स्वाधिष्ठानsvādhiṣṭhāna · one's own seat
Svādhiṣṭhāna, one's own seat
2 min read · Updated October 16, 2026 · sources checked October 16, 2026
In short
Svādhiṣṭhāna, called the sacral chakra in English, is the second centre of the subtle body, at the root of the genitals. In the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa it is a lotus of six vermilion petals holding the white crescent of water, the seed syllable VAṂ, the god Viṣṇu and the goddess Rākiṇī. Its element is water.
The second of the chakras sits just above the first, at the root of the genitals. Its name, स्वाधिष्ठान (svādhiṣṭhāna), is usually explained as sva, "one's own", and adhiṣṭhāna, "seat, abode": one's own seat.
According to the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa
The Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa (1577), in Arthur Avalon's 1919 translation, devotes verses 14-18 to it:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Place | at the root of the genitals |
| Petals | six, vermilion |
| Letters | बं भं मं यं रं लं (baṃ, bhaṃ, maṃ, yaṃ, raṃ, laṃ), lightning-coloured |
| Element | water, जल (jala) or अप् (ap) |
| Yantra | the white region of water, in the shape of a half-moon |
| Bīja | वं VAṂ, the seed of Varuṇa, lord of the waters, white, seated on a makara, a mythical water creature |
| Deity | Viṣṇu (Hari), four-armed, holding conch, discus, mace and lotus, seated on Garuḍa |
| Śakti | Rākiṇī, dark in complexion |
In other texts
- Gorakṣaśataka (verse 14) gives a different etymology: sva, it says, means the breath, prāṇa, and this centre is its seat, hence its name. In the meditation chapter (verse 79), the second wheel is to be visualised "shining like a fine ruby".
- Kubjikāmata Tantra (11.34, 11.37): "svādhiṣṭhāna is born of the liṅga", with six divisions, the same number of petals as in the later standard.
Water: what flows
In the dissolution at the end of the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, the earth of mūlādhāra dissolves into the water of svādhiṣṭhāna, and water in turn into the fire of maṇipūra. The meditator moves from the sense of weight to the sense of fluidity: this, not a personality profile, is what the element means in the text.
What modern books added
Modern charts make svādhiṣṭhāna orange, link it to the gonads, to "creativity, pleasure and emotions", to carnelian, to essential oils and to a frequency. These associations come from twentieth-century Western authors, not from the Sanskrit texts. The Theosophist C. W. Leadbeater, in The Chakras (1927), even left svādhiṣṭhāna out of his system and put a centre at the spleen in its place, as he explained himself.
A simple meditation on svādhiṣṭhāna
- Sit upright and breathe naturally through the nose.
- Bring attention to the lower belly, at the root of the genitals.
- Picture a lotus of six vermilion petals, and in its centre a white crescent moon.
- Silently repeat VAṂ a few times with the out-breath.
- Let the feeling of solidity soften into a feeling of fluidity, like water. Stay two or three minutes, then let go.
The centre below is mūlādhāra, the one above maṇipūra. For the whole system and what was added later, see the chakras from the sources.
Questions people ask
What does svadhisthana mean?
It is usually explained as sva, one's own, and adhiṣṭhāna, seat or abode. The Gorakṣaśataka plays on sva as the breath, prāṇa: the centre is the seat of prāṇa.
What is the sacral chakra mantra?
Its seed syllable is VAṂ, the seed of water and of Varuṇa, lord of the waters, pronounced close to vum with the u of but.
Is the sacral chakra orange?
Orange belongs to the modern rainbow sequence. The Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa gives vermilion petals and a white crescent; the Gorakṣaśataka sees the centre shining like a fine ruby.
Sources
- Arthur Avalon, The Serpent Power (1919): Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, verses 14-18, online edition (Wisdom Library) checked October 16, 2026
- Gorakṣaśataka, edition Kuvalayananda and Shukla, verses 10, 14 and 79, 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