Chakras (7-system, Sat-Chakra-Nirupana)

Mūlādhāra ("root-support") is the first of the seven cakras described in the Sat-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa, located at the perineum between the anus and the genitals. Avalon's translation of v. 4 places its four-petalled lotus in the space "between anus and genitals," each petal inscribed with one of the bīja-akṣaras वं शं षं सं in clockwise order. The seed-mantra at the centre is लं (LAM), and the yantra is a square — the iconographic seal of the earth element (pṛthvī). The presiding deity is Brahmā, four-headed, seated on a haṃsa; his śakti is Ḍākinī. The vehicle is Airāvata, the white elephant whose seven trunks recall the diffusion of earth-element through the gross body. By granthi-membership mūlādhāra anchors the brahma-granthi, the first of the three knots a sādhaka must "loosen" before kuṇḍalinī's ascent. The vertebral anchor on the back view is the COCCYX (Co1–Co4); the chakra is bilaterally symmetric and reads on midline in both views. Lineage tie-breaker: SCN-per-Avalon is canonical; Goswami's *Layayoga* and modern post-Theosophical schemes give different colors / tattva-correspondences and are recorded in `lineage_variants_known` rather than blended.

Svādhiṣṭhāna ("one's own abode") is the second cakra, situated at the root of the genitals. Avalon's translation of v. 14 describes a six-petalled lotus, each petal bearing one of बं भं मं यं रं लं in clockwise order. The central seed-mantra is वं (VAM); the yantra is a silver-white crescent moon — the seal of the water element (ap). The presiding deity is Viṣṇu seated on Garuḍa; his śakti is Rākiṇī. The vehicle is the makara, a composite crocodile-fish whose aquatic associations underline the chakra's water-element correspondence. Svādhiṣṭhāna is *not* a granthi-locus; the brahma-granthi has been left below at mūlādhāra and the viṣṇu-granthi waits above at anāhata. Vertebral anchor: S2 spinous tubercle. Lineage tie-breaker: SCN-per-Avalon is canonical; the popular post-Theosophical "orange = water" colour code is recorded as a variant rather than adopted.

Maṇipūra ("city of jewels") is the third cakra, at the root of the navel. Avalon's v. 19 describes a ten-petalled lotus "of the colour of heavy-laden rain-clouds," each petal inscribed with one of डं ढं णं तं थं दं धं नं पं फं in clockwise order. The seed-mantra is रं (RAM); the yantra is a downward-pointing triangle — the seal of fire (tejas). Presiding deity: Rudra (the old ash-smeared form); śakti: Lākiṇī. The vehicle is a ram (meṣa), whose forward-charging associations track the chakra's fiery, will-driven temper. Maṇipūra is not itself a granthi but is the staging-ground between the brahma-granthi (root) and the viṣṇu-granthi (heart). Vertebral anchor: L1 spinous process. Lineage tie-breaker: SCN-per-Avalon is canonical; the popular yellow-equals-fire colour code (post-Theosophical) is treated as a variant.

Anāhata ("unstruck sound") is the fourth cakra, at the heart. Avalon's v. 22 describes a twelve-petalled lotus the colour of the bandhūka-flower (a deep red), each petal inscribed with one of कं खं गं घं ङं चं छं जं झं ञं टं ठं in clockwise order. The seed-mantra is यं (YAM); the yantra is a hexagram of interlocking triangles — the seal of air (vāyu) and a topological signature of the unstruck self-resonant sound the chakra is named for. Presiding deity: Īśa (Śiva as the serene witness-Lord); śakti: Kākinī. The vehicle is the black antelope (kṛṣṇa-mṛga), whose darting movement tracks the air-element. Anāhata is the seat of the *viṣṇu-granthi*, the second of the three knots — and within its lower precinct sits the small "red lotus" of *anandakanda* with its kāmadhenu (wish-fulfilling cow) and *kalpa-vṛkṣa* (wish-fulfilling tree), the heart-cave shared structurally with the kośa system's *ānandamaya-kośa* (cf. cross-references on the SSG page). Vertebral anchor: T7 spinous process (approximately the level of the inferior angle of the scapula). Cross-system note: anāhata's chest cluster is also where the latent points of `sufi_lataif_naqshbandi` (qalb / rūḥ / sirr / khafī) collect; the SSG page links to the sufi system. Lineage tie-breaker: SCN-per-Avalon is canonical.

Viśuddha ("purified") is the fifth cakra, at the throat. Avalon's v. 28 describes a sixteen-petalled lotus, smoky-purple, each petal inscribed with one of the sixteen Sanskrit vowels (the *svaras*: अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अः, here written with anusvāra-ṃ in the petal-letter table for SCN consistency). The seed-mantra is हं (HAM); the yantra is the full moon-disc — a featureless circle, the seal of ākāśa (space). Presiding deity: Sadāśiva, white-bodied and five-faced; śakti: Śākinī. The vehicle is a white elephant (gaja) — strength as still presence rather than charging force. Vertebral anchor: C7 spinous process — the *vertebra prominens*, the largest palpable cervical landmark on the back view. Lineage tie-breaker: SCN-per-Avalon is canonical; the popular post-Theosophical "blue throat" colour is treated as a variant.

Ājñā ("command") is the sixth cakra, at the third-eye / glabella. Avalon's v. 32 describes a two-petalled lotus inscribed with हं and क्षं on either side, with the praṇava ॐ as central seed. The yantra is the inverted triangle — the same geometric seal Sat-Cakra-Nirūpaṇa names as the *convergence-point* where iḍā and piṅgalā curve back to meet suṣumṇā (this is the textual basis for the `nadis_yogic` system's convergence-landmark on the same coord). Presiding deity: the *itara-liṅga* (inner jyotir-liṅga); śakti: Hākinī. There is no figural vehicle. Ājñā is the seat of the *rudra-granthi*, the third and last knot a sādhaka must loosen before the bindu of sahasrāra. Vertebral anchor: C1 (atlas, suboccipital). Note that ājñā has no spinous process of its own; the back-view anchor is the height-equivalent of the atlas. Cross-system note: ājñā is identical to the convergence-landmark of `nadis_yogic` — pinning both systems shows the textual relationship between them.

Sahasrāra ("thousand-petal") is the seventh cakra, at the crown of the head. SCN proper enumerates six bodily centres (mūlādhāra through ājñā); sahasrāra appears in the commentary tradition (Avalon ch. on "the cerebrum," pp. 141 ff.) and in later texts. The classical figure is a thousand-petal lotus inscribed with the full Sanskrit syllabary 50 × 20, with no fixed seed-mantra — the bīja here is *parā-nāda*, the unspoken silent sound. There is no presiding deity, no vehicle, no granthi: sahasrāra is the destination of the kuṇḍalinī ascent and the union-point of Śiva and Śakti. The site on the body is the *brahma-randhra*, the aperture above CROWN_VERTEX through which the yogi's awareness is held to exit at mahāsamādhi. The 7-system project renders sahasrāra as a stylized radial bloom of 32–40 visible petals (the count is symbolic in the text); the reading-panel label remains "1000-petal lotus." Lineage tie-breaker: the post-Theosophical "violet crown" colour code is treated as a variant rather than adopted.