The Swastika
Definitions, Description & Origin
The founder of this sect flourished about the year 604 to 523 B.C., and that the mystic cross is a symbol formed by the combination of the two Sanskrit syllables su and ti-suti.
Waring (2) proceeds to demolish these statements of a sect named Swastika as pure inventionism, and "consulting Professor Wilson's invaluable work on the Hindoo religious sects in the 'Asiatic Researches,' we find no account of any sect named Swastika."
My. V. R. Gandhi, a learned legal gentleman of Bombay, a representative of the Jain sect of Buddhists to the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago, 1893, denies that there is in either India or Tibet a sect of Buddhists named "Swastika". He suggest that these gentlemen probably mean the sects of Jains (of which Mr. Gandhi is a member), because this sect uses the Swastika as a sign of benediction and blessing. This will be treated further on. (see p.804. or chapter 2 Extreme Orient: India)
Zmigrodzki, commenting on the frequency of the Swastika on the objects found by Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik, gives it as his opinion (3) that these representations of the Swastika have relation to a human cult indicating a supreme being filled with goodness toward man. the sun, stars, etc., indicate him as a good of light. this, in connection with the idol of Venus, with its triangular shield engraved with a Swastika (fig.125), and the growing trees and palms, with their increasing and multiplying branches and leaves, represent to him the idea of fecundity, multiplication, increase, and hence the god of life as well as of light. The Swastika sign on funeral vases indicates to him a belief in a divine spirit in man which lives after death, and hence he concludes that the people of Hissarlik, in the "Burnt City" (the third of Schliemann), adored a supreme being, the god of light and of life, and believed in the immortality of the soul.
R.P. Greg says: (4)
Originally it [the Swastika] would appear to have been an early Aryan atmospheric device or symbol indicative of both rain and lightning, phenomena appertaining to the god Indra, subsequently or collaterally developing, possibly, into the Suastika, or scared fire charm in India, and at a still later period in Greece, adopted rather as a solar symbol, or converted about B.C. 650 into the meander or key pattern.
Waring while he testifies to the extension of the Swastika both in time and area says: (5)
but neither in the hideous jumble of Pantheism-- the wild speculative thought, mystic fables, and perverted philosophy of life among the Buddhists–nor in the equally wild and false theosophy of the Brahmins, to whom this symbol, as distinctive of the Vishnavas, sectarian devotees of Vishnu, is ascribed by Moor in his "Indian Pantheon," nor yet in the tenets of the Jains, (6) do we find any decisive explanation of the meaning attached to this symbol, although its allegorical intention is indubitable.
He mentions the Swastika of the Buddhists, the cross, the circle, their combination, the three foot
and
adds: "They exhibit forms of those olden and widely spread pagan
symbols of Deity and sanctity, eternal life and blessing." Professor Sayce says: (7)
The Cyprian vase figured in Di Cesnols's "Cyprus," pl. xlv, fig.36 [see fig.156],
which associates the Swastika with the figure of an animal, is a striking analogue of the Trojan whorls on which it is associated with the figures of stags. The fact that it is drawn within the vulva of the leadeu image of the Asiatic goddess [see fig.125] seems to show that it was a symbol of generation. I believe that it is identical with the Cyprian character
or 
(ne),
which has the form 
in the inscription of golgi, and also with the Hittite 
or which
Dr. Hyde Clarke once suggested to me was intended to represent the organs
of generation. Mr. Waller, in his work entitled "Monumental Crosses," describes the Swastika as having been known in India as a sacred symbol many centuries before our Lord, and used as the distinguishing badge of a religious sect calling them selves the "Followers of the Mystic Cross." Subsequently, he says, it was adopted by the followers of Buddha and was still later used by Christians at a very early period, being first introduced on Christian monuments in the sixth century. But Mr. Waring says that in this he is not correct, as it was found in some of the early paintings in the Roman catacombs, particularly on the habit of a Fossor, or gravedigger, given by D'Agincourt.
Pugin, in his "Glossary of Oranment," under the title "Fylfot," says that Tibet the Swastika was used as a representation of god crucified for the human race, citing as his authority F. Augustini Antonii Georgii. (8) He remarks:
From those accounts it would appear that the fylfot is a mystical ornament, not only adopted among Christians from primitive times, but used, as if prophetically, for centuries before the coming of our Lord. To descent to later times, we find it constantly introduced in ecclesiastical vestments, * * * till the end of the fifteenth century, a period marked by great departure from traditional symbolism.
Its use was continued in Tibet into modern times, though its meaning is not given. (9) (see p.802.)
The Rev. G. Cox, in his "Aryan Mythology," says:
We recognize the male and the female symbol in the trident of Poseidon, and in the fylfot or hammer of Thor, which assumes the form of a cross-pattice in the various legends which turn on the rings of Freya, Holda, Venus, or Aphrodite.
ENDNOTES:
1. "Bilsa Topes," p.17. [Back]
2. "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," p.12. [Back]
3. Tenth Congress International d,Anthropologie et d'Archaeologie Prehitoriques, Paris, 1889, p. 474. [Back]
4. Archaeologia, xlvii,pt. 1, p.159 [Back]
5. "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," p.11. [Back]
6. See explanation of the Swastika by Mr. Gandhi according to the Jain tenets, p. 804. [Back]
7. "Ilios," p. 353 [Back]
8. "Alphabetum Tibetarium," Rome, 1762, pp. 211,460,725. [Back]
9. Rockhill, "Diary of a Journey through Mongolia and Tibet," Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1894, p. 67. [Back]
<< Previous Page Next Page >>
© 2004-2007 Northvegr.
Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation.
|