Bitter Winter recently ran a book review by Massimo Introvigne of The Serpent’s Tale, a book on Kundalini Yoga published by Columbia University Press earlier this Fall. His review begins:
Few concepts in contemporary spirituality have been as mystified, commodified, and reinterpreted as Kuṇḍalinī. In “The Serpent’s Tale: Kuṇḍalinī, Yoga, and the History of an Experience” (New York: Columbia University Press, 2025), authors Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya Foxen do not so much tame the serpent as let it slither—uncoiled, unstandardized, and unapologetically plural.
This is not a book for those seeking a how-to manual on awakening the sacred feminine energy coiled at the base of the spine, perhaps to improve their sexual performances. Nor is it a polemic against Western misappropriations of Eastern traditions. Rather, it is a dazzling, erudite, and refreshingly unpatronizing exploration of how Kuṇḍalinī has meant many things to many people—sometimes divine, sometimes dangerous, always elusive.
Borkataky-Varma and Foxen bring both theoretical gravitas and practical familiarity to their subject. Their central thesis is as bold as it is liberating: there is no standard definition of Kuṇḍalinī. The term has come to signify a kaleidoscope of meanings as East met West—through colonial encounters, Theosophical conversations, and psychedelic retreats. And yet, unlike some Indologists who wield Sanskrit like a sword to dismiss Western yogis as deluded dabblers, the authors refuse to call Western practices “false.” They may be different, yes, but they may “work” for their practitioners. And in a delicious twist of historical irony, what is practiced in India today may be shaped by Western theories.
Read the whole magilla:
https://bitterwinter.org/the-serpents-tale-ku%E1%B9%87%E1%B8%8Dalini-without-a-leash/
