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.c47.7311
Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v7.c47.7311
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v7.c47.7311
The svastika is called by the Jains ‘Sathis’. They give it the first place among the eight chief auspicious marks of their faith. Bhagwanlal Indraji (*Hathigumpha Inscriptions*, Udayagiri Caves, p. 7) testifies on the authority of Yatis that ‘the Jains believe it to be the figure of Siddha, who is beyond the four conditions of life, viz. to become, after death according to one’s action in life, a god or to go to hell or to be born again as a man or a lower animal.’ The Siddha is represented by the svastika in this way. The point (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 life is turned to show that the four states are closed for him (*Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*, pp. 734-35). Specimens of Jain sculptures from Mathura (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. ii, p. 311) contain this symbol.