I have seen this picture at Hawalbagh, Hawalbagh is a Village and block in Almora District of Uttarakhand State, India. Local people told me that it is a Chakravyuha of Mahabharata where Abhimanyu died. If anyone know anything about this please answer.
2 Answers
This appears to be what has been described to me orally as an "Akshaya Swastika", or never-ending swastika.
Would be very curious to know more about this location and it's history!
The only relevant online reference that I could find was this - https://roots.sg/learn/collections/listing/1117493
The key difference between your image and the one described in the link is that the entry and exit in your case are separated and so it would probably not qualify as "never-ending". Also, the image in the link has the swastika reversed, i.e. it is the Bon/Gurung/Buddhist favoured "sauwastika" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauwastika This leads me to believe that the link may not be accurate on the fact that it is a Jain/Rajput artifact. The only connect I have is the oral one (from a scholar in Almora who wishes not to be named). Will add more to this answer as I find it, thanks for sharing!
UPDATED One reference that points to this being a Chakra-vyuha - "the Mahabharata describes the Chakra-Vyuha or the Swastika maze as the perfect arrangement of artillery in the war field of Kurukshetra."
From - http://www.iitkgpsandhi.org/SandHI_Swastika_Publication_2016.pdf
-
1Good answer. Enriching.All the best– user17294Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 4:50
Chakravyuh is said to have 7 concentric circles, and Abhimanyu was killed at the center of it. This doesn't look like any circle. So, be assured it's not the Chakravyuh.
What exactly it is? Not sure, it might be some another kind of vyuh, with one entry point at top right and one exit at center right.