གཡུང་དྲུང་འཁྱིལ་བ། | Glossary of Terms

An auspicious symbol, which is also called triratna or nandipada.

Lit. “Nandi the bull’s curl.” One of the symbols adorning the palms of the hands and soles of the feet of the buddhas. Together with the śrīvatsa and svastika, it forms the eightieth minor sign. It is a symbol of auspiciousness.

An auspicious design resembling a svastika with an elaborate pattern around its border. In the Mahāvyutpatti, nandyāvarta is translated into the Tibetan as g.yung drung; however, later on the same Tibetan was used to translate svastika, which is translated by the Tibetan bkra shis ldan in the Mahāvyutpatti. Sometimes the distinction is made with the extended term g.yung drung ’kyil ba, a “rotating svastika/g.yung drung,” since the border pattern of the nandyāvarta gives the impression that the svastika in the center is rotating. Here the image is the sixty-first of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

A special symbol sometimes resembling a W.