Devi and the “Borderlinking” of the Human and the Divine in Hindu Shakta Traditions
July 12, 2026 Anway Mukhopadhyay
In Hindu Shakta traditions, the Goddess Devi mediates between material and spiritual realms, conjoining human, divine, and animal domains. Drawing on Bracha Ettinger's 'matrixial' theories, this chapter argues that Devi's play (lila) involves 'borderlinking' across these realms without excluding the animal or insentient. Devi serves as an ontological matrix where divine, nondivine, and yet-to-be-divine coexist. The human subject blessed by Devi achieves transhuman capabilities (siddhis) aligned with humility, honoring the divine feminine's agency. This proposes a paradigm of transhumanity devoid of androcentric and anthropocentric arrogance, challenging the androcentric definition of the human critiqued by Adriana Cavarero.