SEMIOTICS OF THE SQUAT CIRCA 1962

". . . squatting on the ground denotes an absence of needs, a turning in on oneself. The body is rounded and compact as though expecting nothing from the world. Every activity which might require reciprocity is renounced. Since nothing is done, there is nothing for anyone to react to. A man who sits in this attitude appears peaceful and contented; no one fears violence from him. He is contented, either because he has all he needs, or because he makes do with what he has, however little. The squatting beggar proclaims his readiness to accept whatever he may be given; he makes no distinctions and is content with anything. 

. . .

But squatting . . . also implies an acceptance of everything which may happen. If he were a beggar, the rich man would continue to sit in the same way and, in doing so, would say in effect that he was still the same man. The posture contains both wealth and poverty, and this, together with what we said about the absence of needs, is why it has become the posture of contemplation, familiar to all who know the East. The man who adopts it has freed himself from he world. He reposes in himself and Burdens no-one."

 -Canetti, E. "Human Postures and Their Relation to Power" from Crowds and Power, pp. 393-394.