The ushnisha (, Pali: uá¹Âhësa) is a protuberance on top of the head of a Buddha. In Buddhist literature, it is sometimes said to represent the "crown" of a Buddha, a symbol of Enlightenment and status the King of the Dharma.
The Ushnisha is the thirty-second of the 32 major marks of the Buddha, wherein the Buddha is said to have a fleshy or cranial protuberance at the top of his head. It is sometimes elaborated that it is covered with hair that curls to the right.
In art of Southeast Asia, a flame is sometimes added that ascends from the middle of this protuberance.
Buddhist art from Gandhara in the 1st century CE often represent the Buddha 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.
The portrayal of à ÂÃÂkyamuni Buddha with an ushnisha has varied throughout history and varied by school. The Sri Lankan Tamrashatiya school, which would later give rise to Theravada, portrayed him as bald and having an ushnisha extending into the sky, beyond the possibility of measurement. The Gandharan school of Buddhism, sometimes portrayed à ÂÃÂkyamuni sporting a cluster of long wavy hair or curls as a topknot concealing the ushnisha.
The MahÃÂvastu (1.259f) and the DivyÃÂvadÃÂna, as well as the Theravadin Milindapañha, describe some marks of the cakravartin, an idealised world-ruler, as consisting of an or turban, a parasol, a "horn jewel" or vajra, a whisk and sandals. These were also marks of a kshatriya.
The art of early Mahayana Buddhism in Mathura presents bodhisattvas in a form called "wearing a turban/hair binding", along with mudras that represent the nonviolent rule of a cakracartin.
A bull figurine excavated from Lakhan-jo-Daro from the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization has a similar ushnisha-like knob above its head. This is a unique feature which may indicate a visual portrayal of intelligence.
The uá¹£á¹Âëṣa seems to be one of the most valued of all a BuddhaâÂÂs thirty-two marks. The Ratnamegha Sà «tra provides a list of meritorious qualities of a BuddhaâÂÂs body, starting with his hair follicles, the first twenty-nine marks in general, the urá¹Âa, and finally the uá¹£á¹Âëṣa, which is only surpassed by the BuddhaâÂÂs voice.
The Bhadrakalpika Sà «tra lists six qualities of the uá¹£á¹Âëṣa that accord with the BuddhaâÂÂs six perfections he accomplished as bodhisattva:
As stated above, one quality of the uá¹£á¹Âëṣa is that it cannot be seen from above. The common rendering of this in Sanskrit is âÂÂanavalokitamà «rdhatÃÂâ (lit. âÂÂthe top of the head is not looked uponâÂÂ).
The TathÃÂgatÃÂcintyaguhyanirdeà Âa Sà «tra contains a story of a bodhisattva who came from another buddha land to worship à ÂÃÂkyamuni. Using his supernatural powers, he flew upward past several more buddha lands and was unable to reach the top of the uá¹£á¹Âëṣa.
The Pali tradition seems to recognize this trope as well, apparent in the Commentary on the SuttanipÃÂta and the Commentary on the Hemavata Sutta. According to these texts, there was an episode when the yaká¹£as SÃÂtÃÂgiri and Hemavata were traveling in the sky to an assembly of yaká¹£as. They were forced to stop full flight and land, because they had encountered the space that would have otherwise placed them directly above the BuddhaâÂÂs head.
When the light that issues forth from a BuddhaâÂÂs mouth returns to his uá¹£á¹Âëṣa, it is a sign that he will give a prophecy of the eventual Buddhahood of someone in the audience.