Swastika

:For the town in Ontario, see Swastika, Ontario.

Religion and mythology

Hinduism

The swastika is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography where it is sacred. It is used in all Hindu weddings, festivals, ceromonies, houses and doorways, clothing and jewelry, motor transport and even decorations on food items like cakes and pastries.

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It is interesting to note that along with the swastika, the Aum symbol is also sacred in Hinduism. However, whereas Aum is representative of a single primordial tone of creation, the swastika is a pure geometrical mark and has no syllabic tone associated with it.

Related Topics:
Aum

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In Hinduism, the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma: facing right it represents the evolution of the universe (Pravritti), facing left it represents the involution of the universe (Nivritti). It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (North, East, South and West) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of Surya, the Hindu lord of the Sun. The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate all sorts of items to do with Hindu culture. It is used in all Hindu yantras and religious designs. Throughout the subcontinent of India it can be seen on the sides of temples, written on religious scriptures, on gift items, and on letterhead. The Hindu God Ganesh is often shown as sitting on a lotus flower on a bed of swastikas.

Related Topics:
Hinduism - Brahma - Evolution - Involution - Surya - Yantra - Ganesh

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Amongst the Hindus of Bengal, it is common to see the name "swastika" applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being.{{ref|bengalonthenet}} "Swastika" is a common given name amongst Bengalis and a prominent literary magazine in Calcutta is called the Swastika. The stick figure, however, is not mainstream usage in India.

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Buddhism

Buddhism was founded by a Hindu Prince and has thus inherited the swastika. These two symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty, as part of the Chinese language, the symbolic sign for the character ? (wàn) meaning "all", and "eternality" (lit. myriad) and as ? which is seldom used. A swastika marks the beginning of many Buddhist scriptures. The swastikas (in either orientation) appear on the chest of some statues of Gautama Buddha and is often incised on the soles of the feet of the Buddha in statuary. Because of the association with the right facing swastika with Nazism, Buddhist swastikas (outside India only) after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing. This form of the swastika is often found on Chinese food packaging to signify that the product is vegetarian and can be consumed by strict Buddhists. It is often sewn into the collars of Chinese children's clothing to protect them from evil spirits. Additionally, the left-facing swastika is found on Japanese maps to indicate a temple.

Related Topics:
Buddhism - Liao Dynasty - Chinese language - Myriad - Statue - Gautama Buddha - Nazism - Vegetarian

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It must be noted that left facing swastikas are seldom if ever found in Buddhism's home country of India. It is considered as evil in Indian Buddhism as it is in Hinduism or Jainism.

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The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji, and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When facing left, it is the omote (front) manji, representing love and mercy. Facing right, it represents strength and intelligence, and is called the ura (rear) manji. Balanced manji are often found at the beginning and end of Buddhist scriptures (outside India).

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Jainism

Jainism gives even more prominence to the swastika than Hinduism. It is a symbol of the seventh Jina (Saint), the Tirthankara Suparsva. It is considered to be one of the 24 auspicious marks and the emblem of the seventh arhat of the present age. All Jain temples and holy books must contain the swastika and ceremonies typically begin and end with creating a swastika mark several times with rice around the altar.

Related Topics:
Jainism - Arhat

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Jains use rice to make a swastika (also known as "Sathiyo" in the state of Gujarat, India) in front of idols in temple. Jains then put an offering on top of this swastika - this offering is usually a fruit, a sweet (mithai), a dry-fruit or sometimes coin/currency note.

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The Abrahamic religions

The swastika was not widely utilized by followers of the Abrahamic religions, because Semitic peoples had a very different religious history, culture and language system (written and spoken) than those in the Indo-European family.

Related Topics:
Abrahamic religion - Semitic

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Where it does exist, it is not portrayed as an explicitly religious symbol and is often purely decorative or, at most, a symbol of good luck. Examples of scattered use includes the floor of the synagogue at Ein Gedi, built during the Roman occupation of Judea, was decorated with a swastika.{{ref|jewishvirtuallibrary}} Some Christian churches built in the Romanesque and Gothic eras are decorated with swastikas, carrying over earlier Roman designs. Swastikas are prominently displayed in a mosaic in the St. Sophia church of Kiev, Ukraine dating to the 12th century. They also appear as a repeating ornamental motif on a tomb in the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan. However, a proposed direct link between it and a swastika floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, which was built on top of a pagan site at Amiens, France in the 1200s, is considered unlikely. The Muslim "Friday" mosque of Isfahan, Iran and the Taynal Mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon both have swastika motifs.

Related Topics:
Ein Gedi - Roman - Judea - Romanesque - Gothic - Mosaic - Kiev - Ukraine - 12th century - Milan - Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens - Amiens - France - 1200s - Muslim - Isfahan - Iran - Taynal Mosque - Tripoli - Lebanon

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Other Asian traditions

Some sources indicate that the Chinese Empress Wu (684-704) of the Tang Dynasty decreed that the swastika would be used as an alternative symbol of the sun. The Chinese character ? has developed into the modern one ?, pronounced f?ng in Standard Mandarin, and has the main meaning of "square". As part of the Chinese script, the swastika has Unicode encodings U+534D ? (pronounciation following the Chinese character "?": Cantonese: "man"; Mandarin: wan); (left-facing) and U+5350 ? (right-facing).{{ref|unicode}}

Related Topics:
Empress Wu - 684 - 704 - Tang Dynasty - Chinese character - Standard Mandarin - Unicode

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In Japan, the swastika is called manji (?). On Japanese town plans, a swastika (left-facing and horizontal) is commonly used to mark the location of a Buddhist temple. The right-facing manji is often referred as the gyaku manji (??, lit. "reverse manji"), and can also be called kagi j?ji, literally "hook cross." A Pokémon playing card sold in Japan had a manji graphic. Because of its resemblance to the Nazi swastika (see below), the card was altered for Western translations, and eventually withdrawn in Japan following Western complaints. Similarly, a manji symbol was incorporated as a level design in both the Japanese and U.S. versions of the 1986 The Legend of Zelda video game. In the anime and manga Naruto, one of the characters, Hyuuga Neji, has a manji with hooked ends on his forehead, imprinted there when he was young.

Related Topics:
Japan - Pokémon - 1986 - The Legend of Zelda - Naruto

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The left-facing Buddhist swastika also appears on the emblem of Falun Gong. This has generated considerable controversy, particularly in Germany, where the police have reportedly confiscated several banners featuring the emblem. A court ruling subsequently allowed Falun Gong followers in Germany to continue the use of the emblem.

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Native American traditions

The swastika shape was used by some Native Americans. It has been found in excavations of Mississippian-era sites in the Ohio valley. It was widely used by many southwestern tribes, most notably the Navajo. Among different tribes the swastika carried various meanings. To the Hopi it represented the wandering Hopi clans; to the Navajo it was one symbol for a whirling log (tsil no'oli), a sacred image representing a legend that was used in healing rituals.{{ref|collectorsguide}}

Related Topics:
Mississippian - Ohio valley - Southwestern - Navajo - Hopi - Whirling log

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Pre-Christian European traditions

Use of the swastika corresponds closely with Indo-European languages and paganism in Europe{{fact}}.

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The swastika (also called a fylfot, a term coined in the 19th century from a 1500 reference to a figure used to fill empty space at the foot of stained-glass windows in medieval churches) appears on many pre-Christian artefacts, drawn both clockwise and counterclockwise, within a circle or in a swirling form. The Greek goddess Athena was sometimes portrayed as wearing robes covered with swastikas. The "Ogham stone" found in County Kerry, Ireland is inscribed with several swastikas dating to the fifth century AD, and is believed to have been an altar stone of the Druids. The pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, England, contains gold cups and shields bearing swastikas. Today it is used as a symbol for Ásatrú, the reconstructed religion of Northern Europe.

Related Topics:
Fylfot - 1500 - Greek - Athena - County Kerry - Ireland - Fifth century AD - Druids - Anglo-Saxon - Ship burial - Sutton Hoo - Ásatrú - Reconstructed

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