# "Unalome" yantra **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unalome-yantra/994035 "2023-12-03T00:21:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unalome-yantra/994035/1 "2023-12-03T00:21:03Z")
[![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Khmer_Sacred_Symbol%2C_Om_or_Unalom.png/180px-Khmer_Sacred_Symbol%2C_Om_or_Unalom.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Khmer_Sacred_Symbol%2C_Om_or_Unalom.png/180px-Khmer_Sacred_Symbol%2C_Om_or_Unalom.png) Does anyone know some details about the origins of this particular shape? To me it resembles a rill of smoke developing eddies. Wikipedia says > The unalome (อุณาโลม) yantra is a stylised representation of the urna. > As set out in the _Lakkhana Sutta_ or ‘Discourse on Marks’, the ūrṇā is the thirty-first physical characteristic of Buddha. It is generally thought to be a whorl of hair… ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2023, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unalome-yantra/994035/2 "2023-12-03T01:42:35Z")
The first thing I thought of is the paint spatter that is the subject (really) of Fritz Leiber’s story _Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-Tah-Tee_: > First there was a big roundish blot—that was the rump. Then two rather delicate, many-tongued splatters—those were the titties. Next a small rump, which was the tum. Following that a big blot like a bent spearhead, not so big as the rump but even more emphatic —the TAH. Last of all an indescribably curled and broken little splatter which somehow seemed exactly right for the tee. Sorry for the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unalome-yantra/994035/3 "2023-12-04T21:09:08Z")
That shape… it’s contaminated by the spiral! [![](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/images/cms/house-of-1000-manga/42228/uzu2.jpg) ](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/images/cms/house-of-1000-manga/42228/uzu2.jpg)