The Serpent's Tale: Kundalini, Yoga, and the History of an Experience

by Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Anya Foxen

Overview

There is a standard narrative that recurs throughout popular writings on yoga and tantra, from South Asian texts to Western esoteric thought: Kuṇḍalinī is the Serpent Power. She rests coiled at the base of the spine. If awakened, this divine feminine energy rises toward the crown of the head. Some are apprehensive of Kuṇḍalinī’s intense power, fearing physical and psychological turmoil. Others seek it out, hungry for experiences, both spiritual and sensual. But what does this story leave out? What are its cultural and historical roots? What do the many ways of experiencing Kuṇḍalinī tell us about this elusive phenomenon?

The Serpent’s Tale traces the intricate global histories of Kuṇḍalinī, from its Sanskrit origins to its popularity in the West. Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya Foxen explore its symbolic link with the serpent, its fraught connections to sexuality, and its commercialization in the form of Kuṇḍalinī yoga. Ranging from esoteric texts to global gurus, from the cliffs of California to the charnel grounds of Assam, they show that there has never been one single “authentic” model of Kuṇḍalinī but a multiplicity of visions. Bridging the gaps between textual and historical analysis and the complexities of embodied practice, Borkataky-Varma and Foxen reflect on the narration and transmission of experiences, including their own. Lively, accessible, and nuanced, The Serpent’s Tale offers rich insights for scholars, practitioners, and all readers drawn to Kuṇḍalinī.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231559430
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook

About the Author

Sravana Borkataky-Varma is an instructional assistant professor of comparative cultural studies at the University of Houston as well as a research affiliate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. She is coeditor of Living Folk Religions (2023), among other books.

Anya Foxen is associate professor of religious studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her books include Inhaling Spirit: Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga (2020).

Table of Contents

Prologue
1. South Asian Roots: Serpents, Fire, and the Ascent of Kuṇḍalinī
2. Western Roots: Subtle Bodies, Mystical Ascents, and Assorted Serpents
3. West Meets East: Kuṇḍalinī and the Serpent Power
4. East Meets West: Kuṇḍalinī and the Evolution of Modern Yoga
5. When the Serpent Rises: What Happened to Gopi Krishna?
6. The Serpent in the Marketplace: Global Gurus Make Their Mark
7. The Serpent in the Melting Pot: Kuṇḍalinī in North American Counterculture
8. The Serpent in the Web: Contemporary Interweavings
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating and nuanced account of Kuṇḍalinī from its tantric and alchemical roots in South Asia to its entanglements with mystics, scientists, colonial forces, and New Age seekers. Blending historical analysis with lived experience, Borkataky-Varma and Foxen examine the ongoing tension between authenticity and simulation, tradition and reinvention.

Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm

An excellent introduction to Kuṇḍalinī from its origins in South Asia to the twenty-first century.

Sophie Roell

Borkataky-Varma and Foxen trace Kuṇḍalinī’s transformation across cultures, from sacred tradition to modern commodity. Their writing, at times subtle and at times direct, reveals Kuṇḍalinī not as a concept to grasp but as a force to sense, and perhaps awaken... with caution.

Elizabeth Rovere

This profoundly important and persuasive book at once provides a powerful understanding of Kuṇḍalinī’s multiple forms in the history of South Asian literature and philosophy while complicating and questioning the serpent power’s very nature.

Joseph S. Alter

Rooted in comparison across many cultures and times and actual human experience, here is Kuṇḍalinī as She winds her way through the world. A stunning tale, really tales, that only Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya Foxen could tell.

Jeffrey J. Kripal