Kanphata yogini with her disciples

Depictions of Hindu female ascetics (yoginis) with topknots and ash-smeared skin emerged around 1600 in south-central India. They have been interpreted in various, often metaphorical, ways. In real life, yoginis were actually rare. While religion offered a way for all genders to escape strict social conventions, female ascetics challenged the cultural norms even more than their male counterparts.