मणिपूरmaṇipūra · city of jewels
Maṇipūra, the city of jewels
2 min read · Updated October 16, 2026 · sources checked October 16, 2026
In short
Maṇipūra, often called the solar plexus chakra, is the third centre of the subtle body, at the navel. In the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa it is a lotus of ten petals the colour of a rain cloud, holding the red triangle of fire with its seed syllable RAṂ, the god Rudra and the goddess Lākinī. The texts call it the navel lotus.
The third of the chakras is at the navel. Its name, मणिपूर (maṇipūra), joins maṇi, a jewel, and pūra, a city or "filled": the city of jewels. The texts also call it simply the navel lotus, nābhi-padma.
According to the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa
| Feature | Description (verses 19-21, tr. Avalon 1919) |
|---|---|
| Place | at the root of the navel |
| Petals | ten, "of the colour of the rain-cloud" |
| Letters | डं ढं णं तं थं दं धं नं पं फं (ḍaṃ to phaṃ), lustrous blue |
| Element | fire, अग्नि (agni) or तेजस् (tejas) |
| Yantra | the red triangular region of fire, with three svastika signs on its sides |
| Bīja | रं RAṂ, the seed of fire, red, seated on a ram |
| Deity | Rudra, red, white with the ashes smeared on his body, seated on a bull |
| Śakti | Lākinī, blue, with three faces, each with three eyes |
In other texts
- Gorakṣaśataka (verse 15) explains the name with an image: the navel wheel is called maṇipūraka because there the bulb (kanda) is threaded on suṣumnā "like a jewel on a string". In meditation (verse 80) it shines "like the rising sun".
- Kubjikāmata Tantra (11.34, 11.36): maṇipūraka "is located at the navel", with twelve divisions. Here the navel has twelve and the heart ten, the reverse of the later standard: texts differ.
- Yoga Sutras (3.29): long before the chakra systems, Patañjali says that saṃyama on "the wheel of the navel" (nābhi-cakra) gives knowledge of the arrangement of the body. It is one of the earliest uses of the word cakra for a place in the body.
Fire: transformation
In the dissolution described by the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, the water of svādhiṣṭhāna is absorbed into the fire of maṇipūra, and fire then into the air of the heart, anāhata. In the haṭha texts the navel region is also the seat of samāna, the breath of the middle that distributes food (prāṇa and the five vāyus), and of the digestive fire.
What modern books added
Modern charts make maṇipūra yellow, link it to the pancreas or adrenal glands, to "willpower, confidence and personal power", to citrine and to the solar plexus. The Sanskrit texts give rain-cloud petals and a red triangle, and speak of the navel. The label "solar plexus" comes from the twentieth-century attempt to match chakras with nerve plexuses, which the texts never make.
A simple meditation on maṇipūra
- Sit upright and let the breath move freely in the belly.
- Bring attention to the navel.
- Picture a lotus of ten petals the colour of a dark rain cloud, and in its centre a red triangle.
- Silently repeat RAṂ a few times with the out-breath.
- Feel the warmth of the centre of the body. Stay two or three minutes, then let go.
Below is svādhiṣṭhāna, above is anāhata; the full chart is on the chakras from the sources.
Questions people ask
What does manipura mean?
Maṇi means jewel and pūra city or filled: the city of jewels. The Gorakṣaśataka explains it by an image: the bulb is threaded on the central channel like a jewel on a string.
Is manipura at the solar plexus or the navel?
The Sanskrit texts place it at the navel (nābhi). Solar plexus is a modern English label linked to the attempt to match chakras with nerve plexuses.
What is the manipura mantra?
Its seed syllable is RAṂ, the seed of fire, pronounced close to rum with the u of but.
Sources
- Arthur Avalon, The Serpent Power (1919): Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, verses 19-21, online edition (Wisdom Library) checked October 16, 2026
- Gorakṣaśataka, edition Kuvalayananda and Shukla, verses 15 and 80, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Kubjikāmatatantra, ed. Goudriaan and Schoterman (1988), verses 11.34-11.37, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Patañjali, Yogasūtra 3.29, Sanskrit text (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 16, 2026