The Swastika is an extremely powerful symbol and for
centuries it has had positive meanings. What is the history of the swastika? The
Swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That
even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery
and coins from ancient Troy show that the Swastika was a commonly used symbol
as far back as 1000 BCE. During the following thousand years, the image of the Swastika
was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India,
and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages, the Swastika was a well known, if not
commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names: China – wan; England
– fylfot; Germany – Hakenkreuz; Greece - tetraskelion and gammadion and India –
Swastika. Though it is not known for exactly how long, Native Americans also
have long used the symbol of the Swastika.
The word "Swastika" comes from the Sanskrit
svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning
"to be," and "ka" as a suffix. Until the Nazis used this
symbol, the Swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years
to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. Even in the early
twentieth century, the Swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations.
For instance, the Swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette
cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I, the Swastika could
even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division and on the
Finnish air force until after World War II.
For 3,000 years, the Swastika has meant life and good luck. For
Buddhists and Hindus, the Swastika is a very religious symbol that is commonly
used. In ancient times, the direction of the Swastika was interchangeable as
can be seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing. Some cultures in the past had
differentiated between the clockwise Swastika and the counter-clockwise Sauvastika.
In these cultures the swastika symbolized health and life while the Sauvastika
took on a mystical meaning of bad-luck or misfortune. The swastika is actually
an ancient symbol, but its origin is hard to define. In "The
Swastika," Folklore, W. G. V. Balchin says the word swastika is of
Sanskrit origin and the symbol is one of good luck or a charm or a religious
symbol (the last, among the Jains and Buddhists) that goes back to at least the
Bronze Age. It appears in various parts of the ancient and modern world. This
article mentions Christians did, indeed, consider the swastika for their
symbol.
One popular notion holds that it is a very old solar symbol.
The swastika resembles a lot like the "Greek" cross in its symmetry,
if you take out those little "wings" from the swastika. That's one connection
I can find with Christianity. Of course many pre-Christian symbols were
redefined and "used" by Christians of all times (with varying
success). The Swastika is indeed a sun symbol from antiquity, appropriate in
many themes and on many occasions. Like flood legends, the Swastika (in various
recognizable styles) is one of many symbols found throughout ancient
civilisations having no possible contact (as we understand contact) with each
other. Usually it meant the sun, in its scheme as "the wheel of
life". (Mayan, I believe.) It was also a popular good luck symbol. For
example, it can be found on pre-1930 American New Year's greeting cards. A
white Swastika on a black field was the flag of an American Boy Scout Troop
from its founding to some point in the 1930's, when the Troop itself voted to
discontinue its use.
The Indian and Vedic
connection is likely the swastika's oldest incarnation. The symbol itself may
still be found as an architectural element, decorating sufficiently aged
temples to whatever deity is involved. There is a simply fascinating
documentary on the swastika, and its journey from mystic rune to fascist
emblem. If memory serves, a particular German woman of wealth, and the upper
class, made it her cause to sponsor the swastika into its position as The
Emblem of the Nazi party. As often happens after wars, mysticism and
spiritualism was popular throughout post WW1 and the 1920's. She appears to
have been a true believer of some kind, and felt the Swastika itself had the
power to lead Germany to ultimate triumph, that soldiers who fought under it
would obtain super-strength, etc. The Swastika is (or was, depending on your
WWII point of view) actually a symbol of good luck, and possibly of fertility
and regeneration.
Several ancient cultures associated the symbol with the sun,
although I'm not sure of the actual details on this. The Navajo Indians also
had a similar symbol - depicting their gods of the mountains, rivers, and rain.
In India, the Swastika is an auspicious mark - worn as jewelry or marked on
objects as a symbol of good luck. The symbol, though, is extremely ancient and
predates Hinduism. The Hindus associated it with the sun and wheel of birth and
rebirth. It is an emblem of the Hindu god Vishnu, one of the supreme Hindu
deities. Swastika is a Buddhist symbol for peace, as it still appears nowadays
on Buddhist temples in Asia. I have seen one in a bi-lingual edition of a
Taiwanese magazine. The editors felt the necessity of explaining in the English
text that Swastika is a Buddhist symbol of peace, and this is why the puzzled
European reader could see it in pictures showing temples. A difference however
can be noticed: the orientation of the arms is clockwise in the Buddhist
swastika and anti-clockwise in the one adapted by the Nazis. The Swastika...
has nothing to do with the swastika used as the symbol in Nazi Germany. That
symbol is from Nordic runes and was used in Nordic tribes' pagan culture. Later
it was also used by the Teutonic Knights formed in the 12th century.
Courtesy: NS Gill and Jen Rosenberg
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