Triratna

Triratna
Symbol of the triratna, as seen in the Sanchi stupa, 1st century BCE.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	三寶
Simplified Chinese	三宝
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin sānbǎo Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sambo
Burmese name
Burmese	ရတနာသုံးပါး
IPA	[jadanà θóʊɴ bá]
Tibetan name
Tibetan	དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ
Transcriptions Wylie dkon mchog gsum
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	Tam bảo
Thai name
Thai	ไตรรัตน์, รัตนตรัย
RTGS	trairat, rattanatrai
Korean name
Hangul	삼보
Transcriptions Revised Romanization sambo
Mongolian name
Mongolian	ɣurban erdeni
Japanese name
Kanji	三宝
Transcriptions Romanization sambō, sampō
Bengali name
Bengali	ত্রিশরণ trishôrônô
Lao name
Lao	ໄຕແກ້ວ (tài kɛ̂ːu) / ໄຕລັດ (tài lāt)
Pali name
Pali	tiratana, tisarana
Marathi name
Marathi	त्रिशरण (trisharan)
Khmer name
Khmer	ព្រះរតនត្រ័យ (Preah Ratanak-trey)
Sinhalese name
Sinhalese	(theruwan) or තුරුණුවන් (thurunawan)
Sanskrit name
Sanskrit	त्रिरत्न (triratna), रत्नत्रय (ratna-traya)

tiratana,

The Triratna is a Buddhist symbol, thought to visually represent the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha).

The Triratna symbol is composed of:

On representations of the footprint of the Buddha, the Triratna is usually also surmounted by the Dharma wheel.

The Triratna can be found on frieze sculptures at Sanchi as the symbol crowning a flag standard (2nd century BCE), as a symbol of the Buddha installed on the Buddha's throne (2nd century BCE), as the crowning decorative symbol on the later gates at the stupa in Sanchi (2nd century CE), or, very often on the Buddha footprint (starting from the 1st century CE).

The triratna can be further reinforced by being surmounted with three dharma wheels (one for each of the three jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha).

The triratna symbol is also called nandipada, or "bull's hoof", by Hindus.

A number of examples of the triratna symbol appear on historical coins of Buddhist kingdoms in the Indian sub-continent. For example, the Triratna appears on the 1st century BCE coins of the Kingdom of Kuninda in the northern Punjab. It also surmounts the depictions of stupas, on some the coins of the Indo-Parthian king Abdagases of the 1st century, CE and on the coins of some of the Kushan kings such as Vima Kadphises, also of the 1st century CE.