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196
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1898.
expansion or improvement, and to give from the end or at both ends of an inscription and it might Native point of view the practical assistance that mean svasti or siddham. even the best European scholar must need more
The Hindus revere this mark as auspicious and or less in the special subjects with which he was
draw it on many religious occasions. At the Nava50 well acquainted.
ratra (i.e., the first ten days of the month of Asvin) J. F. FLEET.
it is drawn on the wall behind the family gods. London, 6th July, 1898.
It is also drawn on walls with numerous figures by
women at the Gauri festivals, when the image of SOME REMARKS ON THE SVASTIKA.
Gauri is placed on a pedestal and decorated
with flowers, pictures and paintings. At marriages THE svastika is called by the Jains sathis,
and thread placing ceremonies it is drawn on who give it the first place among the eight chief
clothes, pots and fruit. It is also marked out on auspicious marks of their faith. It would be
the wall where the marriage or upandyana time well to repeat here, in view of what follows, the
is written and measured with water by means of Jain version of this symbol as given by Pandit a pot called ghatkapátra. It appears again on Bhagwanlal Indraji, who was told by a learned the feet of the bride and bridegroom. At yati that the Jains believe it to be the figure the first tonsure or châul of boys it is drawn of Siddha'. They believe that, according to a with kun kam on their shaven heads. It is drawn man's karma, he is subject to one of the following on the head of a boy at his thread placing four conditions in the next life, - he either be- (upandyana) ceremony. It is drawn on the right comes a god or dåva, or goes to hell (narka), thigh of a bridegroom in one of the marriage or is born again as a man, or is born as a lower ceremonies. During the chátur mdsya, i. e., four animal. But a Siddha in his next life attains to months of a year, some women vow to draw pirning and is therefore beyond the pale of these thirteen stastikas daily, and at the end of the term four conditions. "The svastika represents such a give dakshind (alms) to Brahmans. The svastika is Siddha in the following way. The point or vindu also drawn on horoscopes, purses, account books in the centre from which the four paths branch and treasury boxes by the Hindus and Jains alike. out is jiva or life, and the four paths symbolise It is tatooed by women on the arms. In the morn. the four conditions of life. But as a Siddha is ing svastikas are drawn in great many varieties free from all these, the end of each line is turned by women in the open yard opposite a door,
by women in the open va to show that the four states are closed for him." after the ground is sprinkled with cow-dung and The Buddhist doctrines mostly resemble those
water. On the Sumukurta, i.e., the day fixed for of the Jains, and it is just possible that the former
a marriage ceremony, the people of Gujarat and might have held the svastika in the same light as
Kachh describe on the floor a red circle with a the latter. In the Nasik inscription No. 10 of svastika in it, which is called ghaunri-svastika. Ushavadata, the symbol is placed immediately
This symbol is also drawn on ground, smeared after the word 'siddham,' a juxtaposition which with cow-dung, on which the family god corroborates the above Jain interpretation. We Kuldevata is placed. find the svastika either at the the beginning or
Y. S. VAVIKAR.
NOTES AND QUERIES. BAO.
fanérailles de leurs Talapoing, qu'ils brûles avec HERE is an additional quotation regarding this pompe." --Sonnerat, Voyage, Vol. II. p. 47. curious word, noted ante, Vol. XXII. p. 165.
In a footnote to the same page Sonnerat says, 1782.-"Par une coutume barbare, lorsqu'on
by way of explaining bao, that it is "espece de bâtit une Pagode, les premières personnes qui
couvent." passent sont jettées dans les fondemens. Cette horrible cérémonie est cependant assez ordinaire,
I may add that the earlier part of the paraparce que ces peuples consacrent presque toutes
graph above quoted is, as far as I know, a libel, leurs richesses à la construction de pareils edifices, though a very old idea. ce qui est parmi eux une oeuvre très-méritoire, de même que fonder des Baos, ou de contribuer aux
R. C. TEMPLE.
1 The Hathigumpå Inscriptions, Udayagiri Caves, p. 7.
