[INDOLOGY] Om symbol in Vadathika cave inscription

[Dániel Balogh]

Dear Harry,
the clipping is not an oṁ symbol. It is the initial ā from the beginning of
the text, āsīt sarvva-mahīkṣitām etc. The symbol Fleet renders with oṁ in
his edition is the curl in the left margin next to line 3 (not line 1!).
Whether that symbol actually represents the word oṁ is debatable. The
prevailing opinion seems to be that it does not; if it is associated with
any lexical meaning, then it's more likely siddham or siddhi. I'm not sure
there are any strong arguments for this but seem to recall (I may be wrong)
that (some variant of) the sign does occasionally occur next to oṁ written
out in regular script.
For the history of the sign, see
Boeles, J.J. 1947. ‘The Migration of the Magic Syllable Oṃ’. In *India
Antiqua: A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented by His Friends and Pupils
to Jean Philippe Vogel., c.i.e. on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary
of His Doctorate*, 40–56. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
who seems to take it for granted that it represents oṁ.
See also:
Roth, Gustav. 1986. ‘Mangala-Symbols in Buddhist Manuscripts and
Inscriptions’. In *Deyadharma: Studies in Memory of Dr. D.C. Sircar*,
edited by Gouriswar Bhattacharya, 239–49. Sri Garib Dass Oriental Series
33. Delhi: Sri Satguru.
Sander, Lore. 1986. ‘Om or Siddham — Remarks on Openings of Buddhist
Manuscripts and Inscriptions from Gilgit and Central Asia’. In *Deyadharma:
Studies in Memory of Dr. D.C. Sircar*, edited by Gouriswar Bhattacharya,
239–49. Sri Garib Dass Oriental Series 33. Delhi: Sri Satguru.
Shomakhmadov, S. 2012. ‘The Features of the Interpretation of
Mañgala-Symbols in Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts from Central Asia’.
*Manuscripta
Orientalia* 18: 9–23.
Best wishes,
Dan

On Wed, 28 Jan 2026 at 06:06, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear list members,
> I'm not familiar with Gupta script.
> Can someone confirm for me that the image below is the full Om symbol (and
> only the Om symbol) from the Vadathika cave inscription.  My understanding
> is the Om sign in that inscription is the earliest Om sign in an
> inscription.
>
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5th_or_6th_century_Vadathika_Cave_Inscription,_Sanskrit,_Shaivism,_Anantavarman,_Gupta_script,_Ancient_Om_symbol_2.jpg
>
>
> [image: image.png]
>
>
> Thanks,
> Harry Spier
>
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> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
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