) occurs as a sign for earth in certain ideographic groups. It was probably intended to indicate the four quarters—north, south, east, west—or, it may be, more generally, extension in length and breadth.

That the cross is used as a sign for “four” in the Bactro-Pali inscriptions (Max Müller, “Chips from a German Workshop,” Vol. II, p. 298) is well known; but the fact that the same sign has the same power elsewhere, as, for instance, in the Hieratic numerals, does not prove by any means that the one figure was derived from the other. We forget too easily that what was possible in one place was possible also in other places; and the more we extend our researches, the more we shall learn that the chapter of accidents is larger than we imagine.

The “Suavastika” which Max Müller names and believes was applied to the Swastika sign, with the ends bent to the left ([fig. 10]), seems not to be reported with that meaning by any other author except Burnouf.[17] Therefore the normal Swastika would seem to be that with the ends bent to the right. Burnouf says the word Suavastika may be a derivative or development of the Svastikaya, and ought to signify “he who, or, that which, bears or carries the Swastika or a species of Swastika.” Greg,[18] under the title Sôvastikaya, gives it as his opinion that there is no difference between it and the Swastika. Colonel Low[19] mentions the word Sawattheko, which, according to Burnouf[20] is only a variation of the Pali word Sotthika or Suvatthika, the Pali translation of the Sanskrit Swastika. Burnouf translates it as Svastikaya.

M. Eugene Burnouf[21] speaks of a third sign of the footprint of Çakya, called Nandâvartaya, a good augury, the meaning being the “circle of fortune,” which is the Swastika inclosed within a square with avenues radiating from the corners ([fig. 14]). Burnouf says the above sign has many significations. It is a sacred temple or edifice, a species of labyrinth, a garden of diamonds, a chain, a golden waist or shoulder belt, and a conique with spires turning to the right.

Fig. 14.
NANDÂVARTAYA,
A THIRD SIGN OF
THE FOOTPRINT
OF BUDDHA.
Burnouf, “Lotus de
la Bonne Loi,” Paris,
1852, p. 696.

Colonel Sykes[22] concludes that, according to the Chinese authorities Fa-hian, Soung Young, Hiuan thsang, the “Doctors of reason,” Tao-sse, or followers of the mystic cross