The Swastika is an extremely powerful symbol. The Nazis used it to murder millions of people, but for centuries it had positive meaning. This weekend I present a small article from a websit on the said symbol (it may be mentioned as a brand also). I hope you like it; the inquisitive may poke
further into the same.
The Oldest Known Symbol 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
· India - swastika
Though it is not known for exactly how long, Native Americans also have
long used the symbol of the swastika.
The Original Meaning
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.
Geometry
The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a
square basket-weave. Other theories attempt to establish a connection via
cultural diffusion or an explanation along the lines of Carl Jung's
collective unconscious.
The genesis of the swastika symbol is often treated in conjunction with
cross symbols in general, such as the "sun wheel" of Bronze Age religion.
Beyond its certain presence in the "proto-writing" symbol systems emerging
in the Neolithic,[8] nothing certain is known about the symbol's origin.
There are nevertheless a number of speculative hypotheses. One hypothesis
is that the sun wheel, cross symbols and the swastika share a common origin
in simply symbolizing the four seasons, where the division for 90-degree
sections correspond to the solstices and equinoxes.
The swastika can be regarded as an irregular icosagon or 20-sided polygon.
The proportions of the Nazi swastika were fixed based on a 5 × 5 diagonal
grid. Characteristic is the 90° rotational symmetry and chirality, hence
the absence of reflectional symmetry, and the existence of two versions of
swastikas that are each other's mirror image.
The mirror-image forms are often described as:
clockwise and counterclockwise;
left-facing and right-facing;
left-hand and right-hand.
A Change in Meaning
In the 1800s, countries around Germany were growing much larger, forming
empires; yet Germany was not a unified country until 1871. To counter the
feeling of vulnerability and the stigma of youth, German nationalists in
the mid-nineteenth century began to use the swastika, because it had
ancient Aryan/Indian origins, to represent a long Germanic/Aryan history.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the swastika could be found on
nationalist German volkisch periodicals and was the official emblem of the
German Gymnasts' League. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the
swastika was a common symbol of German nationalism and could be found in a
multitude of places such as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth
movement; on Joerg Lanz von Liebenfels' antisemitic periodical Ostara; on
various Freikorps units; and as an emblem of the Thule Society.
Hitler and the Nazis
In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi Party needed its own insignia
and flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be "a symbol of our own struggle"
as well as "highly effective as a poster." (Mein Kampf, pg. 495). On August
7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, this flag became the official emblem of
the Nazi Party.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the Nazis' new 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, which as such
always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (pg. 496-497). Because of
the Nazis' flag, the swastika soon became a symbol of hate, antisemitism,
violence, death, and murder.
What Does the Swastika Mean Now?
There is a great debate as to what the swastika means now. For 3,000 years,
the swastika meant life and good luck. But because of the Nazis, it has
also taken on a meaning of death and hate.
These conflicting meanings are causing problems in today's society. For
Buddhists and Hindus, the swastika is a very religious symbol that is
commonly used. Chirag Badlani shares a story about one time when he went to
make some photocopies of some Hindu Gods for his temple. While standing in
line to pay for the photocopies, some people behind him in line noticed
that one of the pictures had a swastika. They called him a Nazi.
Unfortunately, the Nazis were so effective at their use of the swastika
emblem, that many do not even know any other meaning for the swastika. Can
there be two completely opposite meanings for one symbol?
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.
But since the Nazis use of the swastika, some people are trying to
differentiate the two meanings of the swastika by varying its direction -
trying to make the clockwise, Nazi version of the swastika mean hate and
death while the counter-clockwise version would hold the ancient meaning of
the symbol, life and good-luck.
As I always say brickbats and bouquets welcome!
-Sukhi
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