Indian Epigraphy c10.s4: 4. Auspicious Symbols

Indian Epigraphy c10.s4

Language: English

4. Auspicious Symbols

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A *maṅgala*, i. e. a benediction or an auspicious word, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a composition was believed to ensure its completion and preservation. The auspicious word *siddham* is found at the beginning of numerous early records.⁴ This word was in later times generally indicated by a symbol of varying shape. The symbol was sometimes followed by the auspicious word *svasti* which, in some cases, stands singly at the beginning of epigraphic records.⁵ Sometimes the *maṅgala*: *siddhir=astu*, having the same import as *siddham*, as also a bigger *maṅgala* sentence beginning with *svasty=astu*, is found at the end of the documents.⁶ In some cases again a symbol, which is apparently a variant of the *siddham* sign, appears at the end of a document and, in rare cases, also in the body of its text especially at the end of a section of it.⁷ Besides the *siddham* symbol, various other auspicious symbols also appear in inscriptions.

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⁴ See, e.g., *Select Inscriptions*, pp. 157, 160, 164, 165, 169, 176, 191, 193, 196, 200, 203, 204, 205, etc. For the contractions *sdha* and *sdhi*, see ibid., pp. 150, 156.

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⁵ See, e.g., ibid., p. 331, text line 1; p. 403, text line 1; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 62, text line 1; etc.

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⁶ See, e. g., *Select Inscriptions*, p. 297, text line 24; p. 385, text line 41; p. 409, text line 30; p. 327, text line 9; p. 397, text line 8; p. 441, text line 55; p. 455, text line 15.

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⁷ See, e. g., *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. III, p. 129, Plate, text line 24; *Select Inscriptions*, p. 457.

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Al-Bīrūnī regarded the auspicious symbol at the beginning of inscriptions as indicating the *praṇava* or the sound *Om*.⁸ N. K. Bhattasali challenged the authority of Al-Bīrūnī and suggested that the symbol indicates *siddham* or *siddhir-astu*.² There is no doubt that the symbol stood for the word *siddham* found at the beginning of numerous early inscriptions. But there is evidence to show that sometimes the symbol was pronounced as *Oṃ siddhiḥ*² and Al-Bīrūnī seems to have confused this *Oṃ siddhiḥ* with *Oṃ*. Instances of such confusion are also noticed in Indian epigraphs like the Baud plates³ of Raṇabhañja which begin with the symbol followed by the word *siddhiḥ* and the Belabo plate⁴ of Bhojavarman, which has the symbol followed by *Oṃ siddhiḥ* at the beginning. The symbol was generally used till recent times in the eastern areas with the sign of nasalisation placed above the Bengali figure for 7 or as the figure 4 as found in medieval inscriptions from Bengal.⁵ The sign is called *pillaiyār śuli* (Gaṇeśa's curl) in Tamil.⁶

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⁸ Sachau, *Alberuni's India*, Part I, p. 173.

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² Certain medieval charms, composed in the form of royal charters, have *Oṃ siddhiḥ* at the beginning, which is apparently the pronounced form of the symbol at the commencement of numerous inscriptions including copper-plate grants. See *Proc. IHC*, 1939, pp. 471 ff. See also below, p. 95.

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³ *IHQ*, Vol. X, p. 475.

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⁴ Majumdar, *Ins. Beng.*, Vol. III, p. 19.

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⁵ Cf. *Proc. IHC*, 1939, p. 471; *IHQ*, Vol. XXXIII, p. 103 and Plate facing p. 102; P. N. Bhattacharya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī*, p. 55. See below p. 96.

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⁶ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVII, p. 352, note. See below, p. 96.

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The *svastika* (of both the *vām-āvarta* and *dakṣiṇ-vārta* types) and taurine symblols are found in Aśoka's separate edicts at Jaugaḍa.⁷ The triskele symbol, which is a modification of the *svastika*, is found at the beginning of the Erraguḍi and Rājula-Maṇḍagiri M. R. Edicts of Aśoka.⁸ The *svastika* is also found at the beginning and the end of many other records generally belonging to dates earlier than the 3rd century A.D.⁹ While occurring at the beginning of a document, it is sometimes placed before, and rarely after, the word *siddham*¹⁰ (*sidha*, *sidham*, etc. in Prakrit and sometimes in contractions like sdha or sdhi). At the beginning of the Hāthigumphā inscription, the svastika appears beneath a crown-like symbol called *śrīvatsa*, while the inscription ends with the ‘tree-within-railing’ symbol.¹ Other symbols found in some cases are the trident or triratna resting on the dharma-cakra,² and the lotus.³ The praṇava, generally represented by a symbol, is sometimes found at the beginning of medieval inscriptions.⁴

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVII, p. 352.

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⁷ See *Corp. Ins. Ind.*, Vol. I, Plate facing p. 116.

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⁸ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, Plates facing pp. 221, 216; Vol. XXXII, Plate facing p. 6.

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⁹ See, e.g., ibid. Vol. VII, Plate III (No. 6) facing p. 76; Plate VII (No. 16) facing p. 88; etc.

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¹⁰ Ibid., Plate III (No. 6) facing p. 76, and Plate IV (No. 10) facing p. 78.

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¹ Cf. Select Inscriptions, Plate facing pp. 208 and 209; above, p. 5, notes 3-4.

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² Above, p. 5, note 2.

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³ See, e.g., Ep. Ind., Vol. XVIII, Plates facing pp. 96, 150, 151; Vol. XIX, p. 81, text line 41; Plate facing p. 60, text lines 6, 16, 20; Vol. XXX, p. 219, text line 11; Vol. XXXI, p. 128, text lines 205 and 212; Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. III, No. 63.

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⁴ See, e.g., Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 165. The symbol usually looks like ō, om, aum, etc., as written in the East Indian (Bengali) script.

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In early medieval epigraphs and manuscripts, a circle, with a smaller circle or dot (or dots) inside, sometimes indicates fullstop. As the circle with a central dot is the old Brāhmī letter tha, modified forms of the same letter came to be used in later times.⁵ In some medieval records, the symbol stands midway between tha and cha,⁶ and this confusion led to the growth of the popular use of the letter cha as the concluding mark at the end of literary or epigraphic records and sections thereof.⁷ Cha is recognised in this capacity in early medieval works like Śrīharṣa’s Naiṣadhīya⁸ and Hemacandra’s Ekākṣarakoṣa.⁹ Sometimes the auspicious word śrī also appears in the same way at the end of documents.¹⁰

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⁵ See, e.g., ibid., Vol. XVIII, p. 298, text line 30; Vol. XIX, p. 81, text line 41; Plate facing p. 331, text line 21; Vol. XXX, p. 125, text line 17; Vol. XXXI, p. 166, text line 20 (not śrī ; but cf. p. 16). The same symbol is found in some old Jain manuscripts as a circle with a globular mark at the centre and drawn under a horizontal line. See Journ. Or. Inst., Baroda, Vol. III, No. 4, June 1954, p. 368.

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⁶ See Ep. Ind., Vol. XVIII, p. 80, text line 38.

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⁷ Ibid., Vol. XXIII, pp. 140-41 (text lines 4 and 15); Vol. XXV, p. 63 (text line 94), p. 221 (text line 141); etc. It is really not a variety of the siddham symbol (as stated in op. cit., Vo. XXX, p. 218).

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⁸ XVI, 98; cf. Journ. Or. Inst., Vol. III, p. 368.

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⁹ Cf. verse 13.

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¹⁰ See, e.g., Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXI, p. 16, text line 26. Medieval South and West Indian records often end with maṅgalam mahā-śrīḥ sometimes preceded by śubham bhavatu. They begin with svasti jayaś-ca-abhyudayaś-ca.

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In the inscriptions of the Gupta age, the auspicious word siddham at the beginning of epigraphs was sometimes represented by a crescent-like curved stroke opening towards the left.¹ This mark resembles the symbol or mark of interpunction at the end of many of Aśoka's edicts at Kalsi. It has been pointed out that some scholars regard it as standing for the *praṇava*, i.e. the auspicious syllable *oṃ*, even though the sign occurs in typical Buddhist epigraphs and the Buddhists did not attach any importance to the *praṇava*.² We have seen above that, though this view is supported by a statement of Al-Bīrūnī,³ there is some evidence to show that the symbol was read as *siddham* or *siddhir-astu*.⁴ The suggestion seems to be supported by the fact that some medieval inscriptions begin with the symbol followed by a *namaḥkāra* passage like *Oṃ namaḥ, Oṃ namaḥ Śivāya, Oṃ namo Nārāyaṇāya, Oṃ namaḥ śrī-Viśveśvarāya*, etc.,⁵ and also by the *maṅgala*: *Oṃ svasti*.⁶ We have explained the confusion of the symbol with the *praṇava* by the fact that sometimes it was read as *Oṃ siddhiḥ*.⁷

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¹ See, e.g., *Corp. Ins. Ind.*, Vol. III, Nos. 11 (Plate VI A), 20 (Plate XII B); etc.

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² Ibid., p. 46, note 3.

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³ See Sachau, *Alberuni's India*, Part I, p. 173.

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⁴ Cf. *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XVII, p. 352; *Proc. IHC.*, 1939, pp. 471 ff.

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⁵ See, e. g., Majumdar, *Ins. Beng.*, Vol. III, pp. 46, 61, 71, 85, 94, 101, 109, 121, 133, 143; *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. XI, p. 242; *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, p. 305; Vol. XXXIV, p. 81.

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⁶ See, e.g., *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXIX, Plate facing p. 192, text line 1.

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⁷ In rare cases, the symbol is followed by the word *siddhiḥ* or *Oṃ siddhiḥ* as we have already noticed above (p. 93). Cf. also the text of the *mantra* (in the shape of a royal charter) beginning with the *maṅgala*: *Oṃ siddhiḥ | guru-pādebhyo namaḥ | svasti |* (*Proc. IHC.*, 1939, p. 472).

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The symbol was gradually modified to the shape of a stroke slanting towards lower right with its top curved or looped inwards to the right⁸ or slanting towards lower left with its top curved or looped inwards to the left.⁹ Sometimes the lower end of the stroke exhibits an ornamental downward flourish¹⁰ or upward bend.¹¹ Both the *vām-āvarta* and *dakṣiṇ-āvarta* types were used in some cases in records of the same locality and also of the same age.¹ In the medieval inscriptions of Eastern India, the symbol resembles the Bengali numerical figure 7 ( a vertical stroke with its top curved towards the left and ending in an inward bend)² and it was used in the central parts of Bengal with the addition of a sign called *candra-bindu* or *ānunāsika* above. But, in the easternmost areas of Bengal, the same symbol was written with the lower end curved considerably towards the right and was called *āñji*,³ and the Bengali alphabet with this symbol at the head was called *āñji-ka-kha*.⁴ In Western India, however, the symbol appearing in medieval inscriptions looks like a numerical figure⁵ and often a globular mark looking like a cypher is placed after it.⁶ In South Indian records of the early and medieval periods, the symbol is often a *śām-āvarta* spiral,⁷ sometimes resembling the representation of a conch-shell, which is called *pillaiyār-śuḷi* or Gaṇeśa’s curl and is first taught to the children before they begin to learn the alphabet.⁸

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⁸ See, e.g., *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVII, Plate facing p. 328, text line 1; Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 50, text line 1; Plate facing p. 112.

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⁹ See, e.g., ibid., Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 66, text line 1; Plate facing p. 84, text line 1; Plate (B) facing p. 183.

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¹⁰ See, e. g., ibid., Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 50; Vol. XXIX, Plate facing p. 88; Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 266.

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¹¹ See, e. g., ibid., Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 72.

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¹ See, e. g., the Valgudar (Monghyr District, Bihar) inscriptions illustrated in *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXVIII, Plate facing p. 145.

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² See, ibid., Vol. XXX, Plates facing pp. 186, 236. Cf. above, p. 93.

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³ *IHQ*, Vol. XXXIII, p. 103.

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⁴ P. N. Bhattacharya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī*, p. 55.

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⁵ See, e. g., *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 72.

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⁶ See, e.g., ibid., Vol. III, Plate (middle) facing p.306; Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 14, text line 1; Vol. XXX, Plate facing p. 191.

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⁷ See, e. g., ibid. Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 233.

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⁸ Ibid., Vol. XVII, p. 352, note. Cf. above, p. 93.

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Certain Nepal inscriptions exhibit auspicious symbols representing the conch-shell, the lotus, the bull, the fish, the sun-wheel and the stars.⁹ In the medieval epigraphs of the Andhra region, the lotus symbol is sometimes found about the beginning.¹⁰

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⁹ *Ind. Ant.*, Vol. IX, pp. 163 ff. For the conch-shell in other records, see *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXV, Plate facing p. 236; and for the lotus, see *JAS*, Letters, Vol. XVIII, 1952, pp. 77 ff., Plate II.

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¹⁰ Cf. P. Sreenivasachar, *A Corpus of Inscriptions*, Part II, Plates 37, 41.

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The Kailvan (Patna District, Bihar) inscription¹¹ of about the second century A.D. exhibits four symbols between the beginning and the end of a circular line of writing. These are a long-necked pitcher, a double *svastika* (one of the *vām-* āvarta and the other of the *dakṣiṇ-āvarta* type), and another looking like a sacrificial altar. At the end of the Guakuchi copper plate grant¹ of king Ratnapāla of Assam, there are the representations of a bird (*Garuda*) carrying a snake, the lotus, the conch-shell and the discus, all connected with the god Viṣṇu.

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¹¹ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XXXI, Plate facing p. 231.

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¹ P. N. Bhattacharya, *Kāmarūpaśāsanāvalī*, Plate facing p. 140.

Linked texts (4)

Naiṣadhīyacarita — Śrīharṣa, Sanskrit
Ekākṣarakośa — Puruṣottamadeva, Sanskrit
Jaugada
Kalsi