The ‘Swastak’ or ‘Swastika’ has been a sacred symbol for Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions for centuries. This sign represents good luck and prosperity and is used in festivals and religious ceremonies. Remember that swastika is a popular symbol not only in India but all over the world.
By the 1940s, this symbol was widely seen and popular in Western countries. It was also seen as a symbol of good luck and prosperity there.
Hitler then used the Hakenkreuz, or curved cross, on the flag of Nazi Germany, which resembles the swastika, and is now seen as a provocative symbol in Western countries, including Australia, Canada, and the United States.
Thus, after the Second World War, this sign became a symbol of the painful memories of the Holocaust among the inhabitants of Western countries, especially the Jews.
But what is the Swastika and why did Hitler choose the same symbol for the Nazi Party and Germany?
What does ‘swastika’ mean?
Popular in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist terms, the word ‘Sustaka’ is derived from two Sanskrit words ‘su’ and ‘asti’ or ‘asthi’. ‘Su’ means ‘health’ and ‘asti’ means ‘let be’.
His symbol is a figure with eight right angles, with a vertical line intersecting a horizontal line in the middle, and lines extending from the four ends. While making the swastika, four spaces are left in it and dots are placed in them.
This symbol is used in holy books, shops, vehicles, baby naming and marriage ceremonies and prayers are offered to Gods for welfare according to Hindu belief.
Many concepts like four directions, four seasons, four yugas, four scriptures, four goals of life (goodness, wealth, luxury, home), four stages of life (childhood, married life, old age, asceticism) are associated with this sign. are
According to Ajay Chaturvedi, author of ‘The Last Wisdom of Swastika’, ‘Sativa in Vedic mathematics means a cube with four corners. According to Hindu philosophy it represents the fourth state apart from waking, sleeping and dreaming.’
Among Buddhists in Japan, this symbol is known as ‘Mansi’ which represents the footprints of Gautama Buddha.
According to Chaturvedi, Hitler used this swastika symbol only for politics without understanding its significance or meaning in Hindu philosophy.
‘Hackencross’
In 1871, German archaeologist Heinrich Sislemann, while excavating the ancient city of Troy (in present-day Turkey), found about 1,800 types of ‘swastika’ markings on pottery.
Anthropologist Gwendolyn Lake notes that the inhabitants of Troy were Aryans and that the similarities found in these pottery led the Nazis to believe they were Aryans and evidence of racial continuity between them.
Hitler’s main reason for adopting the swastika as his party symbol is thought to be the similarity between the Germanic language and Sanskrit.
Through this analogy, the Nazis convinced the Germans that Indians and Germans were of the same ‘pure’ Aryan race.
In 1920, when Adolf Hitler was looking for a symbol for his new party, he used the ‘Hackencross’ or right-wing swastika. In 1933, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels passed a law banning the commercial use of the ‘swastika’ or ‘swastika’.
The supreme leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler, in the seventh chapter of his autobiography ‘Mein Kampf’, mentions the choice of the Nazi flag, its colors and symbols. According to Hitler, the new flag represented the ‘Third (German) Reich’.
The Nazi Party flag was introduced in the mid-summer of 1920. It featured a black ‘Hacken Cross’ within a white circle on a red background with the red color symbolizing the social movement, the white color representing the concept of nationalism while the swastika symbolized the struggle and victory of the Aryas.
In ‘From Gluttony to Genocide: The Sign of the Cross’, Dr. Daniel Ranker-Laffer writes that Hitler spent his childhood in a Benedictine montessery in Austria, where there are several places where the ‘Swastika’ is carved. He thinks that is why he chose this symbol as a memory of his childhood.
During World War II, the Nazis killed approximately six million people under this flag, including Jews, disabled people, Roma and Sinti (or Romanians), blacks, Slavs, homosexuals, Soviets, and Poles. .
Hence, for the millions of Jews who died in the Holocaust in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe, the ‘Hackencross’ became a symbol that evoked horrific memories.
In recent years the symbol has been used by ‘neo-Nazis’ and many white supremacists.
Use of swastika
In 1908, a bird carved on ivory with a swastika symbol was discovered in Ukraine. It is believed to be the oldest form of swastika. Carbon dating shows that the artifact is at least 1,500 years old.
The symbol has also been found in ancient Christian tombs, the catacombs of Rome, the stone church at Labela in Ethiopia, and the church of Cordoba in Spain.
According to an encyclopedia reference on the Holocaust, ‘the swastika was used in Eurasia 7,000 years ago. It represented the movement and movement of the sun in the sky.’
Experts believe that this symbol may have been popular throughout Europe during the Bronze Age. Swastika symbols have also been found on some remains found at the sites of the Harappan civilization in present-day Pakistan.
In the 19th century, Thomas Wilson wrote in his book ‘The Swastik: The Earliest Non-Symbol and Its Migration’ that the swastika symbol was used throughout the ancient world.
The swastika symbol is also found on cloaks, shields and ornaments. Some believed it represented figures and a comet.
From Beer to Coca-Cola
The ancient Greeks made the swastika symbol on their pots and vases. According to ancient Norwegian belief, the swastika is the hammer of the god ‘Thor’.
The swastika was used freely in advertising and clothing in the West. It was also used in advertisements for Coca-Cola at one point. Before the Nazis used the swastika, the Danish beer company ‘Carlsberg’ had a swastika symbol in its logo.
Until a few years ago, the official seal of the Finnish Air Force featured the swastika symbol.
People of Indian origin living outside India are making efforts to create awareness about the difference between the Nazi swastika-like seal and the swastika symbol of good luck.
They say the ‘Hakenkreuz’ is bent at a 45 degree angle to the left but the swastika is straight to the right.