Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.67

c4.67

He whose seat is on the lotiform nave or navel of the wheel,⁶⁰ and himself unmoving sets and keeps it spinning, is the ruler of the world, of all that is natured and extended in the middle region, between the essential nave and the natural felly; "On whom the parts stand fast, as it were spokes on the nave of the wheel, Him I deem the Person to be known," *Praśna Up.*, VI, 6. In Pali Buddhist and later Sanskrit texts this Royal Person is designated Cakkavatti, Cakravartin, "He who turns the Wheel," and the same designation is applied analogically to any terrestrial "Universal Ruler" or Emperor (Figs. 19, 20). As we have seen, the term Cakravartin, as an essential name of the Buddha, and the corresponding expression Dharmacakra-pravartana denoting the setting in motion of the Word or Law, are constantly met with in early and later Buddhism. These terms do not occur as such in Vedic texts, where *cakri*, "doer," and other forms of the verb *kṛ*, to "do," "make," "cause," "instigate," etc.,⁶¹ must be distinguished etymologically from *cakra*, "wheel"; it may be surmised, however, that the "popular" etymology of Indian hermeneutists might have seen a significance in the assonance of *cakri* and *cakra*. And if the word *cakravartin* is absent in the Vedas, the meaning is nevertheless to be found there; the notion of a supreme Power, Lord of *ṛta* = *dharma*, whose sovereignty (*kṣatra*) is over all the worlds (*viśvā bhuvanāni*) and is also the axial mover of the twin world wheel of the car of Time and Life is so constantly presented that we can hardly speak of the notion of the King of the World as something new in Buddhist times. Varuṇa alone or with Mitra is often called *samrāj*, mention is often made of the Premier Angel's autonomy (*svarājya*), and in III, 55.4, Agni is universal King, *samāno rājā*.⁶² In X, 5, 3 and 4, the notions *viśvasya nābhim carato dhruvasya*, "navel of all that is proceeding or concrete," and *ṛtasya vartanayaḥ*, "propulsions of the Law"; in X, 168, 2, and 174, 1, and 5, the notions *viśvasya bhuvanasya rājā*, "King of the Universe," *abhīvartaḥ*, "victorious," and *asapatnaḥ*, "without a rival," imply a sovereign power. In X, 51, 6, *rathī'va adhvānam anvāvarīvuḥ*, "as one who drives a car upon its way," tantamount to "Cosmic Charioteer,"⁶³ X, 92, 1, *yajñasya vo rathyam viśpatim*, "your charioteer of the sacrifice and lord of the folk,” and I, 143, 7, *dhūṛṣadam agnim mitram na*, “Agni as Mitra seated on the pole,” i. e. as driver,⁶³ necessarily imply the setting in motion of the principal Wheel or Wheels. No distinction of meaning can be drawn as between the driver of the solar chariot and him who makes the solar wheel revolve. “Seven treasures” (*sapta ratna*), apparently the same as those of a Cakravartin, are mentioned in *Ṛg Veda*, V, 1, 5, and VI, 74, 1.