Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v7.c47.7266

v7.c47.7266

(9) ‘The Svastika is called by the Jains Sāthis, who give it the first place among the eight chief auspicious marks of their faith. It would be well to repeat here, in view of what follows, the Jain version of this symbol as given by Pandit Bhagwanlal Indraji (the Hathigumpha inscriptions, Udayagiri Caves, p. 7), who was told by a learned Yati that the Jains believe it to be the figure of Siddha. They believe that, according to a man’s karma, he is subject to one of the following four conditions in the next life—he either becomes a god or deva, or goes to hell (naraka), or is born again as a man, or is born as a lower animal. But a Siddha in his next life attains to nirvāṇa and is, therefore, beyond the pale of these four conditions. The Svastika represents such a Siddha in the following way. The point or bindu in the centre from which the four paths branch out is jiva or life, and the four paths symbolise the four conditions of life. But as a Siddha is free from all these, the end of each line is turned to show that the four states are closed for him.’ ‘The Buddhist doctrines mostly resemble those of the Jains, it is just possible that the former might have held the Svastika in the same light as the latter. In the Nasik inscription, no. 10, of Ushavadata, the symbol is placed immediately after the word “Siddham” a juxtaposition which corroborates the above Jain interpretation. We find the Svastika either at the beginning or end or at both ends of an inscription and it might mean Svasti or Siddham.’ Mr. Y. S. Vavikar.’ (*Ind. Ant.*, Vol. xxvii, p. 196.)