234 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XVII, 
same auspicious mark occurs at the beginning of many an 
epigraph belonging to a period not much later, sometimes in con- 
junction with the expression siddham signifying ‘attainment.’ 
In Kushan epigraphy, the svastika is rarely met with, inscrip- 
tions now generally commencing with the "expression ‘siddham 
which reminds us of the Gopatha Brahmana explanation of om 
as sarvam-apno 
ing the ‘Gupta period, and through some subsequent 
sonisios inscriptions often begin with a symbol which would 
appear to have been related in form to the svastika. Leaving 
aside forms which may be regarded as variants, slightly 
svastikas found in the Nee ae inscription of Asoka; the 
one noticeable difference being the additional spiral attached 
to a terminus in each case.'| The mediaeval symbol has been 
interpreted as an expression of omkara by modern scholars 
M G 
who, as my friend Mr. N. - Majumdar informs me, infer this 
identity from the substitution, in later analogous records, 
of the syllabic om in place of the mediaeval symbol. This 
or for the inference is strong enoug it is made 
stronger still by a statement in Alberuni’s India (1;- 173) 
1030 A.D). Alberuni remarks that the Indian people use the 
sign, ‘believing that it will bring them a blessing.’ It seems 
that, even so late as Alberuni's time, the et had not 
om, and sometimes only svasti or only om. ein catatiautle 
character of these expressions argues their identity in meaning 
The fact that the svastika-sign of the earlier records gave 
Beene by the expression svasti, and which in later times 
bl forth into a syllabic omkara, justifies at once the 
name » AES applied to the sign and the view that it signified 
nothing but the omkara. 
ometimes, more often than not, the svastika- symbol 
appears without an accompanying ma or anything denoting 
the final nasal. This at first sight seems to go against its iden- 
tification with the syllabic om. But if we recognize brevity to 
be the basis of symbolism, the difficulty vanishes. By way of 
illustration we may refer to the case of the sacred monogram 
a a ek ee 
! Sometimes the symbol is little more than a spiral. See on this 
Point the Supplementary Note post. | i 
