17th century

Tantric Ritual Manual with Purusa-cakra

Certain types of meditation involve picturing in the mind particular sequences of images-from individual letters to elaborate groups of deities. This manuscript is a ritual manual for such meditations: a reference book that provides images with captions.

Here, a male figure simultaneously represents universal man, the cosmos, and a yogic practitioner. In some types of yoga, the yogi visualizes his body as the universe, concentrating his thoughts on specific areas of the body, called chakras (here marked by a triangle and five lotuses). Three red and white channels intertwine to connect the six chakras. Certain meditation practices sequentially activate the power of each chakra to move energy through the channels. The ability to control this energy is believed to spark supernatural abilities.