The image of the mandala first appears in the Rig Veda (c. 1500-1100 BCE), the earliest of the works known as the Vedas, the religious texts of Hinduism. It was then used by other schools of thought in India, including Charvaka, Jainism, and Buddhism. A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, romanized: maṇḍala, lit. 'circle', [ˈmɐɳɖɐlɐ]) is a geometric configuration of symbols. A mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from the outside to the inner core, through layers.