The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric TimesWilson, Thomas
Religion
The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times
Wilson, Thomas
Industries, Primitive; Swastikas; Symbolism
_Swastika on ancient Hindu coins._--It is not to be inferred from this
opposition that the Swastika never appeared on ancient coins. It did
appear, but seems to have been of a later date and to have belonged
farther east among the Hindus. Fig. 230 shows an ancient (Hindu?) coin
reported by Waring, who cites Cunningham as authority for its having been
found at Ujain. The design consists of a cross with independent circles on
the outer end of each of the four arms, the circles being large enough to
intersect each other. The field of each of these circles bears a Swastika
of normal form. Other coins are cited of the same style, with small center
dots and concentric circles in the stead of the Swastika. What meaning the
Swastika has here, beyond the possible one of being a lucky penny, is not
suggested.
[Illustration: Fig. 230. ANCIENT HINDU COIN IN THE FORM OF A CROSS WITH A
SWASTIKA ON THE EXTREMITY OF EACH ARM.[237] Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote
Ages," pl. 41, fig. 13.]
[Illustration: Figs. 231, 232, 233, and 234. ANCIENT HINDU COINS WITH
SWASTIKAS, NORMAL AND OGEE. Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 41,
figs. 20-24.]
Other ancient Hindu coins bearing the Swastika (figs. 231-234) are
attributed to Cunningham by Waring.[238] These are said by Waring to be
Buddhist coins found at Behat near Scharaupur. Mr. E. Thomas, in his
article on the "Earliest Indian Coinage,"[239] ascribes them to the reign
of Krananda, a Buddhist Indian king contemporary with or prior to
Alexander, about 330 B. C.
The coins of Krananda,[240] contemporary of Alexander the Great,[241] bear
the Swastika mark, associated with the principal Buddhist marks, the
trisula, the stupha, sacred tree, sacred cone, etc. Waring says[242] that
according to Prinsep's "Engravings of Hindu Coins," the Swastika seems to
disappear from them about 200 B. C., nor is it found on the
Indo-Bactrian, the Indo-Sassanian, or the later Hindu or subsequent
Mohammedan, and he gives in a note the approximate dates of these
dynasties: Early native Buddhist monarchs from about 500 B. C. to the
conquest of Alexander, about 330 B. C.; the Indo-Bactrian or Greek
successors of Alexander from about 300 to 126 B. C.; the Indo-Parthian or
Scythic from about 126 B. C.; the second Hindu dynasty from about 56 B.
C.; the Indo-Sassanian from A. D. 200 to 636, and subsequent to that the
Indo-Mohammedan from the eleventh to the close of the thirteenth century;
the Afghan dynasty from A. D. 1290 to 1526, and the Mongol dynasty to the
eighteenth century, when it was destroyed by Nadir Shah. (See p. 772.)
[Illustration: Fig. 235. ANCIENT COIN WITH SWASTIKA. Gaza, Palestine.
Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages," pl. 42, fig. 6.]
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