New Books in Indian Religions Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya Foxen, "The Serpent’s Tale: Kundalini, Yoga, and the History of an Experience" (Columbia UP, 2025)
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Dec 4, 2025 
Anya Foxen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies who studies modern yoga and kundalini transmission, and Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Assistant Professor of Comparative Cultural Studies focused on Shakta Tantra and embodied practice, trace global histories of Kuṇḍalinī. They discuss multiple visions of kundalini, textual and embodied transmission, Western influences, commodification and online risks, and the need for trustworthy relational containers.
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Kundalini As Transmission History
- The book treats Kundalini as a transmission history that ties diverse texts, practices, and modern images together.
- They trace how twentieth-century models normalized a single 'standard' Kundalini image from many varied experiences.
Motifs Precede The Term
- Elements like serpents, fire, microcosm/macrocosm, and ascent predate the term 'kundalini' and help explain cross-cultural resonance.
- These recurring motifs enabled transmission even when the term wasn't used.
Western Streams Recenter The Serpent
- Western esoteric and Christian streams reshaped serpent imagery into a central, salvific symbol in modern Kundalini narratives.
- This fusion helped elevate the serpent as both dangerous and transformative in twentieth-century accounts.
