Some Notes on the History of the Wan (Swastika) Symbol

The English and German word Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word: Svastikah, which means "being fortunate." The first part of the word, SVASTI-, can be divided into two parts: SU- (good; well), and -ASTI- (is.) The -ASTIKAH part just means "being". The word is associated with auspicious things in India – because it means "auspicious." In India, both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were used, with different meanings.

Since the swastika is a simple symbol, it has been used, perhaps independently, by many human societies. One of the oldest known swastikas was painted on a paleolithic cave at least 10,000 years ago. About 2,000 years ago, when Buddhism was brought to China from India, the Chinese also borrowed the swastika and its sense of auspiciousness. In China, the swastika is considered to be a Chinese character with the reading of "Wan" (in Mandarin). It is also thought to be equivalent to another Chinese character with the same pronunciation, which means '"ten thousand; a large number; all."

The swastika symbol has been used for thousands of years among practically every group of humans on the planet. It was known to Germanic tribes as the "Cross of Thor," and it is interesting that the Nazis did not use that term, which is consistent with German history, but instead preferred to "steal" the Indian term "swastika." As the "Cross of Thor," the symbol was even brought to England by Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, long before Hitler. Even more interesting, the sign has been found on Jewish temples from 2000 years ago in Palestine, so Hitler was (inadvertently?) "stealing" a Jewish symbol as well as an Indian one.

In the Americas, the swastika was used by Native Americans in North, Central, and South America. According to Joe Hofler, who also refers to Dr. Kumbari of the museum of Urumqi in Xinjiang, China, the Indo-Aryans of the Germanic branch traveled into Europe around 2,000 BC and brought with them the swastika symbol (sun disk) of their religious art at that time as shown by excavations of Kurgan graves on the steppes of Russia and Indo-Aryan graves in Xinjiang, China.

Here are some references with information about the swastika:

1. Thomas Wilson, Curator, Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, U.S. National Museum, Chapter "The Swastika, the earliest known symbol and its migrations; with observations on the migration of certain industries in prehistoric times, " from "Report of National Museum" (1894), pp. 757-1030. (On-line version of this Chapter can be obtained from the following site: http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/sw/ )

2. Barbara G. Walker, "THE WOMAN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS AND SECRETS" (1983), and "THE WOMAN'S DICTIONARY OF SYMBOLS & SACRED OBJECTS" (1988), both published by Harper & Row;

3. James A. Michener, "THE SOURCE";

4. Ernest Klein, "KLEIN'S COMPREHENSIVE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE" (Elsevier, 1971);

5. Robert H. Mathews, "MATHEWS' CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY" (Harvard, 1966);

6. The book "In Search of the Cradle of Civilization" by George Feuerstein, Subhash Kak, and David Frawley (Quest 1995) describes the history of India from a perspective different from that of English colonialists.