The origin and early history of the Swastika are lost in antiquity. All
the author has been able to find on these subjects is set forth in the
preceding chapters.
It is proposed to examine the possible uses of the Swastika in an endeavor
to discover something of its significance. The Swastika might have served:
I. As a symbol--
1, of a religion,
2, of a nation or people,
3, of a sect with peculiar tenets;
II. As an amulet or charm--
1, of good luck, or fortune, or long life,
2, of benediction, or blessing,
3, against the evil eye;
III. As an ornament or decoration.
It may have been (1) originally discovered or invented by a given people
in a given country, and transmitted from one generation to the next,
passing by migration from one country to another, and it may have been
transmitted by communication to widely separated countries and among
differently cultured peoples; or (2) it may have appeared in these latter
countries by duplicate invention or by accident, and without contact or
communication.
Positive evidence concerning its origin and earliest migration is not
obtainable, and in its absence we are driven to secondary and
circumstantial evidence. This will consist (1) of comparison of known
facts directly concerning the subject; (2) of facts indirectly concerning
it, and (3) reason, induced by argument, applied to these facts,
presenting each truly, and giving to each its proper weight.
The possible migrations of the Swastika, and its appearance in widely
separated countries and among differently cultured peoples, afford the
principal interest in this subject to archæologists and anthropologists.
The present or modern scientific interest in and investigation of the
Swastika as a symbol or a charm alone are subsidiary to the greater
question of the cause and manner of its appearance in different countries,
whether it was by migration and contact or by independent invention. In
arguing this question, we must keep continually in mind the rules of
reason and of logic, and neither force the facts nor seek to explain them
by unknown, imaginary, or impossible methods. There must be no dogmatic
assertions nor fanciful theories. If we assume certain migrations of the
Swastika, we must consider those things which might have (or must have)
migrated with it; and we must admit the means necessary to the assumed
end.
The history of the beginning and first appearance of any of the forms of
the cross is also lost in antiquity, and it would be hazardous for any
person to announce positively their origin, either as to locality or
time. The Swastika was certainly prehistoric in its origin. It was in
extensive use during the existence of the third, fourth, and fifth cities
of the site of ancient Troy, of the hill of Hissarlik; so also in the
Bronze Age, apparently during its entire existence, throughout western
Europe from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. It continued in use
in Europe during the Iron Age, and also among the Etruscans, Greeks, and
Trojans. The name "Swastika," by which it is recognized to-day in all
literature, is a Sanscrit word, and was in common use among the Sanscrit
peoples so long ago that it had a peculiar or individual pronunciation in
Pânini's grammar prior to the fourth century B. C. Some authorities are of
the opinion that it was an Aryan symbol and used by the Aryan peoples
before their dispersion through Asia and Europe. This is a fair subject
for inquiry and might serve as an explanation how, either as a sacred
symbol or charm, an amulet, or token of good wishes or good fortune, the
Swastika might have been carried to the different peoples and countries in
which we now find it by the splitting up of the Aryan peoples and their
migrations and establishment in the various parts of Europe. Professor
Sayce is of the opinion that the Swastika was a Hittite symbol and passed
by communication to the Aryans or some of their important branches before
their final dispersion took place, but he agrees that it was unknown in
Assyria, Babylonia, Phenicia, or among the Egyptians.
Whether the Swastika was in use among the Chaldeans, Hittites, or the
Aryans before or during their dispersion, or whether it was used by the
Brahmins before the Buddhists came to India is, after all, but a matter of
detail of its migrations; for it may be fairly contended that the Swastika
was in use, more or less common among the people of the Bronze Age
anterior to either the Chaldeans, Hittites, or the Aryans. The additional
facts in this regard have been set forth in the chapter on this subject,
and need not be repeated here.
The question should, so far as possible, be divested of speculation, and
the evidence accepted in its ordinary meaning "without prejudice or
preconceived opinion."
A consideration of the subject in the light of the material here collected
develops the following questions:
(1) Was the Swastika, in any of its forms, the symbol of an ancient
religion or philosophy, or was it only the sign of a particular sect,
tenet, faith, or idea; or was it both?
(2) Was it a charm or amulet to be used by anyone which derived its value
from the signification given to it?
(3) What lesson can be gathered from it concerning the early migrations of
the races of man?
Examples illustrating these questions are to be found in history as well
as in everyday life. The Scarabæus of Egypt and Etruria was a symbol of
eternity. The golden hoop on the lady's finger representing a snake
swallowing its tail, is also a symbol of eternity. These represent a
sentiment, and are symbols of that sentiment without regard to sect or
organized body.
On the other hand, the Maltese cross was the symbol of the Knights of
Malta, and has become, in later years, that of the Masonic fraternity;
while the three links is the symbol of the Order of Odd Fellows. The Latin
cross is a symbol of the Christian religion and, to a certain extent, of a
Christian denomination.
Upon the evidence submitted, we must accept the Swastika first as a symbol
of that sect of Jains within the Buddhist Church originally in Tibet,
which spread itself in the Asiatic country under the names of Tao-sse,
Tirthankara, Ter, Musteg, and Pon or Pon-po, the last signifying purity
(ante, p. 774). This sect, or these sects, adopted the Swastika as their
symbol, giving it the translation _su_ "well," _asti_, "it is," the whole
word meaning "it is well," or "so be it," implying resignation under all
circumstances, the sect holding, in accordance with the meaning given to
their symbol, that contentment and peace of mind were the chief objects of
human life. In so far as it concerns this sect, the Swastika was a symbol
of both kinds. It represented a religious or at least a moral and
philosophic idea, and also the sect which held to this idea.
Among the Buddhists proper, the Swastika seems to have been employed as a
holy or sacred symbol; its occurrence as one of the signs in the footprint
of Buddha, their founder, with some relation either to the mystery of his
appearance as a leader, a missionary, or of the holy and sacred object of
his mission, causes this to be inferred. Their use of it on the bronze
statues of Buddha, and associating it with solemn inscriptions in the
caves of India, leaves no doubt as to its use as a symbol more or less of
this character.
Again, the use in the early Christian times of different forms of the
cross, coupled with the extensive use by the Christians of the "monogram
of Christ" (fig. 6), shows how naturally there may have been a conflict of
opinion in the selection of a cross which should be a representative,
while we know from history that there was such discussion, and that
different forms of the cross were suggested. Among other forms was the
Swastika, but to what extent or with what idea the author is not informed.
The Swastika was used, Burnouf says, a thousand times on Christians' tombs
in the catacombs at Rome. This is evidence of its use to a certain extent
in a sacred or solemn and funereal character, which would signify its use
as the symbol of a religious idea.
Beyond these instances the author is unable to find evidence of the
Swastika having served as a symbol of any religious or philosophic idea or
of any sect or organization.
Whether among the Bronze Age people of western Europe--among the Trojans,
Greeks, or Etruscans--whether among the semicivilized peoples of South or
Central America, or among the savages (mound-builders) of North America,
there is apparently no instance of the Swastika having been regarded as
holy or used on a sacred object--that is, holy and sacred in the light of
godliness, piety, or morality. It may have been or may yet be discovered
that some of these wild men used the Swastika upon objects serving at
ceremonies or festivals of their religion, or which had, in their eyes, a
semi-sacred character. But it does not seem that it was used as a
representative of a holy idea or of any god or supernatural being who
stood for such an idea. The meal used in the Zuñi ceremony may have been
regarded as sacred, and it may, indeed must, have been made on a stone
metate, yet neither the metate nor the stone thereby obtained any holy or
sacred character. So, also, it may have been decorated with a fret,
chevron, herringbone, or any of the numerous styles, none of which would
receive any sacred character from such use. So it is believed to have been
with the Swastika found on these objects; it was not holy or sacred
because of this use.
The author declines to discuss the possible relation of the Swastika to
the sun or sun god, to the rain or rain god, the lightning, to Dyaus, Zeus
or Agni, to Phebus or Apollo, or other of the mythological deities. This
question would be interesting if it could be determined with certainty, or
if the determination would be accepted by any considerable number of
persons. But this is left for some one more competent and more interested
than the author.
The most probable use of the Swastika among prehistoric peoples, or among
Orientals other than the Buddhists, was as a charm or amulet signifying
good fortune, good luck, long life, or benediction and blessing.[306] (See
p. 780.)
Looking over the entire prehistoric world, we find the Swastika used on
small and comparatively insignificant objects, those in common use, such
as vases, pots, jugs, implements, tools, household goods and utensils,
objects of the toilet, ornaments, etc., and infrequently on statues,
altars, and the like. In Armenia it was found on bronze pins and buttons;
in the Trojan cities on spindle-whorls; in Greece on pottery, on gold and
bronze ornaments, and fibulæ. In the Bronze Age in western Europe,
including Etruria, it is found on the common objects of life, such as
pottery, the bronze fibulæ, ceintures, spindle-whorls, etc.
In addition to the foregoing, there were peculiar uses of the Swastika in
certain localities: In Italy on the hut urns in which the ashes of the
dead are buried; in the Swiss lakes stamped in the pottery; in Scandinavia
on the weapons, swords, etc., and in Scotland and Ireland on the brooches
and pins; in America on the metates for grinding corn; the Brazilian women
wore it on the pottery fig leaf; the Pueblo Indian painted it on his dance
rattle, while the North American Indian, at the epoch of the mound
building in Arkansas and Missouri, painted it in spiral form on his
pottery; in Tennessee he engraved it on the shell, and in Ohio cut it in
its plainest normal form out of sheets of copper. So also among the modern
Indians we find it employed on occasions of ceremony, as in the mountain
chant by the Navajoes, and the war chant of the Kansas, on the necklace
and ceremonial garters of the Sac woman, and on the war shields of the
Pimas.
As we do not find it represented in America on aboriginal religious
monuments, on ancient gods, idols, or other sacred or holy objects, we are
justified in claiming that it was not here used as a religious symbol;
while, as it is found only on trinkets, shells, copper plaques,
spindle-whorls, metates, pottery bowls, jugs, bottles, or vases; as we
find it sometimes square, sometimes spiral, now outside, now inside, of
bowls and jars, etc.; at one time a small rectangular figure and at
another of extensive convolutions covering the side of the vase; as we
find it on the tools of the workmen, the objects in everyday use, whether
in the house or the shop, used indiscriminately by men and women, or on
gaming implements or dance rattles, the contention seems justifiable that
it was used as an ornament or as a charm for good luck and not as a
religious symbol. Yet we know it was used on certain ceremonial occasions
which may themselves have had more or less a sacred character.
Thus, after the fullest examination, we find the Swastika was confined to
the commoner uses, implements, household utensils, and objects for the
toilet and personal decoration. The specimens of this kind number a
hundred to one of a sacred kind. With this preponderance in favor of the
common use, it would seem that, except among the Buddhists and early
Christians, and the more or less sacred ceremonies of the North American
Indians, all pretense of the holy or sacred character of the Swastika
should be given up, and it should (still with these exceptions) be
considered as a charm, amulet, token of good luck or good fortune, or as
an ornament and for decoration.