irrespective of religion, while Indian Muslim community seeking to preserve Sharia law in personal, family and other domains. Western scholarship There has been a pervasive and deeply held belief in modern era Western scholarship, states Professor Kathleen Erndl, that "in Hinduism, women are universally subjugated and that feminism, however, it might be defined, is an artifact of the West". Postmodern scholars question whether they have "unwittingly accepted" this colonial stereotype and long-standing assumption, particularly given the emerging understanding of Hindu Shakti tradition-related texts, and empirical studies of women in rural India who have had no exposure to Western thought or education but assert their Hindu (or Buddhist) goddess-inspired feminism. Western feminism, states Vasudha Narayanan, has focussed on negotiating "issues of submission and power as it seeks to level the terrains of opportunity" and uses a language of "rights". In Hinduism, the contextual and cultural word has been Dharma, which is about "duties" to oneself, to others, among other things. There has been a gap between Western books describing Hinduism and women's struggle within the Hindu tradition based on texts that the colonial British era gave notoriety to, versus the reality of Hindu traditions and customs that did not follow these texts at all. Narayanan describes it as follows (abridged), Ancient and medieval era Hindu texts, and epics, discuss a woman's position and role in society over a spectrum, such as one who is a self-sufficient, marriage-eschewing powerful Goddess, to one who is subordinate and whose identity is defined by men rather than her, and to one who sees herself as a human being and spiritual person while being neither feminine nor masculine. The 6th-century Devi Mahatmya text, for example, states Cynthia Humes, actually shares "the postmodern exaltation of embodiedness, divinizing it as does much of the Western feminist spirituality movement". These texts are not theoretical nor disconnected from the lives of women in the historic Hindu society, but the verses assert that all "women are portions of the divine goddess", states Humes. The Hindu goddess tradition inspired by these texts has been, notes Pintchman, one of the richest, compelling traditions worldwide, and its followers flock villages, towns, and cities all over India. Yet, adds Humes, other texts describe her creative potential not in her terms, but using the words of male virility and gendered dichotomy, possibly encouraging the heroic woman to abandon her female persona and impersonate the male. Postmodern