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
The mystical emblem of the Swastika, which appears to represent the
sun in his journey through the heavens, is of constant occurrence. The
trader paints it on the flyleaf of his ledger, he who has young
children or animals liable to the evil eye makes a representation of
it on the wall beside his doorpost. It holds first place among the
lucky marks of the Jainas. It is drawn on the shaven heads of children
on the marriage day in Gujarat. A red circle with Swastika in the
center is depicted on the place where the family gods are kept
(Campbell, Notes, p. 70). In the Meerut division the worshiper of the
village god Bhumiya constructs a rude model of it in the shrine by
fixing up two crossed straws with a daub of plaster. It often occurs
in folklore. In the drama of the Toy Cart the thief hesitates whether
he shall make a hole in the wall of Charudatta's house in the form of
a Swastika or of a water jar (Manning, Ancient India, 11, 100).
_Village shrines._--The outside (of the shrines) is often covered with
rude representations of the mystical Swastika.
On page 250 he continues thus:
_Charms._--The bazar merchant writes the words "Ram Ram" over his
door, or makes an image of Genesa, the god of luck, or draws the
mystical Swastika. The jand tree is reverenced as sacred by Khattris
and Brahmins to avoid the evil eye in children. The child is brought
at 3 years of age before a jand tree; a bough is cut with a sickle and
planted at the foot of the tree. A Swastika symbol is made before it
with the rice flour and sugar brought as an offering to the tree.
Threads of string, used by women to tie up their hair, are cut in
lengths and some deposited on the Swastika.
Mr. Virchand R. Gandhi, a Hindu and Jain disciple from Bombay, India, a
delegate to the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893,
remained for some time in Washington, D. C., proselyting among the
Christians. He is a cultivated gentleman, devoted to the spread of his
religion. I asked his advice and assistance, which he kindly gave,
supervising my manuscript for the Swastika in the extreme Orient, and
furnishing me the following additional information relative to the
Swastika in India, and especially among the Jains:
The Swastika is misinterpreted by so-called Western expounders of our
ancient Jain philosophy. The original idea was very high, but later on
some persons thought the cross represented only the combination of the
male and the female principles. While we are on the physical plane and
our propensities on the material line, we think it necessary to unite
these (sexual) principles for our spiritual growth. On the higher
plane the soul is sexless, and those who wish to rise higher than the
physical plane must eliminate the idea of sex.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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