Chakra - Circles of India - Table of Contents

First Online: April 1, 2001
Page Last Updated: October 07,2009

Chakra (from Sanskrit) -- a wheel, a circle, a disk, an infinite loop, center of energy, Lord Krishna's weapon.

Indians invented the zero. They might as well have invented the wheel*, going by the prehistoric cave paintings found in central India that depict carts and potteries. A Chakra decorates the Indian national flag,  and it was a humble spinning wheel what symbolized India's freedom and self-reliance. 

Here's a pictorial exhibition to mark India's greatest contribution to mankind and mankind's own greatest invention. Circles of India depicts the role of the the circle in Indian folklore, sculptures, mythology and history.

-Vikas Kamat

List of Pictures

• Abandoned Wheels
• The Chakra Position
• Chakras on the Wall
• The Circle of Fire
• The Floral Clock
• Geometrical Designs of Palm Leaf
• Golden Bangles
• Karna's Wheel of Misfortune
• Man's First Assembly
• The Matsya Chakra
• The Muladhara Chakras in the Human Body
• Multi-purpose Wheels
• National Chakra
• The Racing Wheels
• The Wheel of Freedom
• Wheel of the Sun Temple in Konark
• Wheels inside Wheels

See Also:

• Temples on Wheels -- the chariot festivals of India
• Search Amazon for: Chakra

* most sources attribute the origins of the wheel to Mesopotamia.