Chakra Symbols and Their Meaning: The 7 Signs in the Symbol Atlas
AURIPURA Team
Four petals below, a thousand petals above, and in between a six-pointed star, a crescent moon and the syllable OM: the chakra symbols are a visual language that has been passed down almost unchanged for over a thousand years. Anyone who can read them understands at a glance what each of the seven chakras stands for. This symbol atlas explains all seven signs, their building blocks and their meaning — and answers the question of why there are, of all numbers, exactly fifty petals.
7 symbols
50 petals (chakras 1–6)
1,000 petals (chakra 7)
6 bija mantras
5 elements
What is a chakra symbol? The five building blocks
At first glance, the seven signs look like pretty flower ornaments. In fact, they follow a strict design laid out in the tantric scriptures of India — most fully in the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana from the 16th century, which the Indologist Arthur Avalon translated into English in 1919 under the title The Serpent Power. Almost every depiction you see today on yoga mats, posters or jewellery traces back to this source. Each symbol is built from five elements:
- The lotus (Padma). The basic shape of all seven symbols. The lotus grows out of the mud, through the water, towards the light, and opens its flower without any dirt clinging to it. In Indian imagery it therefore stands for unfolding and purity — an image that Buddhism and Hinduism also use in many other contexts.
- The petal count. Each chakra has a fixed number of petals: 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 2 and 1,000. The number is neither accidental nor a design choice — it carries its own meaning (more on that further below).
- The yantra. The geometric figure at the centre of the lotus. It shows the element assigned to the chakra: a square for earth, a crescent for water, a triangle for fire, a six-pointed star for air, a circle for space. Yantras are independent meditation images in the tantric tradition; within the chakra symbol they are reduced to their essential form.
- The bija mantra. At the centre of the yantra sits a single Sanskrit syllable: LAM, VAM, RAM, YAM, HAM or OM. Bija means "seed". The syllables carry no literal meaning; in the tradition they are regarded as the sound-seed of the respective chakra.
- The vehicle animal (Vahana). In the classical texts, an animal carries the syllable: elephant, crocodile, ram, antelope. This element is usually missing from modern depictions — a shame, because it tells most vividly what the chakra stands for.
The old sources also add deities, sense organs and letters on the petals. For understanding the symbols as they are used today, the five building blocks are enough. One detail up front, because it surprises many people: the rainbow colours common today are not part of the classical symbol. Why, we explain in the section on colours and symbols — or in full detail in our article on chakra colours and their meaning.
The 7 chakra symbols at a glance
Before we move into the atlas, here are all seven signs with their building blocks in a table — the order runs, as in the tradition, from bottom to top:
| # | Chakra (Sanskrit) | Petals | Yantra | Element | Bija | Animal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Root chakra (Muladhara) | 4 | Square + triangle | Earth | LAM | Elephant |
| 2 | Sacral chakra (Svadhisthana) | 6 | Crescent moon | Water | VAM | Crocodile (Makara) |
| 3 | Solar plexus chakra (Manipura) | 10 | Triangle, point down | Fire | RAM | Ram |
| 4 | Heart chakra (Anahata) | 12 | Six-pointed star (Shatkona) | Air | YAM | Antelope |
| 5 | Throat chakra (Vishuddha) | 16 | Circle within a triangle | Space/ether | HAM | White elephant |
| 6 | Third eye chakra (Ajna) | 2 | Triangle + circle | Light/mind | OM | — |
| 7 | Crown chakra (Sahasrara) | 1,000 | Wreath of petals | beyond the elements | (silence) | — |
The assignments follow the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana; other schools differ on individual details — for instance the sacral chakra's animal or the third eye chakra's element. Anyone looking for a full overview of all seven chakras with meaning, colour and everyday relevance will find it on our page The 7 Chakras.
Symbol atlas: the seven signs and their meaning
Each symbol below is drawn as a vector graphic following the classical specifications: correct petal count, yantra shape and bija syllable. The colours follow the modern assignment so that you recognise the signs from our chakra articles.
🔴 1 · Muladhara — the four-petalled lotus of the root chakra
The symbol of the root chakra is the most compact of the seven: four petals, and at the centre a square — the yantra of earth. Four petals, four corners, four cardinal directions: everything about this sign speaks of stability and containment. Inside the square lies a downward-pointing triangle, which in the tradition represents creative power (Shakti) resting here in stillness.
The syllable LAM is carried by an elephant with seven trunks — Airavata, the mount of the god Indra. The elephant is the heaviest land animal; there is hardly a better image for grounding. The seven trunks are read in some interpretations as the seven components of the body, in others as the seven chakras that grow out of this root.
Traditional lotus colour: crimson red — here the old and modern assignments agree.
🟠 2 · Svadhisthana — six petals and a crescent moon
The symbol of the sacral chakra shows six petals and, at the centre, a white crescent moon. The moon moves the tides, and water is the element of this chakra — the crescent is the yantra of the flowing, the changeable. In many depictions it rests within a second circle that reads like a water surface.
The vehicle animal is the Makara, a mythical crocodile that often appears in Indian art as a water creature at temple gates. It carries the syllable VAM. The Makara lives between two worlds, land and water — an image for sensuality, creativity and the ability to engage with the unknown.
Traditional lotus colour: vermilion, not orange. The orange comes from the modern rainbow order.
🟡 3 · Manipura — ten petals around a triangle of fire
The solar plexus chakra carries ten petals. Its yantra is a triangle pointing downward — the classical sign of fire, often with small T-shaped extensions on the sides, the so-called svastika marks, which in old depictions suggest flames. The name Manipura means "city of jewels"; the triangle is the core of this glowing city.
The syllable RAM rests on a ram, the mount of the fire god Agni. The ram leads with its head — willpower, determination, sometimes stubbornness too. Anyone who knows the symbol recognises the theme of this chakra at once.
Traditional lotus colour: blue-black "like a rain cloud" — the biggest departure from the modern colour, yellow.
🟢 4 · Anahata — which symbol belongs to the heart chakra?
The symbol of the heart chakra is the most frequently searched — and the most frequently misread. It shows twelve petals and, at the centre, a six-pointed star made of two interlocking triangles, the Shatkona. The triangle pointing upward stands for the ascending, spiritual principle (Shiva); the one pointing downward for the creative, material principle (Shakti). In the heart chakra they meet — it is the midpoint of the system, three chakras below, three above.
The six-pointed star is not a Star of David. Both signs look alike but arose independently of one another; the Shatkona is documented in Indian art for centuries. The vehicle animal is a black antelope, a shy, fast animal that stands for alertness and gentleness. The syllable is YAM, the element is air — the first element you can no longer see.
Traditional lotus colour: red to vermilion; green and pink are modern assignments.
🔵 5 · Vishuddha — sixteen petals and the empty circle
The throat chakra has, with sixteen petals, the most of the six lower chakras. Its yantra is a circle inside a triangle. The circle stands for space, the element Akasha — that in which all other elements find their place. In some depictions the circle is empty like a full moon; in others it is drawn as a drop or a disc of sky.
The syllable HAM is carried by a white elephant — Airavata again, but this time without the seven trunks and snow white. Elephants communicate over long distances with deep sounds that humans can barely hear; a fitting image for a chakra that stands for expression and listening. The sixteen petals traditionally carry the sixteen vowels of Sanskrit — the sounds that can be formed without tongue or lips, with pure breath.
Traditional lotus colour: smoky purple; light blue is modern.
🟣 6 · Ajna — two petals and the Om
The symbol of the third eye chakra is the plainest of all: two petals, left and right of a circle, plus a triangle pointing downward. The two petals are often read as the two wings of an eye — the "third eye" — or as the two sides of everything that separates thought: I and you, inside and outside. Some schools see in them the two energy channels Ida and Pingala, uniting here.
At the centre stands no ordinary bija, but OM (also AUM), the best-known syllable of Indian spirituality. There is no vehicle animal any more — the tradition says that from here on, consciousness no longer needs an animal to carry it. The element is not one of the five material ones, but light or mind (Manas).
Traditional lotus colour: white like the moon; indigo is the modern assignment.
🟪 7 · Sahasrara — the thousand-petalled lotus
The crown chakra breaks with the design of the other six. It has a thousand petals — Sahasrara literally means "thousandfold" — and at its centre no yantra, no element and no animal. The classical texts describe the lotus as open downward, hovering above the crown of the head, with petals in every colour, shimmering in the light.
The number one thousand is not meant literally. It stands for the uncountable: 50 letters times 20 layers produce, in the tradition, the complete wreath. In practice, artists draw anywhere between 20 and several hundred petals arranged in several rings — what matters is that the wreath feels open and without any countable number. As the syllable, either silence is named, or an OM that is no longer voiced.
Traditional lotus colour: multi-coloured or white; violet is modern.
Why exactly 50 petals? The alphabet of the chakras
Add up the petals of the six lower chakras: 4 + 6 + 10 + 12 + 16 + 2. The result is 50 — and the Sanskrit alphabet has, in its classical count, exactly 50 letters: 16 vowels and 34 consonants. In the tantric texts, each petal carries one letter, written in Devanagari and each given a nasal mark (Anusvara), so that every petal carries a speakable syllable.
4Root
6Sacral
10Solar plexus
12Heart
16Throat
2Third eye
= 50letters of Sanskrit
The distribution is not arbitrary. The throat chakra, the chakra of speech, carries the 16 vowels — the sounds that shape the breath the least. From the heart chakra downward, the consonants follow in alphabetical order, down to the last four on the root chakra. The third eye chakra carries the two signs that sit between the classes in the alphabet: ha and ksha.
The idea behind it: the entire sound-space of language is distributed through the body. Anyone who recites the alphabet, in this view, travels once through all the chakras. That also explains why mantra recitation is so central in the chakra tradition — and why the crown chakra, with its 1,000 petals, contains "all letters twenty times over": language in its entirety, with no single word needed any more.
Colours and symbols: what is old and what is new
Anyone looking for chakra symbols today finds them almost always in rainbow colours: red root chakra, orange sacral chakra, yellow solar plexus, green heart, light-blue throat, indigo third eye, violet crown. This order is catchy, but young. It goes back to the theosophist Charles Leadbeater (1927) and, above all, to Christopher Hills, who systematically linked it to the light spectrum in 1977 in Nuclear Evolution. It has spread worldwide ever since.
The shapes of the symbols, by contrast, are old and stable. Petal count, yantra and bija are documented in texts from the 10th to the 16th century and are drawn the same way today. So if you want to check a chakra symbol for authenticity, don't look at the colour — look at three things: is the petal count correct? Is the yantra correct? Does it contain the right syllable? A twelve-petalled lotus with a six-pointed star is a heart chakra — whether it is green, pink or gold.
For our articles we use the modern colour order, because it is today's shared language. The symbols in this atlas are therefore coloured, but classical in shape. Anyone who wants to dig deeper into the colour question — including what black, white or pink mean for chakras — will find it all in the article Chakra colours and their meaning.
Om, lotus, mandala: three signs that are often confused
The Om symbol and the states of sleep
The Om (ॐ) is the bija of the third eye chakra and, at the same time, the best-known symbol of Indian spirituality — which is why it is often mistakenly treated as "the symbol of all chakras". Its shape is a small teaching in itself: the three curves traditionally stand for the three states of consciousness — waking (Jagrat), dreaming (Svapna) and deep sleep (Sushupti). The crescent above them is the veil of illusion (Maya); the dot above that is the fourth state — Turiya, pure consciousness beyond the three.
That deep sleep appears in this symbol as its own, fully valid state says a great deal about Indian thought: here, sleep is not a lapse of consciousness but one of its three basic forms. Anyone who consciously settles into the night, in this view, honours a state that stands equal to waking. Our guide to meditation for falling asleep describes a few simple ways to do just that.
The lotus without a yantra
A lotus alone — without a yantra, without a syllable — is not a chakra symbol, but the general emblem of purity and unfolding used in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. On yoga mats and logos, it is usually this general lotus that is meant. Only the petal count and the sign at the centre turn the lotus into a specific chakra.
Mandala versus chakra symbol
Mandalas are circular meditation images with concentric patterns, usually without a fixed meaning for each individual element. Chakra symbols are also round, but every detail is fixed and legible. You can design a mandala freely; with a chakra symbol, that would be like redrawing a letter. When colouring mandalas with a chakra theme, it is therefore worth checking the template: if the petals and yantra are correct, it is a chakra symbol — otherwise it is a mandala in chakra colours.
Chakra signs in everyday life: jewellery, tattoo, wall and bedroom
Today the symbols live mainly outside the texts: on chains, on skin, on walls. Four observations that help you use them thoughtfully:
- Jewellery. The heart and third eye chakras are worn most often — the six-pointed star and the Om. Watch the petal count: many cheap pendants show eight petals, because that is easier to cast. A genuine Anahata has twelve.
- Tattoo. Chakra symbols are not protected religious signs; wearing them is common and accepted. For the Om, a rule of respect applies in India: not on feet, ankles or below the waist. The syllables are written in Devanagari — anyone who tattoos them in Latin letters has a transcription, not a symbol.
- Wall and room. As an image, the complete row of seven works best from bottom to top — the way it is imagined along the body. A single symbol sets an accent: the root chakra by the entrance, the heart chakra in the living room. Our feng shui guide for the bedroom shows how colours and signs feel calm rather than restless in the bedroom.
- Drawing. The best way to understand a symbol is to draw it yourself: circle, count the petals, place the yantra, add the syllable. Anyone who has drawn all seven by hand once never confuses them again. A notebook and ten minutes in the evening are enough.
The symbols in the AURIPURA® sleep system
When we developed the AURIPURA® chakra mattress, the symbolism was our starting point: seven energy rods, arranged from root to crown along the line of the body, each in the colour of its chakra. The rods carry the Sanskrit names of the symbols — Muladhara Essence, Svadhishthana Flow, Manipura Flame, Anahata Bloom, Vishuddha Whisper, Ajna Vision, Sahasrara Radiance. Anyone who has read the atlas above now knows the meaning behind each name.
This is deliberately a symbol, not a promise of effect: the sleep space carries the order described in this article, the way a picture on the wall or a pendant carries it — only here, in the place where we spend a third of our lives. Anyone who wants to start with a single sign: the Anahata energy rod with the six-pointed star of the heart chakra is also available on its own; the Serenity Mattress contains all seven.
→ Discover the AURIPURA® sleep system
All 7 chakras in detail
For each symbol there is a full article on its meaning, colour and everyday relevance:
1 Root chakra
2 Sacral chakra
3 Solar plexus
4 Heart chakra
5 Throat chakra
6 Third eye chakra
7 Crown chakra
Frequently asked questions about the chakra symbols
What do the chakra symbols mean?
Each of the seven symbols is a stylised lotus with a fixed petal count (4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 2 and 1,000). At its centre sits a geometric sign for the assigned element and a Sanskrit syllable, the bija mantra. Together they sum up the meaning of the chakra in a single image: grounding, flow, will, connection, expression, insight, vastness.
Which symbol belongs to the heart chakra?
A twelve-petalled lotus with a six-pointed star (Shatkona) made of two interlocking triangles at its centre. The syllable is YAM, the element is air, the vehicle animal an antelope. The six-pointed star stands for the meeting of opposites at the midpoint of the system.
How many petals do the chakra lotus flowers have?
From bottom to top: 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 2 and 1,000. The six lower ones add up to 50 — the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each petal is traditionally assigned one letter.
What is a bija mantra?
A single Sanskrit syllable (a "seed syllable") that is assigned to a chakra and appears in its symbol: LAM, VAM, RAM, YAM, HAM and OM. The syllables carry no literal meaning; in the tradition they are regarded as the sound-seed of the chakra and are repeated quietly during meditation.
What does the Om symbol mean?
Om (ॐ) is the syllable of the third eye chakra. Its three curves stand for waking, dreaming and deep sleep, the crescent for the veil of illusion, and the dot for the fourth state of pure consciousness (Turiya).
Are the chakra colours part of the symbols?
Only partly. The rainbow assignment dates from the 20th century; in the old texts, the lotus flowers carry different colours — the solar plexus chakra, for instance, is described as a blue-black rain cloud. Shape, petal count and syllable, by contrast, have stayed stable for centuries.
Is it acceptable to wear chakra symbols as a tattoo or jewellery?
Yes. The symbols belong to an open spiritual tradition. Anyone wearing them should reproduce the petal count and syllable correctly and place the Om respectfully — not on feet or shoes.
Further reading
- Chakra Stones: Which Gemstone Belongs to Which Chakra? All 7 at a Glance — From red jasper to clear quartz: the seven stones, their meaning, care and authenticity check.
- The 7 chakras at a glance — meaning, colours, symbols and mantras of all seven chakras on one page.
- Chakra colours & their meaning — why the rainbow order is young and what each colour means.
- Heart chakra — meaning, colour & symbolism — the most-searched symbol explained in full.
- AURIPURA® energy rods — how seven symbols became a sleep system.
Note: Chakra teaching — including its symbols, mantras and correspondences — is a traditional spiritual symbol system and does not constitute medical claims. The practices described are cultural and mindfulness-oriented traditions, not therapies. If you have health concerns, please consult your doctor or a medical professional.
