What does I mean by “Indian labyrinth”? Therewith I understand at first a simple 3- or more circuit labyrinth (round two turning points) with a spiral in the middle. The spiral can have any number of lines. We therefore deal with a composite design.
The Labyrinth Society (TLS) classifies it as “Other Classical Seed Patterns”, whereby as subtypes are named the “Chakra-Vyuha Labyrinth” and the “Baltic Labyrinth”.
This type is still floating around, and is it as a decoration on a birthday tart, as recently did Lisa Gidlow Moriarty (USA):
Chakra Vyuha on a birthday tart, created and © Lisa Moriarty
Such a labyrinth can be generated from a seed pattern which is based on a triangle. It is also called Chakra Vyuha. However, there are also other seed patterns known (see related Posts below).
And therefore it is diffculty to classify all the types in a common typology, partly because they emerge quite differently in time and space.
I start with a simple labyrinth. It is found in Hermann Kern’s book and dates from the 12th century.
The Indian Labyrinth, Source: Hermann Kern, Labyrinthe (1982), fig. 602, p. 422 (German edition)
The Babylonian visceral labyrinth on a clay tablet with the number 9560 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin is about 2000 years older. The archeologist Ernst Friedrich Weidner (read more here) shows it in a report from 1917 as fig. 4:
The Babylonian visceral labyrinth VAT 9560, fig. 4
This does not look as if it had been made from a basic pattern.
The visceral labyrinth in three moves
But it can be drawn in three moves. I begin in the middle, draw the spiral, make a loop outwards on the right side and shift in a bow to the left side (green line). Then I begin a new line inside the loop, round the preceding line and end the line at the underside of the spiral (blue line). The third line begins near the preceding line and shifts to the left (yellow line).
The Chakra Vyuha can be drawn the same way:
The Chakra Vyuha in two moves
The path of the labyrinth, Ariadne’s thread, must be drawn in one move.
This can be done from the inside outwardly or also vice versa.
I had described a method to generate walk-through labyrinths from the type Wunderkreis with any desired circuits in the post “Variations on the Wunderkreis” (see related posts below).
This method, easily modified, can be also used to generate the composite labyrinths with spirals from any desired twists and simple labyrinths with three and more circuits.
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- Spiral in a 3-circuit labyrinth, right-handed
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- As before, left-handed
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- Ariadne’s thread in the 3-circuit labyrinth
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- Spiral in a 5-circuit labyrinth
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- Ariadne’s thread in the 5-circuit labyrinth
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- Spiral in a 9-circuit labyrinth and a additional circuit
Once again briefly the principles:
I begin in the middle and draw a spiral with at least one, however, also any desired turns. The boundary lines are colored in green, the path (Ariadne’s thread) in brown.
Round the spiral I add the desired number of labyrinthine circuits, at least three up to more (endlessly). But always an odd number.
From the outside inwards I draw the loops (in yellow). Because I must have an odd number of line ends for the boundary lines on every side, I begin or finish one line at the underside of the spiral.
In order to draw the boundary lines the middle free line inside the loops is extended forwards (in red).
In order to draw Ariadne’s thread I extend the most internal line forwards on the side with the odd number of line ends (in red). The remaining free line ends are connected in loops (in yellow).
In the last example I turn one more “lap of honour” (in black) around the whole. So I may produce with the right number of circuits the historically verified Windelburg of Stolp.
The Windelburg of Stolp
The Windelburg of Stolp had a 3 circuit spiral and 15 labyrinthine circuits plus an additional circuit completely around.
How should one now classify the presented examples properly? One surely can not label all as Indian labyrinths. The Windelburg belongs rather to the Troy Towns and is also counted to the Baltic labyrinths. However, they all have the same pattern, belong to the same type.
To be able to build a labyrinth, one must bring it in a geometrically correct form. For this I choose the Windelburg, make less circuits and provide it in a layout drawing.
A new Windelburg
I present it as sort of prototype with 1 meter dimension between axes, a 2 circuit spiral and 9 labyrinthine circuits as a PDF file to look at, to print or to download.
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