Introduction
In June of 2026, Prāṇadā devī dāsī published a book titled Rishikas & Vaishnavis: Women as Gurus, wherein she presented a number of women who contributed to various areas of Vedic culture throughout history, along with some examples of those who acted as dīkṣā-gurus within the Gauḍīya sampradāya. In the fourth chapter, she makes the claim that it is a “myth that only a Vaishnavi of Jahnava Thakurani’s caliber, i.e., an eternally liberated associate of Sri Krishna or Mahaprabhu, can fulfill the role of diksha-guru”, and dedicates the rest of the chapter to refuting this myth by citing various examples of female dīkṣā-gurus from Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava history. This paper seeks to evaluate the efficacy of her refutation by addressing the question, “Are each of the female dīkṣā-gurus mentioned in the fourth chapter of Prāṇadā’s book sādhakas or non-sādhakas?”
The criteria by which we propose to determine whether or not the following personalities are sādhakas are primarily twofold:
- Descriptions of activities or events wholly impossible to be performed or experienced by sādhakas.
- Statements directly identifying them as non-sādhakas.
