The ushnisha (,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ) is a three-dimensional oval at the top of the head of the Buddha. In Pali scriptures, it is the crown of Lord Buddha, the symbol of his Enlightenment and Enthronement.

Description

The Ushnisha is the thirty-second of the 32 major marks of the Buddha. The thirty-second of these is that the Buddha has a fleshy or cranial protuberance at the top of his head. Later sets elaborate that this is covered with hairs that curl in the direction of the sun. Later on a second definition of Ushnisha was added, which was a flame that ascends from the middle of this protuberance.

Representation

The first representations of the Buddha in the 1st century CE in the

Greco-Buddhist art The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art of the north Indian subcontinent is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara. The s ...

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

also represent him with a topknot, rather than just a cranial knob. It is thought that the interpretation of the ushnisha as a supernatural cranial protuberance happened at a later date, as the representation of the topknot became more symbolic and its original meaning was lost.

Origins

While the ushnisha is an important feature of Buddha statues and images, there is no evidence that Buddha had a topknot on his head. Ancient books clearly state that Buddha had a shaven head. One event mentioned in the texts is where a hunter while out on a hunt encounters Gautama Buddha (prince of Lumbini) in a different attire than that a prince should had. The hunter is mentioned as giving up hunting for the day, after seeing the shaven man in the middle of the jungle, considering it to be a bad omen.

The Boddhisattva-Cakravartin in Early Buddhism

In Early Buddhism, the was represented differently. The '' Mahāvastu'' (1.259f) and the '' Divyāvadāna'', as well as the Theravadin '' Milindapañha'', describe the marks of the cakravartin, an idealised world-ruler: or '' patka'' turban, ''

chhatra The ''chhatra'' (from sa, छत्र, meaning "umbrella") "jewelled/precious parasol" is an auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The ''chhatra'' in various traditions According to Hindu mythology, it is the emblem of Varu ...

'' parasol, "horn jewel" or '' vajra'', whisk and sandals. These were the marks of the kshatriya.Falk, Harry, "Small-Scale Buddhism" in , p. 495 The plastic art of early Mahayana Buddhism in Mathura presents bodhisattvas in a form called "wearing a turban/hair binding", wielding the

mudra A mudra (; sa, मुद्रा, , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ,) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As wel ...

s for "nonviolent cakravartin rule".

Possible Indus Valley origins

A bull figurine excavated from Lakhan-jo-Daro from bronze age

Indus Valley Civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...

has a similar Ushnisha styled knob above its head, its a unique feature and not applied to any other bull figurine indicating intelligence insignia.

References