The Shri Yantra (also Sri Chakra) is a sacred diagram of the Hindu tradition, at the heart of the Shri Vidya school of goddess worship. It represents the goddess Tripura Sundari and, through her, the whole of creation. Newar painters in the Kathmandu Valley, who paint for both Hindu and Buddhist patrons, paint it alongside Buddhist mandalas.
How to read it
- The centre: a single point, the bindu, the source from which everything unfolds.
- Nine interlocking triangles: four pointing up and five pointing down, usually explained as the masculine and feminine principles (Shiva and Shakti). Together they form 43 smaller triangles around the centre.
- Two rings of lotus petals: an inner ring of eight petals and an outer ring of sixteen.
- Three circles around the lotus rings.
- The outer square (bhupura), with a gateway on each side, encloses the whole design.
Geometry and practice
Drawing a Shri Yantra accurately is famously difficult: the triangles must meet exactly at their points. In practice, it is used as a focus for meditation and worship, read from the outer square inwards to the bindu.
In a painting
Look for crisp, exact intersections, even lines and balanced colour. A Shri Yantra suits a meditation space, or anyone drawn to sacred geometry.
