Subject combination and the initiatory experience in Śrīvidyā

Krishnaswamy, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4103-3816 and Awasthi, Tarinee (2026) Subject combination and the initiatory experience in Śrīvidyā. Religious Studies. ISSN 0034-4125 (In Press)

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Abstract

Śrīvidyā is a Tantric tradition which includes a form of religious initiation into an esoteric practice. Descriptions of initiation allude to and often describe the initiator sharing an experience with the initiand. In this article, we will suggest that such experiences can be understood in terms of a ‘shared token experience’. To make a case for taking such an experience into account, we use an argument for the epistemic value of religious experience. Our defence of the sharing of token experience across subjects also opens up questions as to the limits of consciousness or subjecthood. The phenomenon of Śrīvidyā initiatory experience also undermines two assumptions regarding what it means to be a subject. The first assumption is that each conscious subject is a unified whole insofar as its different experiential parts are mereologically connected to one subject. The second assumption is that each subject’s experiential field is bounded to one subject such that no two subjects can share the same experiential field. We argue that these assumptions do not necessarily preclude the possibility of a shared token experience.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Srividya | Subject combination | Consciousness | Subject unity | Dīkṣā
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Arts and Humanities > Religious studies
Depositing User: Mr. Syed Anas Ali
Date Deposited: 30 Jun 2026 04:40
Last Modified: 01 Jul 2026 07:17
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003441252610167X
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/11857

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