The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c5.s5.15

c5.s5.15

5 (C., pl. I, 23 or pl. II, 8 etc.); 6 (Sm., pl. XX, 8); 7 (C., pl. II, 20); 8 (Sm., pl. XIX, 15, etc.) : variants of the « taurine » or nandi-pada symbol, denoting the zodiacal sign Taurus, the Bull (Skt. Tâvura), which, during the month of Vaiçâkha (April-May), presided over the Nativity of the Bodhisattva. The most simple form, and the starting-point of the development, is composed of a point surmounted by a crescent (no. 5). In the most elaborate form a vardhamâna, a triçûla, or even a triratna have in turn been detected : we do not perceive any reason why in becoming more complicated it should have changed its name and signification.