> [[rolinson]]. Article. "'Don't Call It A Comeback': The Re-Illumination of the Enduring Integrality of Devi to Sanātana Dharma - Past, Present, And Future". > [academia.edu](https://www.academia.edu/77196794/) > [pdf](a/rolinson2022-dont.pdf) ## Abstract > The saliency of the Divine Feminine within the Vedic sphere is often seemingly approached as if it were an oxymoron. The integral role of Goddesses in Vedic ritual and theology is almost insistently overlooked; with Goddesses, if They are spoken of at all, dismissively reduced to the status of 'minor' figures. It is difficult to overstate the detrimentality of this approach. On the one hand, we cannot properly engage with the Vedic sphere when a large quotient of its core has been, effectively, excluded from view. On the other, our ability to meaningfully explore the Śākta sphere is significantly curtailed when its most archaic foundations are likewise obscured. All of this has produced a self-perpetuating pattern of distortion which steadfastly does not see that which it isn't looking for - facilitating in place of truth a suite of 'alternative' explanations that are especially open to political (or other) co-option. These frequently marginalize the Śākta sphere as effectively almost 'foreign' and 'external' to Hinduism. This paper seeks to play its part in redressing the situation. We provide a brief overview for the saliency of the Goddess in the Vedic sphere as directly attested within the texts Themselves, demonstrating the comportment of these elements with the later Śākta theology. **A comparative Indo-European theological approach is also deployed, strengthening our analysis through the demonstration of directly cognate understandings in other closely related religious spheres. This additionally enables evincing of the likely existence within the 'Para-Vedic' sphere of certain elements which, though they lack strong direct Vedic textual attestation, nevertheless prominently co-occur in both the post-Vedic and broader Indo-European religions. Finally, the comparative Indo-European effort is utilized to tangibly demonstrate how a proper understanding and reconstructive resurrection of the European pre-Christian religions is implausible in the absence of the integration of the Śākta-Vedic perspective**.