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The Swastika

Definitions, Description & Origin

Page 6

        It appears in the footprints of Buddha, engraved upon the solid rock on the mountains of India (fig.32). It stood for the Jupiter tonans and Pluvius of the Latins, and the Thor of the Scandinavians. In the latter case it has been considered- erroneously, however --a variety of the Thor hammer. In the opinion of at least one author it had an intimate relation to the Lotus sign of Egypt and Persia. Some authors have attributed a phallic meaning to it. Others have recognized it as representing the generative principle of mankind, making it the symbol of the female. Its appearance on the person of certain goddesses, Artemis, Hera, Demeter, Astarte, and the Chaldean Nana, the leaden goddess from Hissarlik (fig.125), has caused it to be claimed as a sign of fecundity.
        In forming the foregoing theories their authors have been largely controlled by the alleged fact of the substitution and permutation of the Swastika sign on various objects with recognized symbols of these different deities. The claims of these theorists are somewhat clouded in obscurity and lost in the antiquity of the subject. What seems to have been at all times an attribute of the Swastika is its character as a charm or amulet, as a sign of benediction, blessing, long life, good fortune, good luck. this character has continued into modern times, and while the Swastika is recognized as a holy and sacred symbol by at least one Buddhistic religions sect, it is still used by the common people of India, China, and Japan as a sign of long life, good wishes, and good fortune.
        Whatever else the sign Swastika may have stood for, and however many meanings it may have had, it was always ornamental. It may have been used with any or all the above significations, but it was always ornamental as well.
        The Swastika sign had great extension and spread itself practically over the world, largely, if not entirely, in prehistoric times, though its use in some countries has continued into modern times.
        The elaboration of the meanings of the Swastika indicated above and its dispersion or migrations form the subject of this paper.
        Dr. Schliemann found many specimens of Swastika in his excavations at the site of ancient Troy on the hill of Hissarlik. They where mostly on spindle whorls, and will be described in due course. He appealed to Prof. Max Müller for an explanation, who, in reply, wrote an elaborate description, which Dr. Schliemann published in "Ilios (1) "
        He commences with a protest against the word Swastika being applied generally to the sign Swastika, because it may prejudice the reader or the public in favor of its Indian origin. He says:
I do not like the use of the word svastika outside of India. It is a word of Indian origin and has its history and definite meaning in India. * * * The occurrence of such crosses in different parts of the world may or may not point to a common origin, but if they are once called Svastika the vulgas profannum will at once jump to the conclusion that they all come from India, and it will take some time to weed out such prejudice.

ENDNOTES:

1. Page 316, et seq. [Back]

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