Swastika and Coins

 

The Swastika symbol, is an ancient religious icon in the cultures of  Eurasia. In various styles, it is found in numerous cultures. It is used as a symbol of divinity and spirituality in Indian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The symbol is also used as a symbol of good luck and prosperity in India, Nepal, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, China and Japan.

                                           

 Indo-Scythians, Parata Rajas, mid-1st century BC - 1st century AD coin with swastika symbol

                                   

The word ''swastika'' comes from Sanskrit, meaning ''conducive to well - being''. From ''su'' meaning ''well'', and ''asti'' meaning ''to be''. With the suffix ''ka'', it becomes ''thing associated with well-being or an auspicious thing.The word was first recorded by the ancient linguist Panini in his work Ashtadhyayi. Panini lived in or before 4th century BC, possibly in 6th or 5th century BC. 

                                              

17th century Birch bark manuscript of Panini's grammar treatise from Kashmi

The word ''swasti'' occurs frequently in the Vedas. A majority of scholars consider it a solar symbol. The right facing symbol symbolizes surya (sun), while the left facing symbol is called ''sauwastika'', symbolizes night or tantric aspects of Kali.

                                           

Left: the left facing sauwastika is a sacred symbol in the Bon and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, Right: the right facing swastika appears commonly in Hinduism, Jainism and Sri Lankan Buddhism

In Jainism, a swastika is a symbol for Suparshvanatha, the seventh of 24 Tirthankaras, while in Buddhism it symbolizes the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. 

                                               

 Jain symbol (Prateek) containing a swastika

                                                   

Swastika with 24 beads, used in Malaysian Buddhism. The left facing swastika is often imprinted on the chest, feet or palms of Buddha images and is homologous with the dharma wheel.

In several major Indo-European religions, the swastika symbolizes lightning bolts, representing the thunder god and the king of the gods, such as Indra in Vedic Hinduism, Zeus in the ancient Greek religion, Jupiter in the ancient Roman religion and Thor in the ancient Germanic religion. 

                                            

Pot from the sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Hymettos from 7th-8th century BC, at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens 

The swastika is an icon widely found in both human history and the modern world. In various forms, it is known (in various European languages) as fylot, gammadion, tetraskelion or cross cramponnee (a term in Anglo-Norman heraldry). In German it is Hakenkreuz, in French, croix gammee, in Italian, croce uncinata. In Mongolian it is called Xac (Khas) and used in seals.

                                           

The Gammadion on the left and the Fylfot on the right. Gammadion is associated with Byzantine, Rome and Graeco-Roman culture and the Fylfot with Celtic and Anglo-Saxon culture 

  

In Chinese, it is called wanzi, meaning ''all things symbol'' pronounced manji, in Japanese, manja in Korean and van tu/chu van in Vietnamese. The symbol is found in the archeological remains of the Indus Valley Civilization and Samara, as well as in early Byzantine and Christian artwork. 

                                           

Mosaic swastika in an excavated Byzantine church in Shavei Tzion, Israel                             

In the Western world, it was a symbol of auspiciousness until the 1930s when the right-facing tilted form became a feature of Nazi symbolism. As a result of World War II and the Holocaust, many people in the West still strongly associate it with Nazism.

                                            

The adoption of the swastika by the Nazis and neo-Nazis is the most recognizable use of the symbol in the Western world

  

It is a symbol of life, of the vivifying role of the supreme principal of the universe, the absolute God, in relation to the cosmic order. It represents the Hellenic Logos, the Hindu Om, the Chinese Taiyi in the formation of the world. According to the scholar Reza, the Swastika represents the north ecliptic north pole. The symbol was later attested as the four-horse chariot of Mithra in ancient Iranian culture. They believed the cosmos was pulled by four heavenly horses who revolved around a fixed center in a clockwise direction. This notion later flourished in Roman Mithraism as a symbol in their iconography. According to Russian archaeologist Gennady Zdanovich, in Sintashta culture, the swastika symbolized the universe, representing the spinning constellations of the celestial north pole centered in the Ursae Minoris.

                                          

Tian refers to the northern celestial pole, the pivot and the vault of the sky with its spinning constellations in the four phases of time with Ursae Minnoris as the pole star, 

The Han dynasty Book of Silk (2nd century BC) depicts a rotating comet with a four-pronged tail as early as 2000 years BC.

                                               

Depiction of comets from the Book of Silk, Han dynasty, 2nd century BC

The earliest known swastika is from 10,000 BC, part of an intricate meander pattern of joined-up ''swastikas'' found on a late paleolithic figurine of a bird, carved from mammoth ivory, found in Mezine, Ukraine.

In the mountains of Iran, swastikas inscribed on stone walls are estimated to be more than 7,000 years old.

                                           

            Pre-historic stone in Iran

It is believed that Swastika moved westwards from India to Finland, Scandinavia, the Scottish Highlands and other parts of Europe. In England, Neolithic or Bronze Age stone carvings of the symbol have been found on Ilkley Moor, in West Yorkshire, England such as the Swastika Stone.

                                          

  Photograph of the original swastika stone

                                           

The Camunian rose is the name given to the symbol found among the rock carvings of Camonica Valley (Brescia, Italy). It is engraved in the form of swastika

 

Other Iron Age attestations of the swastika are associated with Indo-European cultures such as the Illyrians, Indo- Iranians, Celts, Greeks, Germanic people and Slavs. In Egypt it has been seen during the Coptic period. 

The symbol has been found in the Gegham mountains in Armenia.                                          

The petroglyph with swastikas, Gegham mountains, Armenia 

In the Indus Valley Civilization, in 3000 BC, the swastika symbol appears very often. 

                                           

Swastika seals from the Indus Valley Civilization, at the British Museum

The swastika shape appears on various Germanic Migration Period and Viking Age artifacts, such as the 3rd century AD, Vaelose Fibula from Zealand, Denmark

                                           

Detail of the Elder Futhark runic inscription on the pin holder of the 3rd century AD Vaelose Fibula followed by a swastika

 

In the Zoroastrian religion of Persia, the swastika was a symbol of the revolving sun, infinity, or continuing creation. It is the most common symbol on Mesopotamian coins.

East Asia. The paired swastika symbols are included, at least since the Liao Dynasty (907-1125AD), as part of the Chinese writing system and are variant characters in Korean, Cantonese and Japanese.

                                         

       Mongolian Shamanism ''Khas'' symbol

                                             

Goa Lawah Hindu temple entrance in Bali, Indonesia

Coins with Swastika

                                          

Merovingian Francia, 675-750 AD, silver, weight 1,2 g

Obverse: Cross pommee with diagonal rays in beaded standard, pellets in margin

Reverse: Reversed swastika below pellet filled curve, beaded border above, bar below

                                           

Anglo Saxon-England, Continental phase 695-740 AD, Sceat series, weight 0.8 g

Obverse: Quilled serpent-headed crescent coiled right, enclosing line of pellets, like a clock face and annulet right

Reverse: Beaded standard enclosing disjointed asymmetrical swastika around central pellet-in-annulet 

                                          

Germany, Third Reich, 2 Reichsmark, 1939, silver, weight 8.0 g

                                            

Syriam, AR 80 ratti, weight 9.1 g

Obverse: Shankh shell, open to the right, border of pellets around, no celestial symbols

Reverse: Srivatsa, bhadrapitha left, swastika right, 

                                           

Kuninda, Amoghabhuti, late 2nd century BC, weight 2.1 g

Obverse: Deer and Lakshmi, Brahmi legend around

Reverse: 11 arched hills, nandipara, railed tree, swastika and Indradhvaj

                                            

Taxila, 2nd century BC, weight 7 g

Obverse: Lion right with hill and swastika

Reverse: Elephant right, hill above

                                            

Kuninda, Amoghabuti, 150-80 BC, Drachm, weight 2.1 g

Obverse: Deer standing right, Srivatsa, pair of snakes, three arched hill symbol between legs of Deer, Lakshmi standing right holding flower

Reverse: Six arched hill, swastika, Indradhvaj, railed tree, river below, Srivatsa

                                           

Taxila, 2nd century BC, weight 9.3 g

Obverse: Lion left, swastika above, arched hill to left

Reverse: Elephant to right, part of hill above 

                                      

                                           

Saurashtra Janapada, 300-250 BC, weight 0.8 g

Obverse: Buffalo with horns in center, swastika, taurine and annulets around, fishes in a pond below

Reverse: Traces of an under type

  

                                            

Paratarajas, 230-270 AD, Drachm, weight 1.7 g

Obverse: Bust facing left with turban

Reverse: Swastika, Kharosthi legend around

                                           

Satavahanas, Mahagamika of Sangama, copper, weight 7.5 g

Obverse: Elephant with raised trunk to right, swastika on the back Brahmi legend ''Sagamana Maha(ga) above

Reverse: Ujjaini symbol with orbs swastikas within quadrants

 

                                            

Sultans of Malwa, silver tanka, Mahmud Shah II, 1510-1531 AD, weight 10.8 g, abu'l muzaffar type, swastika mint mark on obverse 

                                           

Rohailla, Faizullah Khan, 1754-1794 AD, silver rupee, Panipat mint, in the name of Shah Alam II, AH (11)98/RY. Chhatra mint mark on obverse 

                                          

Sultans of Malwa, silver square 1/2 Tanka of Mahmud Shah II, 1510-1531 AD, AH 923, Swastika mint mark on reverse, weight 5.1 g

Obverse: Arabic legend Mahmud Shah Khalji bin Nasir shah

Reverse: Arabic legend al-sultan khallada mulkahu and date

                                              

Saurashtra Janapada, 50-75 BC, weight 5.2 g

Obverse: Human figure (probably Shiva) holding trident in left hand, flower

Reverse: Double swastika with edges having fingers

Swastika

Coins and Swastika

Sauwastika