The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration: With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times — John Shaqi
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
Fig. 8 (_a_ and _b_) represents two styles of Celtic crosses. These belong
chiefly to Ireland and Scotland, are usually of stone, and frequently set
up at marked places on the road side.
Higgins, in his "Anacalypsis," a rare and costly work, almost an
encyclopedia of knowledge,[2] says, concerning the origin of the cross,
that the official name of the governor of Tibet, Lama, comes from the
ancient Tibetan word for the cross. The original spelling was L-a-m-h.
This is cited with approval in Davenport's "Aphrodisiacs" (p. 13).
[Illustration: Fig. 8. CELTIC CROSSES.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9. NORMAL SWASTIKA.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10. SUAVASTIKA.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11. SWASTIKA. Meander.]
Of the many forms of the cross, the Swastika is the most ancient. Despite
the theories and speculations of students, its origin is unknown. It began
before history, and is properly classed as prehistoric. Its description is
as follows: The bars of the normal Swastika (frontispiece and fig. 9) are
straight, of equal thickness throughout, and cross each other at right
angles, making four arms of equal size, length, and style. Their
peculiarity is that all the ends are bent at right angles and in the same
direction, right or left. Prof. Max Müller makes the symbol different
according as the arms are bent to the right or to the left. That bent to
the right he denominates the true Swastika, that bent to the left he calls
Suavastika (fig. 10), but he gives no authority for the statement, and the
author has been unable to find, except in Burnouf, any justification for a
difference of names. Professor Goodyear gives the title of "Meander" to
that form of Swastika which bends two or more times (fig. 11).
The Swastika is sometimes represented with dots or points in the corners
of the intersections (fig. 12_a_), and occasionally the same when without
bent ends (fig. 12_b_), to which Zmigrodzki gives the name of _Croix
Swasticale_. Some Swastikas have three dots placed equidistant around each
of the four ends (fig. 12_c_).
[Illustration: Fig. 12. CROIX SWASTICALE (ZMIGRODZKI).]
There are several varieties possibly related to the Swastika which have
been found in almost every part of the globe, and though the relation may
appear slight, and at first sight difficult to trace, yet it will appear
more or less intimate as the examination is pursued through its
ramifications. As this paper is an investigation into and report upon
facts rather than conclusions to be drawn from them, it is deemed wise to
give those forms bearing even possible relations to the Swastika. Certain
of them have been accepted by the author as related to the Swastika, while
others have been rejected; but this rejection has been confined to cases
where the known facts seemed to justify another origin for the symbol.
Speculation has been avoided.
[Illustration: PECULIAR FORMS OF SWASTIKA.
Fig. 13_a_. OGEE AND SPIRAL SWASTIKAS. Tetraskelion (four-armed).
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