Editing Labyrinth (section)

===Ancient labyrinths outside Europe===
[[File:Halebid2.JPG|thumb|right|Carving showing the warrior [[Abhimanyu]] entering the ''chakravyuha'' – [[Hoysaleswara temple]], [[Halebidu]], India]]
A design essentially identical to the 7-course "classical" pattern appeared in Native American culture, the [[Tohono O'odham people]] labyrinth which features [[I'itoi]], the "Man in the Maze." The Tonoho O'odham pattern has two distinct differences from the classical: it is radial in design, and the entrance is at the top, where traditional labyrinths have the entrance at the bottom (see below). The earliest appearances cannot be dated securely; the oldest is commonly dated to the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Saward |first=Jeff |date=2003 |title=Labyrinths and Mazes |publisher=Gaia |page=70 |isbn=1579905390 
}}</ref>

Unsubstantiated claims have been made for the early appearance of labyrinth figures in India,<ref name="Saward, p. 60">Saward, ''Labyrinths and Mazes'', p. 60.</ref> such as a prehistoric petroglyph on a riverbank in [[Goa]] purportedly dating to circa 2500 BC.<ref>{{cite web 
| url = https://sites.google.com/site/isiscrete/rationale 
| work = 9th ISIS Congress
| title= Festival on Labyrinth and Symmetry
| date = 9 September 2013}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=January 2019}} Other examples have been found among cave art in northern India and on a dolmen shrine in the [[Nilgiri Mountains]], but are difficult to date accurately. Securely datable examples begin to appear only around 250 BC.<ref name="Saward, p. 60"/> Early labyrinths in India typically follow the Classical pattern or a local variant of it; some have been described as plans of forts or cities.<ref>Saward, ''Labyrinths and Mazes'', pp. 60–61.</ref>

Labyrinths appear in Indian manuscripts and [[Vajrayana|Tantric]] texts from the 17th century onward. They are often called "[[Chakravyuha]]" in reference to an impregnable battle formation described in the ancient [[Mahabharata]] epic. Lanka, the capital city of mythic Rāvana, is described as a labyrinth in the 1910 translation of [[Abu Rayhan Biruni|Al-Beruni]]'s ''India'' (c. 1030 AD) p.&nbsp;306 (with a diagram on the following page).<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_001/pages/ldpd_5949073_001_00000362.html <!--Abu Rayhan Biruni--> Al-Beruni, ''India'', (c. 1030&nbsp;AD), Edward C. Sachau (translator), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, London, 1910] Online version from Columbia University Libraries (Retrieved 5 December 2009)</ref>

By the [[White Sea]], notably on the [[Solovetsky Islands]], there have been preserved more than 30 stone labyrinths. The most remarkable monument is the [[Stone labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky Island]] – a group of some 13 stone labyrinths on 0.4&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> area of one small island. Local archaeologists have speculated that these labyrinths may be 2,000–3,000 years old, though most researchers remain dubious.<ref>Saward, ''Labyrinths and Mazes'', pp. 148–149.</ref>