In forming the foregoing theories their authors have been largely controlled by the alleged fact of the substitution and permutation of the Swastika sign on various objects with recognized symbols of these different deities. The claims of these theorists are somewhat clouded in obscurity and lost in the antiquity of the subject. What seems to have been at all times an attribute of the Swastika is its character as a charm or amulet, as a sign of benediction, blessing, long life, good fortune, good luck. This character has continued into modern times, and while the Swastika is recognized as a holy and sacred symbol by at least one Buddhistic religious sect, it is still used by the common people of India, China, and Japan as a sign of long life, good wishes, and good fortune.
Whatever else the sign Swastika may have stood for, and however many meanings it may have had, it was always ornamental. It may have been used with any or all the above significations, but it was always ornamental as well.
The Swastika sign had great extension and spread itself practically over the world, largely, if not entirely, in prehistoric times, though its use in some countries has continued into modern times.
The elaboration of the meanings of the Swastika indicated above and its dispersion or migrations form the subject of this paper.
Dr. Schliemann found many specimens of Swastika in his excavations at the site of ancient Troy on the hill of Hissarlik. They were mostly on spindle whorls, and will be described in due course. He appealed to Prof. Max Müller for an explanation, who, in reply, wrote an elaborate description, which Dr. Schliemann published in “Ilios.[10]”
He commences with a protest against the word Swastika being applied generally to the sign Swastika, because it may prejudice the reader or the public in favor of its Indian origin. He says:
I do not like the use of the word svastika outside of India. It is a word of Indian origin and has its history and definite meaning in India. * * * The occurrence of such crosses in different parts of the world may or may not point to a common origin, but if they are once called Svastika the vulgus profanum will at once jump to the conclusion that they all come from India, and it will take some time to weed out such prejudice.
Very little is known of Indian art before the third century B. C., the period when the Buddhist sovereigns began their public buildings.[11]
The name Svastika, however, can be traced (in India) a little farther back. It occurs as the name of a particular sign in the old grammar of Pânani, about a century earlier. Certain compounds are mentioned there in which the last word is karna, “ear.” * * * One of the signs for marking cattle was the Svastika [[fig. 41]], and what Pânani teaches in his grammar is that when the compound is formed, svastika-karna, i. e., “having the ear marked with the sign of a Svastika,” the final a of Svastika is not to be lengthened, while it is lengthened in other compounds, such as datra-karna, i. e., “having the ear marked with the sign of a sickle.”
D’Alviella[12] reinforces Max Müller’s statement that Panini lived during the middle of the fourth century, B. C. Thus it is shown that the word Swastika had been in use at that early period long enough to form an integral part of the Sanskrit language and that it was employed to illustrate the particular sounds of the letter a in its grammar.