Count D'Alviella says that the Swastika is continued among the Buddhists of Tibet; that the women ornament their petticoats with it, and that it is also placed upon the breasts of their dead.[116] He also reports[117] a Buddhist statue at the Musée Guimet with Swastikas about the base. He does not state to what country it belongs, so the author has no means of determining if it is the same statue as is represented in fig. 29. INDIA. Burnouf[118] says approvingly of the Swastika: Christian archæologists believe this was the most ancient sign of the cross. * * * It was used among the Brahmins from all antiquity. (Voyez mot "Swastika" dans notre dictionnaire sanskrit.) Swastika, or Swasta, in India corresponds to "benediction" among Christians. [Illustration: Fig. 32. FOOTPRINT OF BUDDHA WITH SWASTIKA, FROM AMARAVATI TOPE. From a figure by Fergusson and Schliemann.] The same author, in his translation of the "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," one of the nine Dharmas or Canonical books of the Buddhists of the North, of 280 pages, adds an appendix of his own writing of 583 pages; and in one (No. 8) devoted to an enumeration and description of the sixty-five figures traced on the footprint of Çakya (fig. 32) commences as follows: 1. _Svastikaya_: This is the familiar mystic figure of many Indian sects, represented thus, [S], and whose name signifies, literally, "sign of benediction or of good augury." (Rgya tch'er rol pa, Vol. 11, p. 110.) * * * The sign of the Swastika was not less known to the Brahmins than to the Buddhists. "Ramayana," Vol. II, p. 348, ed. Gor., Chap. XCVII, st. 17, tells of vessels on the sea bearing this sign of fortune. This mark, of which the name and usage are certainly ancient, because it is found on the oldest Buddhist medals, may have been used as frequently among the Brahmins as among the Buddhists. Most of the inscriptions on the Buddhist caverns in western India are either preceded or followed by the holy (_sacramentelle_) sign of the Swastika. It appears less common on the Brahmin monuments. Mr. W. Crooke (Bengal Civil Service, director of Eth. Survey, Northwest Provinces and Oudh), says:[119]