# Yantras: Meaning, Types, and How to Install One

> What a yantra is, the Sri Yantra’s 43 triangles, yantras for the nine planets, and how to choose, install, and care for a yantra at home.

Source: https://astroshala.com/yantras/  

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![Yantras on copper plates, from the Sri Yantra to the Vyapar Yantra, before Śiva in meditation](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/astroshala_yantras.png?fit=1600%2C640&ssl=1)

Remedies · Yantras

# Yantras: Meaning, Types, and How to Install One

A yantra is a geometric diagram, drawn or engraved on metal, birch bark, or stone, that serves as the seat of a deity in Tantric worship. Where a mantra is the deity in sound, the yantra is the deity in form, and the two are used together: the mantra is recited to install the deity in the diagram, and the diagram gives the mind a fixed point to hold. In Vedic astrology, practitioners use yantras for the nine planets and for the deities who preside over them.

**9** triangles, **43** within**9** planetary yantrasChosen by **deity or chart**

See the yantras[Book a consultation](https://astroshala.com/product/30-min-tele-talk-consultation/)

Definition

## What Is a Yantra?

Sanskrit dictionaries, Monier-Williams among them, derive the word from the root *yam*, “to hold, restrain, or support”, with the suffix *-tra*, which forms the name of a tool. A yantra is literally an instrument for holding: it holds the deity in a defined space, and it holds the attention of the one who worships it. Unlike a painted image (*mūrti*), a yantra shows no face or limbs. The deity is present in the proportions, the seed syllables (*bīja*) written into the figure, and the worship given to it.

Most yantras are built from the same few parts, read from the centre outward:

| Part | Sanskrit | What it is | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Central point | *Bindu* | The point where the deity is invoked; the seed from which the figure unfolds | Tantric tradition |
| Triangles | *Trikoṇa* | Upward triangles for Śiva, downward triangles for Śakti, in the Śrī Yantra | *Saundaryalaharī*, verse 11 |
| Circles | *Vṛtta* | Rings that enclose and separate the inner and outer figures | Tantric tradition |
| Lotus petals | *Padma or dala* | Rings of 8, 16, or more petals, each seating an attendant deity | Tantric tradition |
| Outer square | *Bhūpura* | The earthly enclosure, with four gates facing the four directions | Tantric tradition |
| Seed syllables | *Bīja* | Letters or syllables written inside the figure | Tantric tradition |
| Numbers | *Aṅka* | Numbers set in a square grid, as in the planetary yantras | Common practice |

In the Tantric traditions of worship, a yantra is consecrated with its mantra before it is worshipped; without that rite, it is treated as a drawing rather than a seat of the deity. That is why the installation rite matters as much as the drawing, and why a yantra bought ready-made is consecrated before it is placed in the shrine.

Nine yantras

## Popular Yantras and Their Deities

![Sri Yantra of nine interlocking triangles](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sri_yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Sri Yantra

**Deity:** Lalitā Tripurasundarī
**Used for:** worship of the Goddess; prosperity and inner practice

Nine interlocking triangles around a central point, enclosed by two lotus rings, three circles, and a square with four gates. It is one of the best-known yantras, and widely installed in household shrines. The section below explains its design.

![Navagraha Yantra for the nine planets](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/navgrah-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Navagraha Yantra

**Deity:** the nine planets
**Used for:** steadying several difficult periods at once

Nine number squares, one for each planet, set in a single grid. Practitioners install it when no single planet stands out in the chart, or when several planetary periods and transits press at the same time.

![Mahalakshmi Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/mahalakshmi_yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Mahalakshmi Yantra

**Deity:** Mahālakṣmī
**Used for:** worship for household prosperity

The Goddess’s seed syllable *śrīṁ* sits at the centre of lotus petals and a square enclosure. It is installed most often at Dīpāvalī and worshipped with her mantra on Fridays.

![Kuber Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/kuber-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Kuber Yantra

**Deity:** Kubera, keeper of the gods’ treasury
**Used for:** worship for guarding household wealth

Usually drawn as a number square. In devotional tradition, Lakṣmī brings wealth and Kubera guards it, so households often worship the two yantras together.

![Saraswati Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/saraswati-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Saraswati Yantra

**Deity:** Sarasvatī
**Used for:** study, speech, music, and the arts

Kept on a student’s desk or in a music room, and worshipped on Vasanta Pañcamī, the festival of Sarasvatī. Practitioners link it with Mercury and Jupiter, the planets of learning.

![Maha Mrityunjaya Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/maha-mrityunjaya_yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Maha Mrityunjaya Yantra

**Deity:** Śiva as the conqueror of death
**Used for:** protection during difficult periods and illness in the family

Worshipped with the *Mahāmṛtyuñjaya* mantra of the *Ṛgveda* (7.59.12). It supports prayer for health; it is never a replacement for medical care.

![Hanuman Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/hanuman-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Hanuman Yantra

**Deity:** Hanumān
**Used for:** courage and protection, often during Saturn and Mars periods

Worshipped on Tuesdays and Saturdays with the *Hanumān Cālīsā*. Practitioners turn to it during *sāḍe sātī*, Saturn’s seven-and-a-half-year passage over the Moon.

![Vastu Yantra](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/vastu-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Vastu Yantra

**Deity:** Vāstu Puruṣa, the spirit of the site
**Used for:** a home or office with planning faults that cannot be rebuilt

Practitioners install it where a kitchen, entrance, or water tank sits in an unfavourable direction and moving it is not practical. It is a remedy of worship, not a substitute for sound planning; see our [Vastu Shastra guide](https://astroshala.com/vastu-shastra/).

![Vyapar Yantra for business](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/vyapar-yantra.jpg?resize=370%2C355&ssl=1)

Vyapar Yantra

**Deity:** Lakṣmī and Gaṇeśa together
**Used for:** a shop, office, or new business

Placed at the cash counter or the owner’s desk, and worshipped at the opening of a business or the start of the financial year.

Shops also sell many yantras with names of their own, such as the Sarva Karya Siddhi, Santan Gopal, and Kaal Sarp yantras. Choose any of them the same way as the nine above: by the deity it serves and the need your chart actually shows, not by the promise on the packet.

The Sri Yantra

## The Sri Yantra: How Nine Triangles Make Forty-Three

The Śrī Yantra, also called the Śrī Cakra, is the seat of the Goddess Lalitā Tripurasundarī. At its heart are nine large triangles. The *Saundaryalaharī*, the hymn to the Goddess attributed to Śaṅkarācārya, names them in its eleventh verse: four of Śiva (*śrīkaṇṭha*) and five of his consort, the Śakti (*śivayuvati*). Śiva’s four point upward and the Goddess’s five point downward, and where they cross they cut the space into smaller triangles.

**4 + 5**triangles of Śiva and Śakti

**1 + 8**central and first ring

**10 + 10**the two middle rings

**14**outer ring: 43 in all

Count those smaller triangles from the centre outward and you find one central triangle, then rings of 8, 10, 10, and 14: forty-three in all. Around them sit a lotus of eight petals, a lotus of sixteen, three circles, and the square enclosure with its four gates. The same verse of the *Saundaryalaharī* counts the corners of the Goddess’s dwelling as forty-four; a common explanation reaches that number by counting the central point (*bindu*) together with the forty-three triangles. The difference is one of counting, not of design.

![Sri Yantra diagram: four upward triangles of Śiva and five downward of Śakti, with lotuses, three circles, and bhūpura](https://i0.wp.com/astroshala.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/sri-yantra-anatomy-diagram.webp?ssl=1)

*The Śrī Yantra from the centre outward: the bindu, Śiva’s four upward triangles (red), Śakti’s five downward triangles (blue), the two lotuses, three circles, and the bhūpura.*

The Śrī Yantra also comes in a raised, three-dimensional form, the Meru, in which each ring of triangles and petals rises above the one outside it. Flat or raised, the figure is the same; the Meru is simply the plan built up into a mountain.

The nine planets

## Planetary Yantras for the Nine Planets

For the nine planets, practitioners draw a three-by-three square of numbers in which every row, column, and diagonal adds up to the same total. The Sun’s square uses the numbers 1 to 9 and totals 15; each planet after it starts one number higher, so its total rises by three. The squares are one customary arrangement of planetary worship, and some lineages draw them differently; the classical astrology texts give each planet a presiding deity instead. The weekdays below are the usual choice, not a fixed rule.

| Planet | Square total | Presiding deity (*Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra* 3.18) | Day usually chosen |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sun | 15 | Agni | Sunday |
| Moon | 18 | Ambu (the waters, Varuṇa) | Monday |
| Mars | 21 | Kārttikeya | Tuesday |
| Mercury | 24 | Viṣṇu | Wednesday |
| Jupiter | 27 | Indra | Thursday |
| Venus | 30 | Śacī (Indrāṇī) | Friday |
| Saturn | 33 | Brahmā | Saturday |
| Rahu | 36 | Not named in that verse; Durgā by common practice | Saturday |
| Ketu | 39 | Not named in that verse; Gaṇeśa by common practice | Tuesday or Saturday |

A single planetary yantra suits a single planet that clearly needs attention in your chart. Where several do, practitioners install the Navagraha yantra, which holds all nine squares together.

Before you buy

## Choose a Yantra by Your Chart and Your Need

A yantra is chosen in one of two ways, and it helps to know which you are doing.

Way one

By Deity

The Śrī, Mahālakṣmī, Sarasvatī, or Hanumān yantra serves the worship of a deity you already turn to. These suit anyone, because the yantra follows your devotion rather than your chart.

Way two

By Planet

A planetary yantra supports a planet your chart calls for. As with gems and rudraksha, the planet that rules the ascendant, the fifth, or the ninth house is an ally to strengthen; a planet that rules the sixth, eighth, or twelfth house is usually approached through its deity’s worship rather than strengthened. The planetary period (*daśā*) you are running shows which planet needs attention now.

A yantra does not need to be costly, and one well-tended yantra serves better than several neglected ones. For the same reasoning applied to beads and gems, see the [Rudraksha guide](https://astroshala.com/rudraksha/) and [Gemstones in Vedic Astrology](https://astroshala.com/gemstones/).

Practice

## How to Install a Yantra at Home

Installing a yantra means bringing the deity into it, a rite called *prāṇa pratiṣṭhā*. Procedures differ by deity, lineage, and material, and your teacher’s procedure, where you have one, comes first. The steps below are one common household practice.

1. Choose the weekday of the deity or planet, in the bright half of the lunar month (*śukla pakṣa*).
2. Wash the yantra with clean water, then raw milk, then clean water again, and dry it with a fresh cotton cloth. Wipe a birch-bark (*bhūrja patra*) yantra gently instead of washing it.
3. Place it on a clean cloth or a low wooden seat in the north-east or east of the room, at or above the height of your heart when you sit before it.
4. Offer sandalwood paste, flowers, incense, and a ghee lamp, and recite the deity’s mantra 108 times while looking at the centre of the yantra.
5. Keep it clean and offer at least a lamp or incense each day. A yantra left to gather dust in a drawer has stopped being an object of worship.

Quality

## Materials, Meru, and Quality

Yantras are made in copper, brass, silver, gold, crystal, and five-metal alloy (*pañcadhātu*), or written on birch bark. Copper is the common household choice. The material matters less than two things you can check yourself:

- **The lines are true.** In the Śrī Yantra above all, the triangles should meet cleanly at their points. Look at the centre under good light: lines that overlap, miss each other, or blur show a careless print.
- **It is engraved, not printed.** An engraved or embossed plate keeps its lines for decades; a printed sticker on metal fades and peels.

A flat plate suits a wall shrine or a desk. A raised Meru suits a home shrine where it can be worshipped from all sides. Neither is “stronger”; choose the one you will look after.

Consultation

## Not Sure Which Yantra Suits You?

A yantra serves a deity, and through that deity a need your chart actually shows. If you are unsure which planet or deity to turn to in your current dasha, or whether your home calls for a Vastu remedy at all, AstroShala consultations read the whole chart before suggesting any remedy.

[Book a 30-Minute Consultation](https://astroshala.com/product/30-min-tele-talk-consultation/)[Ask 3 Detailed Questions](https://astroshala.com/product/detailed-3-questions-online-astrology-consultation/)

At a glance

## Quick Insights: Yantras at a Glance

- The word yantra comes from *yam*, “to hold”: a tool that holds the deity and the attention of the worshipper.
- The outer square of a yantra (*bhūpura*) has four gates, one facing each direction.
- The nine planetary number squares total 15 for the Sun and rise by three for each planet after it, to 39 for Ketu.
- The raised Śrī Yantra, called the Meru, is the same plan built up in tiers.
- Practitioners pair the Kuber and Mahālakṣmī yantras: Lakṣmī brings wealth and Kubera guards it.

Related

## Other Remedies on AstroShala

- [Gemstones](https://astroshala.com/gemstones/): the nine planetary gems, how a chart decides which to wear, and how to test a stone.
- [Japa Mala](https://astroshala.com/japa-mala/): the rosary for each planet and how to use it in mantra practice.
- [Rudraksha](https://astroshala.com/rudraksha/): the beads by number of faces, the planets traditionally linked to them, and how to wear one.
- [Nakshatra Trees and Jadi](https://astroshala.com/nakshatra-trees/): the tree of your birth star, and the roots worn for the nine planets.

Questions

## Yantra FAQs

**Can anyone install a yantra at home?**

**Yes, for the yantras of household worship.** The Śrī, Mahālakṣmī, Sarasvatī, Gaṇeśa, and planetary yantras are installed in homes everywhere. Requirements vary between traditions, and yantras of fierce deities are traditionally installed only under a teacher’s guidance.

**Where should a yantra be placed?**

**Common household practice places it in the north-east or east of the room, on a clean raised surface.** Keep it at or above heart height when you sit before it, and away from bathrooms and shoe racks.

**Does a yantra lose its effect over time?**

**In practitioners’ view, not by age but by neglect.** The engraved figure does not change; what keeps it an object of worship is regular cleaning and daily offering.

**Can a Vastu yantra correct a Vastu fault without rebuilding?**

**Practitioners use it where rebuilding is not practical.** It is a remedy of worship, best combined with whatever practical changes the layout allows.

**Do I need a Kaal Sarp yantra?**

**Only if a full reading of your chart calls for one.** Kāla Sarpa is a modern and much-debated combination, and astrologers disagree on whether it exists at all. Never buy a yantra or a ritual out of fear.

**Is the Sri Yantra the same as the Sri Chakra?**

**Yes.** Both names describe the same figure of nine interlocking triangles; Śrī Cakra is the name more common in the Tantric texts of the Goddess.

Yantras are used in traditional devotional and astrological practice. They are not a treatment for any illness and not a substitute for medical, financial, or legal advice.

## Texts Referred To

- *Saundaryalaharī*, attributed to Śaṅkarācārya, verse 11
- Parāśara, *Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra*, Ranjan Publications, trans. R. Santhanam, Vol. 1, Ch. 3
- *Ṛgveda* 7.59.12
- Monier Monier-Williams, *A Sanskrit-English Dictionary*, entry “yantra”
- Further reading: V.-V. Pustynski, [“On Mathematical Complexity of Śrīyantra”](https://cahc.jainuniversity.ac.in/assets/ijhs/Vol49_3_5_Pustynski.pdf), *Indian Journal of History of Science* 49.3 (2014)