‘The Ancient symbol of Swastika, its Uses, Distortion and Misuses’

‘The Ancient symbol of Swastika, its Uses, Distortion and Misuses’

“Not all objects which serve as symbols are created by human mind, but the process of symbolization exists only in the minds of men and women……. There are no inherent, immutable symbols since the mind, through social interaction, can be changed. The differing meanings of the Swastika are but one example of this fact.”                           

  Dr Whitney Smith; (“Fundamental Theses of Vexillology”, The Flag Bulletin, XXI:1/92, page 24). 

Once upon a time, there was a symbol …..  and it is that ancient symbol of  prehistoric period - a symbol attributed to ‘good fortune and well-being’ for more than 3000 years or still earlier, I am going to talk about. Many of you will be surprised to know that the examples of Swastikas were found as early as in the Bronze Age. As a matter of fact, no one knows for sure it’s true home, the time or place of origin, or, the primitive meaning, alas, all lost in antiquity. Here we shall make an attempt to trace the origins, its uses, migration and diffusion of the symbol in cultures of the Globe. Its a fine example of theories of the Parallelism in Human Thoughts – it can also be a case of Duplicate or Independent discovery which popped-up in widest Culture Areas, extending almost to the Uttermost parts of the World / or is it Transmitted from Person to Person, Country to Country by Migration, or Contact or Communication between the Distant people in Archaic period?  We can keep guessing.
We wonder how the same auspicious symbol contaminated our mind with its graphic vandalism by a regime whose rise was dramatic and fall was equally as rapid as rise. 25 years of misuse (1920 to 1945 to be precise) made the Swastika image in certain parts of the world - a hated symbol – a hortative sign - view of an ignominious fanatic spearheaded a dictatorial oppression and racial genocide - but that is insufficient reason for ignoring the symbol's ancient and historical significance.

The Hakenkreuz (Swastika banner in Nazi style) is a social taboo in India as well. However, the undertone the swastika has in general in the West is perhaps absent in India and other parts of Asia. Long before all the Nazi symbols were outlawed in 1945, scholars and historians proved sufficiently that the German claim of Swastika and its Aryan origin were baseless, hence unacceptable from the vexillological point of view.

 The symbol was not unknown among the pre-Vedic ‘Dravidans’, a peaceful and more advanced culture of South India long before the invading Aryans arrived.

The Swastika is one of (if not) the oldest symbols in the world. Its reference in India dates back to Vedic period, i.e. 3000 – 2500 BC. Relics found in India dating back to Mohenjo-Daro period have the emblem of Swastika on them. Many scholars say that the symbol is even older. It began before history, and is to be properly classed as prehistoric

 Seals of the Indus Valley Civilization. British Museum.

Thomas Wilson (1832-1902), Curator,  Dept. of Prehistoric Anthropology,  the US National Museum (now Smithsonian) participated in the excavation of an Indian burial mound in Ohio 1890s, where several copper swastikas were discovered. Wilson’s report was published in 1894 entitled; “The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol and Its Migrations; with observations on the Migration of certain Industries in Prehistoric Times” under the auspices of the United States National Museum. The report was prepared based on his in-depth research on Swastika. His theory of possible ‘Migration of Swastika Symbols’ from the Old World where bronze was first discovered.  Swastika spread through the same routes as did bronze.    Bronze was discovered in eastern Asia and then migrated westward. From Asia Minor it spread east and west. Wilson advanced his assumption about a possible diffusion of Swastika symbolism in America from Eurasia. 

Prof. Michale Zmigrodski, a Polish scholar, prepared and sent to the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago a manuscript chart in French, showing his opinion of migration of the Swastika; he began with India & Bactria, Cyprus & Rhodes, North Europe, Central Europe, South Europe and Asia Minor.

  (Re-published by Symbolon Press edition, 2010, ‘Foreword’ by Prof. Michael Wotzel, Wales Chair of Sanskrit, Harvard University). The front cover illustration is from the book "Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype" by Gregory Haynes. According to Haynes; the four largest rivers on the four continents bordering the Atlantic Ocean (the Nile, Amazon, Mississippi, and Baltic) stand in relation to each other as do the outer arms of an enormous swastika. In "Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype" he persuasively argues that ancient navigators mapped these four rivers and derived the swastika from them.  But this theory lacks credibility and scientific analysis.

Distribution of Swastika

  Nearly all varieties of Swasika came into use (both as symbols and on objects of ornaments) during Bronze Age.  Bronze was discovered in the extreme Orient and introduced into Europe in prehistoric times. Swastika spread through the same countries as did the bronze. 

Swastika Urn in the Vatican Museum. (Thomas Wilson’s report).

The earliest specimens of Swastika of which identification can be made are on the huts urns of central Italy. Nearly all varieties of Swastika came into use (both as symbols and in the form of ornaments) during Bronze Age.  Swastika artifacts were found prolifically at the site of ancient Troy.  In Greece it is found on objects of gold, bronze and pottery of archaic period. 

Definition of Swastika

Swastika is derived from the two Sanskrit words Su (equivalent of the Greek ev), meaning; good fortune, luck and well-being and Asti, "good being," with the suffix ka (Greek ka, Latin co)

It is a cross with four arms of equal length, with the ends of each arm bent at a right angle.  Sometimes dots are added between each arm.

 It represents the constant movement of the sun.

The symbol imitates in the rotation of its arms the course taken daily by the sun

Its rotation in four directions has been used to represent many ideas, but primarily describes the four directions, the four Vedas and their harmonious whole.

It is a mark of good fortunes to the Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.      

It is a symbol connoting general auspiciousness. It represents purity of soul, truth, and stability or, alternatively, Surya - the sun.

H.J.D. Astley in “The Swastika: A Study” (The Quest, 1925) wrote; ‘Swastika represents the constant movement of the sun, and the course of the sun in the heaven revolving normally from left to right.’  It represents Brahma, Vishnu and Siva – Creator, Preserver and Destroyer.

The left-hand Swastika (called a Suavastika) usually represents the goddess Kali, night and magic. However, this form of the Swastika according to Hindu iconography is also not "evil" and this form also not uncommon in Buddhists iconography. 

Prof. Max Muller (1823-1900) makes the symbol different according as the arms are bent to the right or to the left. But he gives no, authority for the statement. Prof. W. H. Goodyear (1846–1923) - a noted American archaeologist, art historian and museum curator, gave the title of "Meander" to that form of Swastika which bends two or more times

In the Buddhist tradition, Swastika is referred to as "The Seal on Buddha's Heart". In Japanese and Chinese Buddha images, a Swastika often appears on the chest of Gautama Buddha.

    

 Origin of Buddha according to Tao Shih (from Thomas Wilson’s report, plate 1)

    

  Swastika-patta, Tablet of Homage carved with a Svastika, Mathura, from the Jaina Kankali Tila at Mathura. About 1^st century A.D. now preserved in Lucknow Museum.

   Limestone panel depicting the Buddhapada (footprints of the Buddha). Great Stupa at Amaravati, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India, 1st century BC © The Trustees of the British Museum

Buddha-pada (feet of Buddha), carved on a rectangular slab. The margin of the slab was carved with scroll of acanthus and rosettes.  The foot-print shows important symbols like triratna, svastika, srivatsa, ankusa and elliptical objects, meticulously carved in low-relief. From Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, being assignable on paleographical grounds to circa 1^st century B.C --2^nd century AD,

The footprints of the Buddha are one of the early representations of the Buddha in the aniconic (no statues) stage of Buddhist art. In the footprints of Buddha the Buddhists recognize no less that sixty-five auspicious signs, the first of them being the Svastika  (Lotus de la bonne loi, by Eugene Burnouf (1852) of France.

Many coins and seals of ancient India carry the Swastika symbol.

  Satavahana coin, Copper, die-struck symbol of lion standing to right and a big Swastika above on obverse, tree on reverse with a counter mark. As these coins are un-inscribed their issues cannot be ascertained with certainty. They ae actually regarded as the earliest coins of India.

Yolamira, silver drachm, early type c. 125-150 CE.  Legend around Swastika is in Brahmi lipi (script).  

 Kuninda, an ancient central Himalayan kingdom, c. 1st century BCE, silver coin. Rev: Stupa surmounted by the Buddhist symbols triratna, surrounded by a Swastika, a "Y" symbol, and a tree in railing. Legend in Kharosthi script.

  Corinthia, Circa 550-500 BC. Stater (Silver). Pegasos, with curved wing, flying to left; below, koppa. Reverse. Incuse in the form of a Swastika to left. (Source: Wikipedia)

Demand for ‘Swastika’ on the National Flag of Independent India

  During the Constituent Assembly ‘Flag Debates’ on 22^nd July 1947, less than a month before India gaining independence, when Asoka’s Chakra was proposed for the Indian Flag.  H.V. Kamath, had demanded the Swastika, the ancient Indian symbol be inscribed additionally on the centre wheel (Chakra) of the proposed flag. “I thought, if the Swastika be inscribed inside the Chakra it would along with the Dharma Chakra of Asoka (Wheel of Moral Law) fittingly symbolize our ancient culture, that is to say, the esoteric and esoteric aspects of our culture. The Dharma Chakra symbolizes the esoteric and the Swastika symbolizes the esoteric aspects”, said Kamath.

Waving ‘Swastika flag’ on India’s Independence Day; August 15, 1947

In Poona (Pune) on independence day members of a political outfit - the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – criticized as an extremist, right-wing, Hindu nationalist group - outraged with the partition of British-India on the basis of religious demographics, which led to the creation of the state of Pakistan for the Muslims - raised – not the new flag of independent India – but a Saffron flag emblazoned upon it with the Swastika – the traditional Hindu symbol.

           Uses of Swastika in Social, Religious and cultural events

This widely used symbol of auspices can be seen on temples, houses, doorways, clothing, and in ‘N’ numbers of objects and artifacts. It is commonly used as a charm to bring good fortune but it has a variety of religious meanings as well.  It is also a major part of the decoration for festivals and ceremonies

Swastika in postage stamp

.  Hindus in India celebrate Diwali by lighting lamps in the shape of a Swastika

Swastika motif not unusual on products in the Western World

White King Soap Advertisement – Found in the vicinity of Visalia, CA.  

The lampposts in Glendale, CA were acquired from the Union Metal Company of Canton, Ohio…and were installed at various times between 1924 and 1926. http://hragvartanian.com/2008/02/09/glendales-odd-lamppost-swastikas/

Swastika: The Globetrotting Symbol

The symbol of Swastika is a part of the ethos of ancient India that has been found worldwide. No one will argue that the Swastika was in any manner the monopoly of India alone. This is not the exclusive possession of any one community or country; it belonged to the whole people.

   The House flag of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, established in 1919. Following the global shipping slump of the 1980s, Scindia S.N. Co. gradually sold off its fleet.

    The Parti National Social Chretien, known, as the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party founded in Canada, from 1933 to 1940, also had a similar blue flag charged with a slant red Swastika on the white disc. The party was identified with Nazism, and anti-Semitism. The Party was banned in 1940 under the Defence of Canada Regulation of the War Measures Act.

Swastika banners are waved in Suriname, Guyana and the Caribbean by the citizens of Indian origins.

The Great Council (Guyana Sanatana Dharam Maha Sabha) - the leading Hindu organization’s flag.

      

The squarish flag divided h  orizontally white over bright orange with the organisation’s badge - a Swastika in dark green superimposed in the centre.  Source; The flag Bulletin , July-August 1982, p.131

Swastika of Native Americans

It is believed that from India the symbol of Swastika travelled to central Asia, Persia, Greece, Italy and to Germany. Synagogues in North Africa had Swastikas on their walls.

  

  Swastika motif was also widely in use by Native Americans.   It is possible that it may have originated on this continent independently of Europe or Asia or migrated (?). The Symbolic connotation may not be the same from one tribe to another and across the culture groups of North America. They associated great mystical value to the swastika in sacred rites, myths and symbols. The symbol featured among Navajos, the ancient Mississippian culture of the Mound Builders, et al. 

Swastika Flag in Panama

        The Tule  (Kuna) Indians live on the islands scattered along the coast of Panama, from Gulf of Blas to Columbia. In February 1925 the Kuna revolted vigorously against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and in 1930 they assumed autonomy. James Marill tells us (The Flag Bulletin, XXI: 6/97. P.195) that Richard O. Marsh an American helped the Tule to have a “Tule Territory” as a reservation under an “American of high character”. In order to gain the sympathies of America and the rest of the world, Marsh helped to write a Tule Declaration of Independence. In 1925 the Tule community raised their new Flag at El Porvenir. According to Clyde Keeler; the sacred Swastika (Kikir in Tule word) represents the tree of life turning in the water of life, as seen from above. It is a symbol of the birthing of the world by the Earth-mother. Kikir also means Octopus. In 1942 an American scout plane from the Canal Zone spotted the Tule flag flying in the islands and thought Nazis had landed in Panama. The plane swept down and clipped of the top of the flagpole with its wing. After that incident tribal nose-ring was superimposed over the Swastika, because Germans do not wear nose-ring. The Tule flag is now reserved for ceremonies.

Swastika, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada

 

  The town was named after the Swastika Gold Mine in 1908. There is a legend that it is named after a Native American word   for "Good luck".  During World War - II, the provincial government sought to change the town's name to ‘Winston‘ in honour of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but the town refused, insisting that the town had held the name long before the Nazis co-opted the Swastika symbol. Swastika has periodically been subject to derision for retaining the name.

The Hakenkreuz : Swastika in Germany

Leaded idol of Hissarlik (Thomas Wilson’s report, p 829). Madame Schliemann donated the collection of her late husband to the US National Museum (now Smithsonian) in 1893.

In the 1870s Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) archaeological excavator of Hissarlik (presumed to be the site of ancient Troy) found artifacts with Swastikas near Dardanelles (Northern Turkey) resembling those he had found near the Oder (Odra) River in Germany and proclaimed it to be an ancient German symbol.  By 1914, during the WW-I, the Wandervogel, a militarist German youth movement, made it a national emblem, for which the Swastika was a symbol of “Aryan identity” and German nationalist pride.

Dr. W. Norman Brown’s “The Swastika: A Study of the Nazi Claim of its Aryan Origin” (1933) - submitted the Nazi claims to the tests of historical, scientific evidence. In his terse essay, Dr Brown - a distinguished American scholar, Prof. of Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania, gave a complete account of the origin of the Swastika symbol and its use among ancient people. Dr Brown dismissed the Nazi claim of Swastika and its Aryan origin as untenable. Asserting that it’s true home was amongst the pre-Vedic ‘Dravidans’, a more advanced culture of India.

Steven Heller the Art Director of New York Times, in his book “The Swastika: Symbol Beyond Redemption?”  (2000), writes ……….“Schliemann presumed that the Swastika was a religious symbol  of his German ancestors which linked ancient Teutons, Homeric Greeks and Vedic India.” Heller explores the myth and cult of Swastika lore and its use as a commercial trademark and logo, and then speculates on the future of the symbol.

The Hakenkreuz  (Swastika in Nazi style) became a Hatred Symbol

Steven Heller says; Swastika is a tragic case. It is a historical irony that this ancient manifestation of good luck and fortune bears such a horrible stigma. But from the moment it was adopted by the Nazis, it became a mark of hate.

     In 1920, the Nazis claimed it for themselves. A dentist Friedrich Krohn redesigned the emblem reversing its arms to make them appear clockwise. The ‘Hakenkreuz’ flag of the NSDAP (Nationalsozialisische Deutsche Arbeitspartei) combined the socialist red with two other colours of pre-war Germany. (Illustrated Book of Flags by Alfred Znamierowski, p.243).

It was held that the red and white was symbolical of the commercial strength of the nation, while the black and white represented the armed might on which that prosperity depended.  All merchant ships were ordered to fly the tricolor (red-white-black) at the stern, and the ‘Hakenkreuz’ Flag on the signal stay or starboard signal yard. This use of two flags on merchant ships led to an incident which has had serious diplomatic consequences. A German liner was lying in New York harbor when a faction who was hostile to the Nazi Party hauled down the swastika flag. The German authorities, not unnaturally, took exception to this. It was pointed out, however, that the insult had been aimed at the ‘Party’ Flag, and that the National Flag had not been interfered with. Thereupon at Nuremburg on September 15^th 1935, the Reichstag unanimously decided that the Reich and the National Flag was the ‘Hakenkruez’ and also to be the Mercantile Flag. (Flags of the World by EMC Barraclough, p.135). The main difference between the Nazi Swastika and the ancient auspicious symbol of various religious cultures is that the Nazi Swastika is at a slant.

The Nazis propagated a historical theory in which the early Aryans of India were white invaders. There may also be a connection with the Swastika's magical connections, for Hitler and other Nazi leaders were keenly interested in the occult. “As National Socialists, we see our program in our flag. In red we see the social idea of the movement; in white, the nationalistic idea; in the Swastika, the mission of the struggle  for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work.” Wrote Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf.  (Chapter VII;  The Conflict with the Red Forces).

In 1935, the Reichstag unanimously decided that the Reich and National flag was the ‘Hakenkreuz’ flag.

  

 

 Photo Hitler’s birthday, April 20, 1933 – forty-four swastika candles …… and one to grow.  (The CANADIAN, The Toronto Star, April 30, 1977).

 After the end of the WW II, the Allied Control Commission formally banned all Nazi insignia from Germany

    German American Bund marches through New York, 1939.

Flag of the German American Bund (AV) - a pre-World War II American Nazi organization active in the United States between 1933 and 1941. The German American Bund (Amerikadeutscher Volksbund) was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s. Its main goal was to promote a favorable view/support of Nazi Germany.

An American book "Imperfect Justice", depicting the Swiss flag overlaid with a Swastika made of gold bars has caused outrage in Switzerland.

  In January 2003, a Zurich lawyer filed criminal charges against the former US deputy treasury secretary Stuart Eizenstat, when he published a book, entitled "Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labors, and the Unfinished Business of World War II", about the struggle of Holocaust survivors to reclaim their assets. The Swiss government wanted publication stopped, but historians who studied Switzerland's wartime past are divided over whether the cover accurately represents history. Eizenatat later told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation that he had nothing to apologise for, since the Swiss National Bank had processed Nazi gold during the war.

  In January 2005, Prince Harry of Britain received flak world-wide when he was photographed at a fancy-dress party in Nazi African Korps uniform complete with a red Swastika armband just days before Holocaust Memorial Day. The ensuing uproar forced Harry to issue an apology to the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

The Falun Gong of China also used the Indian style of the Swastika emblem. Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (literally means "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 through public lectures by its founder, Li Hongzhi

The Swastika on Jain Flag

In 1975,  the Jain Flag featuring the Swastika was adopted by all sects of Jainism while commemorating the 2500th anniversary of the nirvana of Lord Mahaveera.

    There is the swastika in the centre of the flag. It represents the four states of existence of life. The three dots above the swastika represent the Ratnatraya or "three jewels" of Jainism: Samyak darshan "Right Faith", Samyak Gyan "Right Knowledge", and Samyak Charitra "Right Conduct".

    On the occasion of the 2600^th Birth Anniversary year of the 24th Jain Tirthankara Bhagwan Mahaveer, India Post issued a stamp in 2001. This stamp depicts a unique symbol summarizing Jain teachings of Ahimsa Paramodharma (Non- violence  is the greatest virtue).

  V. R. Gandhi (1864-1901) - a delegate to the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893, explained what many scholars in the West believed that there was a ‘sect of Buddhist’s named "Swastika” in either India or Tibet.  He clarified that there was no such sects, they probably meant the Jains, because this sect uses the Swastika as a sign of benediction and blessing.

  Ananda Marga is a global spiritual, religious and social service organization founded in 1955.  The symbol of Ananda Marga is called  Pratik (emblem). The Pratik is composed of two interconnected triangles where one points upwards and the other points downwards. This geometrical shape is also found the Anahata Chakra. The Pratik is a symbol that expresses a universal ideology of self-realization and service to humanity. The svastika - signifies personal victory, in the sense of spiritual fulfillment and salvation.  In the center of the triangle is a rising sun, and in the core of the rising sun is a swastika.

 Appropriation of the Swastika is the subject of a critically acclaimed recent theatrical production by Australian group Back to Back. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich features an ensemble cast with physical and learning disabilities, deals with Lord Ganesha travelling to Hitler’s Germany to reclaim the Hindu symbol from the Nazis. (backtobacktheatre.com)

Swastika ban call upsets Hindus

In 2007 Hindus in Europe joined forces to oppose German calls for a law across the European Union banning the display of Swastika symbols, contesting the Swastika symbolizes peace not hate. The swastika has been around for 5000 years as a symbol of peace. This is exactly the opposite (anti-clock wise) of how it was used by the Third Reich. "... Just because Hitler misused the symbol, abused it and used it to propagate a reign of terror and racism and discrimination, it does not mean that its peaceful use should be banned." said Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain. (Reuters, January 17, 2007).

The greatest paradox of modern world history

Admittedly, it was the Nazis who were otherwise great users of flags made the Swastika a hated symbol. Sarah Boxer’s article published in The New York Times on 07 Sept. 2000.
(Page 11, Column 1) entitled  ‘A Symbol of Hatred Pleads Not Guilty’ raised a pertinent question: Can the swastika ever be redeemed?  She delves into the origin of the Swastika, its distortion, uses and misuses in Europe. Sarah writes; ‘Before the Nazi party adopted the swastika and turned it into the most potent icon of racial hatred, it traveled the world as a good luck symbol. It was known in France, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, China, Japan, India and the United States. Buddha's footprints were said to be swastikas. Navajo blankets were woven with swastikas. Synagogues in North Africa, Palestine and Hartford were built with swastika mosaics’. 

  Swastika symbol in decoration in a ancient temple in Vietnam (Nha Trang).

Conclusion

How such an auspicious symbol came to represent the hated Nazi tyrannical oppression and racial genocide is perhaps one of greatest paradox. While the Western world associate the Swastika with Adolf Hitler and the nightmare of World War II,  societies practicing Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and believer of many other sects -  see it differently - as an auspicious sign of  good fortune to be precise  – a symbol - representing aspects of their faith. They've been doing this from time immemorial - in temples, idols, rituals, decorations, and on artifacts, coins and flags.

The fact that an ignominious fanatic placed a swastika on his battle flag is insufficient reason for ignoring this symbol’s historic significance. Wrote Henry Dreyfuss in Symbol Sourcebook: An Authentic Guide to International Graphic Symbols (John Wiley & Sons, 1997)

Thus, we may conclude by saying - next time you visit a temple or a religious congregation in Southeast Asia, don't be surprised when you see the place festooned with Swastikas ! These are and will remain Swastikas of good fortune.