1300 BC, and slightly variant forms are found as threshold designs in India and Sri Lanka. This design of two overlapping squares with eight looped corners is extremely old: the earliest example known is engraved on an amulet from Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus valley, and thus probably dates from not later than ca. In some pustaha this symbol is shown enclosing a turtle, and is itself surrounded by a snake.Ī small diagram of two overlapping squares, bindu matoga and bindu matogu, can be seen on the open page at the right, alongside a representation of a labyrinth, in a Batak pustaha, containing a text on divination. The upright square is called bindu matoga, and the diagonal one bindu matogu. Many pustaha contains magical diagrams in red and black ink, and a symbol that frequently appears in these Batak books is a design of two overlapping squares, the smaller one rotated by 45 degrees and set within the other, with eight looped corners. These generally contain texts on divination and spells, and were compiled by a shaman known in Batak as a datu. Batak manuscript books from north Sumatra, written on tree-bark and then folded accordion-style, are known as pustaha.
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