult). All three are forms of the same Goddess, often just called Tripura. However, in the mythology Bala is sometimes said to be Tripurasundari´s daughter. Bala´s mantra "Aim Klim Sauh" is associated with the rising of kundalini. Both the mantra and various hymns to Bala are said to bestow all kinds of benefits on the initiates, including rebirth as excellent scholars or powerful rulers! However, there are also popular beliefs that initiates will initially experience a lot of suffering and hardship to test their faith.
According to the paper, Shri Vidya is originally a Tantric tradition from Kashmir and is still heavily syncretized with the form of Kashmir Shaivism known as Krama. This sect worships 12 or 13 forms of Kali, and the Bala mantra is sometimes combined with a Kali mantra. The Shri Vidya temples visited by the authors often contained symbols of Shiva and various fierce goddesses alongside a mound-like structure supposed to be the Shri Yantra, a geometrical figure associated with Tripura. One of the aggressive goddesses is reminiscent of Durga but referred to as Tripurabhairavi or Kali. And yes, the Shri Vidya adepts have a longstanding connection to practitioners of traditional martial arts?!
Karasinski-Sroka was allowed to participate in a Tantric initiation ritual in 2012 and describes it in some detail. One thing I noticed is that the preparatory rituals carried out by the guru are more complex than the actual initiation. There is also a funny anecdote about a dreamy initiate who seems to have confused the neighbor´s young daughter with the goddess Bala!
Very interesting, but frankly a bit bewildering...
