Today, it may seem obvious that the human body has seven chakras arranged from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
But ancient Tantra did not have one mandatory system of seven centers.
Where Did the Familiar Model Come From?
One highly influential source was the Indian text Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa, composed around the sixteenth century.
It describes six chakras within the body in detail, from Muladhara to Ajna. Above them is Sahasrara, the “thousand-petaled lotus” at the crown of the head, which occupies a special position. Over time, this combination of six centers plus Sahasrara came to be conveniently understood as a seven-chakra system.
How Did This System Become Known in the West?
In 1919, the British scholar John Woodroffe, writing under the name Arthur Avalon, published The Serpent Power, which included a translation of the Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa.
After this, chakras became increasingly discussed by Western occultists, Theosophists, and later New Age movements.
his is where the system began to change.
Western authors combined Indian ideas with their own concepts of the aura, psychology, occultism, and “subtle energies.” Theosophy in particular played an important role in blending Indian religious concepts with Western esoteric thought.
This means that the familiar modern model —
seven chakras + specific personality traits + colors + healing
— is not a single unchanged system inherited directly from ancient India.
It is the result of a historical blending of Tantra, Yoga, and twentieth-century Western esotericism.
The seven chakras were not discovered as seven physical organs of the human body. They represent one symbolic model that became so popular over time that it eventually began to seem like the only possible system.