Latha Jandhyala raises question over Samantha Seemantham

Samantha’s Seemantham sparks a deeper debate over Sri Chakra traditions

Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s recent Seemantham ceremony has moved beyond celebrity news and triggered a wider conversation about the customs and spiritual disciplines associated with Sri Vidya worship. Samantha, who is expecting her first child with filmmaker Raj Nidimoru, recently shared photographs and videos from the traditional ceremony. Reports said the event was held at the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore and incorporated the Sri Vidya tradition, including a ritual described as Kalaa Aavarana, or Sri Kalpam. Samantha explained that the ceremony honored the mother-to-be as a manifestation of the Divine Mother and highlighted the significance she attaches to traditional practices, mantras and rituals passed down through generations.

The ceremony became particularly notable because Samantha was shown seated at the centre of a Sri Chakra. Coverage of the ritual described references to the 94 kalas, or aspects of the Goddess, and spiritual symbolism involving the expectant mother and the unborn child.

That detail, however, has prompted questions from spiritual practitioner and astrologer Latha Jandhyala, who has questioned whether such a ritual can be performed without observing the traditional qualifications and disciplines associated with Sri Chakra worship.

Speaking about the controversy, Latha argued that Sri Chakra worship is not simply a decorative or symbolic ritual. In the Sri Vidya tradition, the Sri Chakra is associated with Lalita Tripura Sundari, with the central bindu understood as the focal point of the Goddess. Traditional sources describe Sri Vidya as a structured path involving guru guidance, initiation, mantra and progressive practice.

Latha Jandhyala questioned whether someone without relevant mantra initiation or spiritual discipline should be seated at the bindu of a Sri Chakra during a public ceremony. She clarified that her comments were not directed personally at Samantha, but concerned the ritual procedure and the precedent it could set. She also questioned whether established Sri Vidya practitioners and guru paramparas would accept such a practice, stressing the importance of diksha, mantra practice and lineage-specific disciplines in Sri Vidya upasana.

Latha further warned that celebrity rituals can quickly influence the public, with fans potentially imitating practices without understanding their traditional context. The controversy, therefore, extends beyond Samantha’s ceremony, raising questions about personal spiritual expression versus the ritual disciplines prescribed by different Sri Vidya traditions.