Where does the swastika come from?
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The swastika is sacred in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and its name is Sanskrit. But the symbol appears in many ancient cultures, some earlier than in India.
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Indian claim
The swastika is an Indian symbol of well-being, whose name comes from Sanskrit (su + asti, 'it is good'). It was taken and misused by the Nazis.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Swastika signs appear on seals of the Indus civilisation, and the symbol has been sacred in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions for over two thousand years.
- The word 'swastika' itself is Sanskrit, and the Nazis took up the symbol through 19th-century European scholarship on Indian texts and 'Aryan' theories (US Holocaust Memorial Museum).
Commonly credited to
The symbol is found in many ancient cultures across Europe, the Near East, China and the Americas, and its oldest known examples are outside India.
Evidence for the other claim
- The earliest known swastika-like design is on a carved mammoth-ivory bird figurine from Mezin, Ukraine, estimated at 12,000–15,000 years old.
- Swastikas also appear on ancient Greek coins and pottery, Bronze Age European objects and Mesopotamian items.
What historians and scientists say
The swastika arose independently in many cultures. India gave it its name and keeps it as a living sacred symbol; it is not the only or earliest place it appears.