The Swastika is an important symbol to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists in India and other Asian countries for many thousands of years. This symbol can be seen in many sacred places, temples, books, vehicles. The word ‘Swastika‘ can be broken as Su+Asti+Ka, where Su means good and Asti means ‘It really is’ and Ka makes the word a noun. That means “Everything is good.” It is considered the symbol of luck and good fortune. It also is considered to be a representation of Sun and is associated with the worship of Aryan Sun Gods.
‘Swastika’ is a primitive symbol or ornaments in the form of a cross. Early Western travelers to Asia were inspired by it’s positive and ancient associations and started using it. By the beginning of the 20th century there was a huge fad for the ‘Swastika’ as a benign good luck symbol.
US graphic design writer Steven Heller shows it was adopted in the West as an architectural motif, on advertising and product design.
It was used by American military units during World War One and it could be seen on RAF planes as late as 1939. Most of benign uses of ‘Swastika’ came to a halt in the 1930s as the Nazi rose to power in Germany.
It is said that for the Jewish people,’ The Swastika’ is a symbol of fear, of suppression, and of extermination because Nazis used ‘Swastika Flag’. The irony is that the ‘Swastika is more European in origin than most people realize. Archaeologically proved that the ‘Swastika’ is a very old symbol, used by the ancient Greeks, Celts, and Anglo-Saxons, Eastern Europe and Russia.
‘Swastika’ is lucky and auspicious sign to us and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness or the piece of luck or well-being. The ‘Swastika is drawn on Kalash at the time of Hindu rituals.
I don’t know why the Jewish people do not agree to take the sign back as it is a very beautiful and auspicious sign. ‘Swastika’ looks like the Nazi Symbol but There is a difference; Nazi Symbol is tilted as if standing on one point while the Hindu Symbol seems as if standing on a horizontal branch.
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The ‘Swastika’ used as your featured image looks a lot prettier than the one used by German Nazi soldiers during the wars and by modern day neo-Nazis, Aryan nation and similar hate groups who look down on people of color as being inferior.
Hi Barnali,
That’s a good blog on the meaning and origin of swastika. It was the Nazi under Adolf Hitler who gave swastika a bad connotation when they adopted it as symbol of the Nazi party and I guess that “hated symbol” had a lasting impression on the mind of the people as symbol of oppression and fascism.
History wise you are right that the swastika symbol is not a bad symbol. Again it is only the NAZI and Hitler who polluted and prostituted the good meaning of the swastika symbol.
I understand that they even outlawed the Nazi Swastika symbol in Europe due to the many war crimes committed by Nazi Germany especially the holocaust of around 6 million Jews.
The reverse is true with the cross as a symbol. It used to be that the cross is a symbol of shame, punishment, and death during the olden days especially at the time of the Roman Empire.
But with the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, for Christians it is no longer a symbol of shame, death and punishment but of salvation and the everything that is associated with our Lord Jesus Christ and Christianity for that matter.
So we can see how the meaning of a particular symbol may change over time depending upon its usage and the interpretation associated with it.