---
type: Concept
bundle: shakta-darshana
bundle_version: "0.8.0"
id: yantra
title: "Yantra — यन्त्र"
iast: "Yantra"
devanagari: "यन्त्र"
description: "The geometric form of the deity: a precise diagram (bindu, triangles, circles, lotus rings, outer square) that encodes a deity's cosmology and serves as the support of Tāntric worship and visualization; the graphic counterpart of the mantra (sound-body) and the mūrti (image-body); NOT decor, NOT a mandala synonym, NOT a 'sacred geometry' energy object."
darshana:
  - Śākta
  - Śaiva
school_scope: "Yantra doctrine is pan-Tāntric with its richest elaboration in Śākta traditions (the Śrī Cakra above all; see sri-chakra.md). Buddhist maṇḍala traditions are cognate but institutionally and doctrinally distinct; flagged, not merged."
text_source: "Kāmakalāvilāsa; Saundarya Laharī 11 (the Śrī Cakra verse); Tantrarāja Tantra"
tags: [yantra, sri-chakra, bindu, murti, shakta, tantra]
not:
  - term: "spiritual decor / wall art"
    why: "Commercial 'yantra' posters and pendants circulate as aesthetic or luck objects. In the tradition a yantra is a consecrated ritual instrument (the word means 'instrument, device'): its geometry is doctrinally specified (each circuit maps a cosmological stage), it is enlivened by rites (prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā) and mantra, and it functions within worship. An unconsecrated print is to a yantra what a photo of a key is to a key."
    instead: "Define yantra as the geometric body of the deity: a doctrinally specified diagram encoding a deity's cosmology, used as the support of Tāntric worship and contemplation, paired with mantra (the deity's sound-body)."
  - term: "mandala (interchangeable term)"
    why: "Cognate concepts, different systems: 'maṇḍala' in common usage now points to Buddhist (especially Tibetan) traditions and to generic circular art. Tāntric Hindu yantras have their own doctrinal grammar (bindu-center, triangle polarity of Śiva-Śakti, āvaraṇa circuits) and their own textual jurisprudence. An AI that answers yantra questions with Tibetan maṇḍala doctrine has crossed traditions."
  - term: "'sacred geometry' energy object"
    why: "The New Age sacred-geometry frame attributes intrinsic energetic effects to shapes (golden ratio mystique, 'frequency' claims; see spanda.md on that vocabulary). Yantra doctrine locates function in consecration, mantra, deity-identity, and the practitioner's disciplined engagement, not in geometry emitting anything. Same object, opposite theory of operation."
related:
  - /concepts/sri-chakra.md
  - /concepts/bindu.md
  - /concepts/mantra-shastra.md
  - /concepts/tripurasundari.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Yantra -- यन्त्र

**Not:** decor, a mandala synonym, a sacred-geometry energy object

## What It Actually Means

Yantra ("instrument, device," from yam, to control or support) is the Tāntric traditions' geometric mode of the deity: alongside the mantra (sound-body) and the mūrti (image-body; cross-bundle: murti.md, v0.4), the yantra is the deity as diagram. Its grammar is doctrinal, not decorative: the central bindu (see [bindu.md](bindu.md)) is the deity as undifferentiated source; interlocking triangles carry the Śiva-Śakti polarity (downward-pointing as Śakti, upward as Śiva; see [shiva-shakti.md](shiva-shakti.md)); the lotus rings and concentric circuits (āvaraṇas) map the stages of manifestation outward from the center; the square perimeter (bhūpura) with its gates is the manifest world's boundary. Reading a yantra inward is reading the cosmology home: the same re-ascent the 36-tattva map describes (see [shattrimshat-tattva.md](shattrimshat-tattva.md)).

In worship, the yantra functions only as consecrated: installed, enlivened (prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā), and engaged with mantra under transmission rules. The tradition is explicit that the diagram alone, unconsecrated and unaccompanied, is not the deity's body but its blueprint. The supreme instance, the Śrī Cakra, carries its own entry ([sri-chakra.md](sri-chakra.md)).

## Audience Metaphor

A yantra is to its deity what a circuit diagram is to a running circuit: the complete formal specification, in a notation where every element is load-bearing, of something that functions only when actually built (consecrated) and powered (mantra, worship). Framing a circuit diagram as wall art is harmless; believing the framed print IS a working circuit, or that the shapes emit electricity, are the two mistakes the not: field blocks.

## Citations

1. Kāmakalāvilāsa -- bindu-triangle dynamics of the yantra
2. Saundarya Laharī 11 -- the Śrī Cakra's structure in verse; see [references/saundarya-lahari.md](../references/saundarya-lahari.md)
3. Tantrarāja Tantra -- yantra jurisprudence in the Śrī-kula
4. Cross-bundle: murti.md (bhakti-marga v0.4) -- the image-body counterpart
