Editing Kundalini (section)

== Etymology ==

The concept of Kuṇḍalinī is mentioned in the [[Upanishads]] (9th – 7th centuries BCE).<ref name="Dale">{{cite book |last1=Dale |first1=Cyndi |title=Kundalini: Divine Energy, Divine Life |date=2011 |publisher=Llewellyn Publications|location=Woodbury, Minnesota |isbn=978-0-7387-2863-6 |edition=1st}}</ref> The Sanskrit adjective ''{{IAST|kuṇḍalin}}'' means "circular, annular". It is mentioned as a noun for "snake" (in the sense of "coiled") in the 12th-century ''[[Rajatarangini]]'' chronicle (I.2). ''{{IAST|Kuṇḍa}}'' (a noun meaning "bowl, water-pot" is found as the name of a [[Nāga]] (serpent deity) in [[Mahabharata]] 1.4828). The 8th-century ''Tantrasadbhava Tantra'' uses the term ''kundalī'', glossed by [[David Gordon White]] as "she who is ring-shaped".<ref name="White">{{cite book |last=White |first=David Gordon |author-link=David Gordon White |title=Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Contexts |date=2004 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-89483-6 |edition=Paperback |page=230}}</ref>

The use of ''kuṇḍalī'' as a name for Goddess [[Durga]] (a form of [[Shakti]]) appears often in [[Tantrism]] and [[Shaktism]] from as early as the 11th century in the ''Śaradatilaka''.<ref name="Saivism">{{cite book |last1=Saivism |first1=Kashmir Saivism |title=Vac: The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu Tantras |date=1990 |publisher=Sri Satguru Publications |isbn=978-1-4384-1532-1 |pages=124–136}}</ref> It was adopted as a technical term in [[Hatha yoga]] during the 15th century, and became widely used in the [[Yoga Upanishad]]s by the 16th century. [[Eknath Easwaran]] has paraphrased the term as "the coiled power", a force which ordinarily rests at the base of the spine, described as being "coiled there like a serpent".<ref name="Morrison">{{cite book |last1=Morrison |first1=Diana |title=A Glossary of Sanskrit from the Spiritual Tradition of India |date=1977 |publisher=Nilgiri Press |isbn=978-0-915132-11-9 |page=5}}</ref>