But in whatever other connexion it may have been employed, it was invariably, and still is to-day, an auspicious sign. It is still used by the common people of India, of China, and of Japan, as a sign of ‘long life, good wishes, and good fortune.’ Among many North American Indian tribes it is called ‘the luck,’ and the men wear it embroidered on their garters, and the women on the borders of their skirts; and in ancient times it was wont to be embroidered in quills on the bags in which they carried their medicinal herbs. In Thibet it is a not uncommon mode of tattooing; and in this connexion it is interesting to note that Higgins in his ‘Anacalypsis’ says, concerning the origin of the cross, that the official name for the Governor of Thibet comes from the ancient Thibetan name for cross, the original spelling of which is “Lamh.” Davenport corroborates this view in his “Aphrodisiaco.” There is, according to Balfour, despite Mr. Gandhi’s contradictions of Colonel Cunningham, a sect in Thibet who receive their name from this symbol. They are the ‘Tao-sse’ of the Chinese. The founder of this doctrine is said to have flourished B.C. 604 to 523. They were rationalists who held that peace of mind and contentment were the only objects worthy of attainment in this life. They assumed the name of Tirthakar, or pure-doers. Professor Max Müller, discussing the question why the sign should have had an auspicious meaning, mentions that Mr. Thomas, the distinguished oriental numismatist, has called attention to the fact, that in the long list of the recognized devices of the twenty-four Jain Tirthankara[32] the sun is absent, but that while the eighth Tirthankara has the sign of the half moon, the seventh is marked with a Svastika, i.e. the sun. Here, then, is clear indication that the Svastika with the ends pointing in the right direction was originally a symbol of the sun, perhaps of the vernal sun as opposed to the autumnal sun, the ‘Suavastika,’ and therefore a natural symbol of light, life, health, and wealth. This ‘Suavastika,’ Max Müller believes, was applied to the Svastika sign with the ends bent to the left, but with the exception of Burnouf (‘Des Sciences et Religions’) no one agrees with him. Burnouf supports his theory (which is, that the word Suavastika is a derivation of the Svastika, and ought to signify ‘he, who, or that which bears or carries the Svastika or a species of Svastika’) by the story of Agni (Ignis), the god of Sacred Fire, as told in the ‘Veda’ (the four sacred books of the Hindus). ‘The young Queen, the Mother of Fire, carried the Royal infant mysteriously concealed in her bosom. She was a woman of the people, whose common name was Arani—that is, the instrument of wood (the Svastika) from which fire was produced by rubbing.’ Burnouf says that the origin of the sign is now easy to recognize. It represents the two pieces of wood which compose the Arani, of which the extremities were to be retained by the four nails. At the junction of the two pieces was a fossette or cup-like hole, and there was placed a wooden upright in the form of a lance (the pramantha), the violent rotation of which (by whipping after the fashion of the whipping-top) brought forth fire.
Form of Svastika at the end of Kolpâpur Inscription.
Svastika at end of Kûdâ.
Croix Svasticale (Zmigrodski).
SECTION OF ORIENTAL CARPET IN THE POSSESSION OF MR. HAROLD HARTLEY, SHOWING THE SVASTIKA
Zmigrodski agrees with this view; but, as with every other theory connected with Svastika, it has many opponents. ¶ Professor Dumontier holds that Svastika is nothing else than a development of the ancient Chinese characters C. h. e, which carries the idea, according to Count Goblet D’Alviella (in ‘La Migration des Symboles’), of perfection or excellence, and signifies the renewal and perpetuity of life. Max Müller, Waring, and D’Alviella are agreed that neither in Babylonia nor in Assyria are any traces of Svastika to be found. Ludwig Müller, however, finds ample evidence of it on Persian coins of the Arsacides and Sassanides dynasties. ¶ Arsacides was the name of the Parthian kings whose family name was Arseus. The Arsacidean kings of Armenia, according to Moses of Chorene, began to reign B.C. 130, and ruled until A.D. 45, when the Armenian kingdom was extinguished. The Sassanian kings of Persia ruled from A.D. 226 to 641, when the last monarch, Yez-de-jird the Third, was overthrown by the Mahomedans. This monarchy took its origin when Artaxerxes (the Greek and Roman way of pronouncing Ardeshir) overthrew the Parthian dynasty. This prince, Ardeshir Babekan, son of Sassan, was an officer of King Arsaces Artabanus the Fifth, whom he murdered, assuming the Persian throne as the first of the Sassanian dynasty. ¶ Ohnefalsch Richter holds the view that although no trace of Svastika had been found in Phoenicia, yet that travellers to that country had brought it from the Far East, and had introduced it into Cyprus, and into Carthage and the north of Africa generally. As against the denial of it in Assyria, however, is Wilson’s assertion that the three-rayed design is found on Assyrian coins, as also as a countermark on those of Alexander, B.C. 333 to 323. Professor Sayce, on the other hand, is of opinion that Svastika was a Hittite symbol which passed by communication to the Aryans, or to some of their important branches before their final dispersion took place. The Professor regards it as being fairly established that the symbol was in more or less common use among the peoples of the bronze age anterior to either the Chaldeans, Hittites, or Aryans.