Burnouf[118] says approvingly of the Swastika:
Christian archæologists believe this was the most ancient sign of the
cross. * * * It was used among the Brahmins from all antiquity. (Voyez
mot "Swastika" dans notre dictionnaire sanskrit.) Swastika, or Swasta,
in India corresponds to "benediction" among Christians.
[Illustration: Fig. 32. FOOTPRINT OF BUDDHA WITH SWASTIKA, FROM AMARAVATI
TOPE. From a figure by Fergusson and Schliemann.]
The same author, in his translation of the "Lotus de la Bonne Loi," one of
the nine Dharmas or Canonical books of the Buddhists of the North, of 280
pages, adds an appendix of his own writing of 583 pages; and in one (No.
8) devoted to an enumeration and description of the sixty-five figures
traced on the footprint of Çakya (fig. 32) commences as follows:
1. _Svastikaya_: This is the familiar mystic figure of many Indian
sects, represented thus, [S], and whose name signifies, literally,
"sign of benediction or of good augury." (Rgya tch'er rol pa, Vol. 11,
p. 110.)
* * * The sign of the Swastika was not less known to the Brahmins than
to the Buddhists. "Ramayana," Vol. II, p. 348, ed. Gor., Chap. XCVII,
st. 17, tells of vessels on the sea bearing this sign of fortune. This
mark, of which the name and usage are certainly ancient, because it is
found on the oldest Buddhist medals, may have been used as frequently
among the Brahmins as among the Buddhists. Most of the inscriptions on
the Buddhist caverns in western India are either preceded or followed
by the holy (_sacramentelle_) sign of the Swastika. It appears less
common on the Brahmin monuments.
Mr. W. Crooke (Bengal Civil Service, director of Eth. Survey, Northwest
Provinces and Oudh), says:[119]
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.
I explain the Jain Swastika by the following illustration [fig. 33]:
The horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other at right angles
form the Greek cross. They represent spirit and matter. We add four
other lines by bending to the right each arm of the cross, then three
circles and the crescent, and a circle within the crescent. The idea
thus symbolized is that there are four grades of existence of souls in
the material universe. The first is the lowest state--Archaic or
protoplasmic life. The soul evolves from that state to the next--the
earth with its plant and animal life. Then follows the third
stage--the human; then the fourth stage--the celestial. The word
"celestial" is here held to mean life in other worlds than our own.
All these graduations are combinations of matter and soul on different
scales. The spiritual plane is that in which the soul is entirely
freed from the bonds of matter. In order to reach that plane, one must
strive to possess the three jewels (represented by the three circles),
right belief, right knowledge, right conduct. When a person has those,
he will certainly go higher until he reaches the state of liberation,
which is represented by the crescent. The crescent has the form of the
rising moon and is always growing larger. The circle in the crescent
represents the omniscient state of the soul when it has attained full
consciousness, is liberated, and lives apart from matter.
The interpretation, according to the Jain view of the cross, has
nothing to do with the combination of the male and female principle.
Worship of the male and female principles, ideas based upon sex,
lowest even of the emotional plane, can never rise higher than the
male and female.
The Jains make the Swastika sign when we enter our temple of worship.
This sign reminds us of the great principles represented by the three
jewels and by which we are to reach the ultimate good. Those symbols
intensify our thoughts and make them more permanent.
[Illustration: Fig. 33. EXPLANATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA, ACCORDING TO
GANDHI. (1) Archaic or protoplasmic life; (2) Plant and animal life; (3)
Human life; (4) Celestial life.]
[Illustration: Fig. 34_a_. THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA--FIRST
STAGE. Handful of rice or meal, in circular form, thinner in center.]
[Illustration: Fig. 34_b_. THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA--SECOND
STAGE. Rice or meal, as shown in preceding figure, with finger marks,
indicated at 1, 2, 3, 4.]
[Illustration: Fig. 34_c_. THE FORMATION OF THE JAIN SWASTIKA--THIRD
STAGE. Ends turned out, typifying animal, human, and celestial life, as
shown in fig. 33.]
Mr. Gandhi says the Jains make the sign of the Swastika as frequently and
deftly as the Roman Catholics make the sign of the cross. It is not
confined to the temple nor to the priests or monks. Whenever or wherever a
benediction or blessing is given, the Swastika is used. Figs. 34 _a_, _b_,
_c_ form a series showing how it is made. A handful of rice, meal, flour,
sugar, salt, or any similar substance, is spread over a circular space,
say, 3 inches in diameter and one-eighth of an inch deep (fig. 34_a_),
then commence at the outside of the circle (fig. 34_b_), on its upper or
farther left-hand corner, and draw the finger through the meal just to the
left of the center, halfway or more to the opposite or near edge of the
circle (1), then again to the right (2), then upward (3), finally to the
left where it joins with the first mark (4). The ends are swept outward,
the dots and crescent put in above, and the sign is complete (fig. 34_c_).
The sign of the Swastika is reported in great numbers, by hundreds if not
by thousands, in the inscriptions on the rock walls of the Buddhist caves
in India. It is needless to copy them, but is enough to say that they are
the same size as the letters forming the inscription; that they all have
four arms and the ends turn at right angles, or nearly so, indifferently
to the right or to the left. The following list of inscriptions,
containing the Swastikas, is taken from the first book coming to hand--the
"Report of Dr. James Burgess on the Buddhist Cave Temples and their
Inscriptions, Being a Part of the Result of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth
Seasons' Operations of the Archæological Survey of Western India, 1876,
1877, 1878, 1879:"[120]
+--------------------------------------------------+
| | |Inscription| Direction |
| | Plate. | number. |in which ends|
| | | | are bent. |
|--------|---------------|-----------|-------------|
| Bhaja | XLIV | 2 | To right. |
| Kuda | XLVI | 26 | Do. |
| Do | XLVI | 27 | To left. |
| Kol | XLVI | 5 | To right. |
| Karle | XLVII | 1 | Do. |
| Do | XLVII | 3 | Do. |
| Junnar | XLIX | 5 | Do. |
| Do | XLIX | 6 | To left. |
| Do | XLIX | 7 | To right. |
| Do | XLIX | 8 | To left. |
| Do | XLIX | 9 | To right. |
| Do | XLIX | 10 | Do. |
| Do | XLIX | 11 (?) | Do. |
| Do | XLIX | 12 | Do. |
| Do | XLIX | 13 (?) | Do. |
| Do | XLIX | 13 (?) | To left. |
| Do | XLIX | 14 | Do. |
| Do | L | 17 | To right. |
| Do | L | 19 | Do. |
| Nasik | LII | 5 | Do. |
| Do | LV (Nasik 21) | 5 (?) | Do. |
| Do | LV (Nasik 24) | 8 (?) | Do. |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Chantre[121] says:
I remind you that the (East) Indians, Chinese, and Japanese employ the
Swastika, not only as a religious emblem but as a simple ornament in
painting on pottery and elsewhere, the same as we employ the Greek
fret, lozenges, and similar motifs in our ornamentation. _Sistres_
[the staff with jingling bells, held in the hand of Buddha, on whose
base is engraved a row of Swastikas, fig. 29 of present paper] of
similar form and style have been found in prehistoric Swiss lake
dwellings of the bronze age. Thus the _sistres_ and the Swastika are
brought into relation with each other. The _sistres_ possibly relate
to an ancient religion, as they did in the Orient; the Swastika may
have had a similar distinction.