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The Hathigumpha Inscription and the Bhabru Edict
seems to suggest that for a time, however short, till the ceremony lasted, he voluntarily eclipsed and withdrew from mundane affairs.
72
The inscription also contains four symbols; one to the left of L 1-2, the second to the left of L 3-5, the third at the end of L 3, and the fourth at the end of L 16-17. The second and third symbols are respectively Svastika and Nandipada or Nandyavarta.' They are counted among the eight auspicious things required at the time of worship among the Jains. As for the first and fourth symbols which are respectively placed at the beginning and the end of the record, they do not appear to be religious symbols and perhaps represent the royal style of beginning and closing a record by appropriate sealings. Taken in that light the first symbol is probably a replica of crown and the fourth, that of royal standard.
The custom of excavating caves for the use of monks was also prevalent among the Jains, as is evident from the inscriptions in the nearby caves.
2. Svastika and Nandyavarta have been found portrayed on many Jain Ayagapaṭṭas of about the beginning of the Christian era, found from Mathura and other sites. See Shah, U.P., Studies in Jaina Art, pp.
109-12.
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