The word chakra appears to first emerge within the Vedas, though not in the sense of psychic energy centers, rather as chakravartin or the king who "turns the wheel of his empire" in all directions from a center, representing his influence and power. The iconography popular in representing the Chakras, states the scholar David Gordon White, traces back to the five symbols of yajna, the Vedic fire altar: "square, circle, triangle, half moon and dumpling".
The word chakra appears to first emerge within the Vedas, though not in the sense of psychic energy centers rather as chakravartin or the king who "turns the wheel of his empire" in all directions from a center, representing his influence and power. The iconography popular in representing the Chakras, states the scholar David Gordon White, traces back to the five symbols of yajna the Vedic fire altar: "square, circle, triangle, half moon and dumpling"