Jinamanjari 1996 04 No 13

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 43

the close connections that Durga and Ambika have with tigers and lions in later Hindu and Jain iconography. But ultimately, not even the gender of the horned-being can be securely determined due to the fact that both male and female figures are depicted with long hair and wearing armlets. This overlapping of fashion subverts any attempt to use the figures' clothing to determine gender and thereby gain insights into Indus culture religious practices and discover possible links to later forms of worship.
Indeed, from what has been revealed so far, no single extant religion can claim direct lineage to the Indus culture based on the existing iconographic evidence. Rather, it would appear that all of the religions emerging and solidifying in the fifth century B.C.E. employed imagery whose genesis can be located in the enigmatic practices of the Indus culture. As further support of this conclusion we will now look to other images represented on Indus seals whose forms also occur in the symbolism of later Indian religious practices.
Among the most apparent of these Indus symbols which continues to hold importance over the many centuries is the svastika whose form adorns seals found in all parts of the Indus culture's lands (fig. 11). The early symbol, whose exact meaning still remains unknown beyond the fact that it is one of the mangala or auspicious marks, occurs in positions of sacredness and importance in all three of the religious systems we are exploring. In Jainism this image occurs within the eight-fold worship, aksat puja. In this ritual context, the svastika is drawn to represent the four un-liberated beings (deities, humans, helldwellers and animals and plants).29 It is placed below three dots representing triratna the three jewels of Jainism above which is place a crescent and dot representing the liberated souls. In this way the svastika in Jainism comes to represent those trapped in worldly concerns seeking liberation which, interestingly, provides the svastika a symbolic value that