Shakti means power, and Shaktism is the power of the Goddess. It is a Hindu tradition of the worship of the female Goddess Parvati in her various forms. Some pray to her as Gauri, some as Kali, some as Durga, and so on.

She is also associated with the male Gods Shiva, Brahma or Vishnu in some places.

Shaktism can be traced back to the holy books of Sruti and Smriti that trace back the tradition. It is also found in texts like Devi Mahatmya, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, and the Shakta Upanishads such as Devi Upanishad. Out of these, the Devi Mahatmya is the most important to Shaktism as the Bhagavad Gita to the whole of Hinduism. 

The earliest known appearance of the Shakti Devi was in the Indian Paleolithic settlements more than 20,000 years ago. At that time it was a cult in the Indus Valley Civilization. Naturally marked triangles were discovered near Mirzapur, in Uttar Pradesh, from that age. Similar stones are still worshipped today by tribals in the region and the symbol is also that of fertility in the later Tantric demonstrations.

The Goddess then partially eclipsed during the Vedic period but has subsequently emerged back during the Sanskrit tradition that suggests that the history of Hindu tradition can be seen as a reemergence of the feminine. 

The Shaktism that we know today had developed with the literature of the Vedic Age. It evolved further during the times of the Hindu epics and reached its full power during the Gupta Age (300-700 CE). Today, from the 18th CE onwards, the image of the Goddess of Shakti has become so popular that we can see her everywhere – in homes of people, as stickers on trucks, on the dashboard of cars, in shops, as figurines and so on.

Tamil and Bengali literature flourished so immensely on Shaktism that it slowly evolved as a liberal and universal religion. Hindu female saints and gurus are seen as manifestations of the Goddess.

From the early 7th century CE to as late as 19th century CE developed the genre of Tantra. They devised the paths to dedicated practice to reach the same goal through learnings of the school of Shaktism. The Vamachara lineage favours the external worship in the form of idols and rituals. They permit the use of panchamakara (five substances that often are controversial when worshipping) at various levels as well.

The other form is that of Dakshinachara that prefers internal worship with meditative techniques. Around 800 CE, the legendary sage Adi Shankara, who was the preceptor of the Advaita Vedanta system, recognized Shakta philosophy and Tantric liturgy as part of the mainstream Hinduism. He spoke of the same in the Saundaryalahari.

Another important Shakta text is that of the Mahishasura Mardini Stotra that is derived from the Devi Mahatmya.

The works of Bhaskararaya remain central to the practice even today. The famous disciples of Shaktism are Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.