Swastikas, the Broken Crosses of Paganism

Various Swastikas

The Broken and Twisted Cross from the East

The swastika...which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic.

- Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler

Hatred makes the straight crooked.

- Old Jewish Proverb

One of the little known facts concerning the swastika, and perhaps one that is of the utmost importance, is that the Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism have drastically changed their symbolic use of the swastika since the terrible days of Nazism earlier in the 20th century. Apparently, both of these religions tended to use the Swastika twisted to the Left (the Nazi Swastika), rather than the Swastika twisted to the Right, thus favoring it in their own religious iconography, writings, and architecture. Even today, the swastika is found throughout the towns and cities of India, as well as other Asian nations, and it is the exact same symbol that the Nazis used during World War II. The facts are this:

The [swastika] appears to have first been used in Neolithic Eurasia, perhaps representing the movement of the sun through the sky. To this day it is a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Odinism. It is a common sight on temples or houses in India or Indonesia. Swastikas also have an ancient history in Europe, appearing on artifacts from pre-Christian European cultures.

Various Swastikas in History

Put bluntly, both Swastikas are age-old Pagan symbols which have no place in the Judeo-Christian tradition, except perhaps as a symbol of evil or something to be avoided in the least. Now, at the dawn of the third millenium, Buddhism happens to be no longer using the Nazi swastika and is, instead, nearly always using the Swastika twisted to the Right as the 'official' symbol of their faith. This is actually a very recent decision on the part of the Buddhist leadership. The so-called 'ancient' Buddhist folk-lore has been changed to fit and enhance their modern public image as a religion of goodness and peace, rather than a barbaric Pagan faith destined to go extinct.

The Nazi Flag

In reality, it remains completely untrue to say that Buddhism, let alone Hinduism, did not actively use the Swastika twisted to the Left, namely the Nazi swastika for many, many centuries. They both did, and there is ample proof that the recent switch between swastikas is nothing more than a ploy of the Eastern religions to disassociate themselves from the Nazis, their genocidal policies, and to avoid any and all blame. One source notes:

Can there be two completely opposite meanings for one symbol?...Since the Nazis use of the swastika, some people are trying to differentiate the two meanings of the swastika by varying its direction - trying to make the clockwise, Nazi version of the swastika mean hate and death while the counter-clockwise version would hold the ancient meaning of the symbol, life and good-luck. Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.

Buddhism, in particular, is now avoiding any and all use of the Nazi swastika (Left Hand) and has fabricated their own folk-lore to match this modern myth. One source states that in today's world, 'Buddhists almost always use the left-facing swastika,' namely the Right Hand swastika, or sauvastika, which the Nazis did not utilize during the World War II. Historically speaking, this is a deliberate falsehood which allows Buddhism to cover up, ignore, and even deny their long and extensive use of the Nazi swastika as a religious symbol of goodness and well being. At best, both symbols were used as one researcher notes specifically:

In the footprints of Buddha the Buddhists recognize...auspicious signs, the first of them being the Svastika...the fourth is the Sauvastika, or that with the arms turned to the left.

- Burnouf (1852)

This means that the distinction between the two swastikas is little more than a modern attempt to explain, or explain away, the ikon of the Nazis as compared to that of Buddhism and/or Hinduism. In reality, both swastikas, sometimes known as the swastika (Left) and the sauvastika (Right), were used in the East with the same meaning for both ikons. Two different sources state the following:

Although the more common form is the right-facing swastika, the symbol is used in both orientations for the sake of balance in Hinduism.

In ancient times, the direction of the swastika was interchangeable as can be seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing.

Thus the confused, modern distinction about the two swastikas should be discarded and then re-evaluated in a proper manner. One must understand that the Eastern religions deliberately use this broken, twisted symbol as a ikon of goodness, instead of evil as the Bible does in several places, mainly because they are Pagan religions outside of Judeo-Christian monotheism. All things considered, any notion 'that sauwastikas are considered "evil" or inauspicious versions of the auspicious swastika in Indian religions' are without validity especially since Buddhism 'counts the svastika and the sauvastika equally among the...auspicious signs.' Another researcher also confesses doubts about any distinction between the two symbols:

Would it not be simpler to admit that the direction of the branches is of secondary importance in the symbolism of the gammadion (swastika)? When it is desired to symbolize the progress of the sun...little attention will have been paid to the direction given to the rays.

- D'Alviella (1894)

In addition to this general lack of distinction between the two ikons, the alternative name for the Swastika twisted to the Right as a so-called sauvastika, rather just another swastika, also happens to be a historical fiction that was invented by scholars in the West. Namely, 'the term sauvastika thus cannot be confirmed as authentic and is probably due to' 19th century Western researchers making things up as they go along. Well the damage is done, and once again Paganism gets off without any blame for the evil and wickedness inherent in the swastika.

A Modern Buddhist Temple

Most tellingly, the Eastern religions readily admit in their folklore, both Swastikas are emblems which have demonic origins and was initially created by a diabolical serpent being as a emblem for 'good luck'. Careful to use the other swastika, the sauvastika (Cross twisted to the Right), these Pagan faiths, like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, now insist that this ikon has always represented good luck, blessings, and the light of the sun while the swastika used by the Nazis always symbolized bad luck or misfortune. As already discussed previously, this is a modern fable, a Pagan fairy tale, which is historically invalid. As one source writes:

Some contemporary writers assert that the swastika as used in Nazi Germany is in fact the "evil sauwastika". Since the swastika on the Flag of Nazi Germany was "right-facing" when displayed one-sided, this requires a redefinition of "sauwastika" as the variant current in Hinduism, and the "swastika proper" as the "left-facing" one current in Buddhism, contrary to [historical evidence]. The notion that Hitler deliberately inverted the "good left-facing" Buddhist swastika is, however, wholly unsupported by any historical evidence.

Simply put, the swastika is, in fact, an Eastern, or Asian, symbol that never really caught on in the West, most probably due to the spiritual power, influence, and importance of the Christian Cross, an ikon that is mainly opposed to the broken crookedness, the asymmetry of the Swastika. One scholar notes that this ikon 'is rarely seen on its own in Western architecture'.

The history is this: long before Nazism came to power in Germany in 1933, the Eastern nations were using both Swastikas frequently and, never forget, as a crucial and integral part of their religion. Along with the somewhat black/white circle of Yin/Yang, the Swastika, most especially the Swastika twisted to the Left, played a prominent role in the religious symbolism of both Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism for many centuries. These Pagan faiths have called what is crooked, straight. They have claimed that what is broken, is actually well-made, and what is evil, good. One should remember the Book of Isaiah which laments: 'Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.' The proper Biblical understanding of the Pagan swastikas can be summarized as follows:

The Right and Left Hands of Paganism

The Two Swastikas	The Left Hand	The Cross	The Right Hand
Location	North	Equator	South
Direction	West	Central	East
Orientation	To the Left	Straight & Forward	To the Right
Dogma	Blasphemy	Truth	Heresy
Alignment	Evil	Goodness	Wickedness
Serpents	Crooked Serpent	Seraphim	Ancient Serpent
Actions	Crooked Ways	Straight Ways & Paths	Crooked Paths
Nature	Lightning	Earth	Thunder

Given everything, it appears most probable and extremely likely that the ancient Jewish prophets and other authors of the Bible were at least vaguely familiar with this symbol, which they obviously viewed with derision and disdain. The following passages are indicative of the main Scriptural view of both the Left Hand and Right Hands of the Swastikas:

Do not turn to the Right hand nor to the Left hand. Remove your foot from evil.

- Proverbs 4:27

God forbid the we should forsake the law and the ordinances. We will not listen to the kings words, to turn away from our religion, either on the Right hand, or the Left hand.

- I Maccabees 2:21-22

He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and did not turn aside to the Right hand or to the Left hand.

- 2 Kings 22:2

Using a variety of Biblical terminology, the Swastikas are quite clearly identified time and again as both wicked and evil, opposed to the traditions of the LORD God of the Bible, like the Christian cross for example. As can be read, both Swastikas were seen as a literal turning away from the Laws of God and from the paths and ways of the fathers, such as King David who, like Enoch, Noah, and Abraham before him, walked in the straight paths of the LORD God and of the Cross of Christianity.

Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you. Ye shall not turn aside to the Right hand or to the Left.

- Deuteronomy 5:32

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the Right hand or to the Left, following other gods and serving them.

- Deuteronomy 28:14

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you, do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

- Joshua 1:7

Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left.

- Joshua 23:6

The repeated use of 'turning aside' as something which should be carefully avoided at all times clearly indicates that the symbols for these actions, the two swastikas, were viewed by the prophets in a very negative manner. It appears to be quite probable that the Biblical authors really did have in mind the two swastikas as representing the Left hand and the Right hand. This is because, in quite a few cases, the characters being described promise not to turn aside either to the Left or to the Right, almost as if it were inherently wrong to do so. In reality, there is nothing wrong with turning aside one way or another unless one understands the underlying symbolic use of the swastika so as to represent the two hands of Paganism being described. Here are just two pertinent examples:

Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road, we will not turn aside to the Right hand or to the Left.

- Deuteronomy 2:27

So now if you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master tell me and if not, let me know, so that I may turn to the Right hand or the Left.

- Genesis 24:49

In the first passage, they are promising not to get into any trouble while traveling, to not get side-tracked, and to avoid trespassing on private property. In the second passage, the character is wondering whether or not to treat someone as a friend and an ally, or as an enemy to be dealt with by deliberately turning aside to the Left or to the Right. Put bluntly, the act of turning aside to either the Left or Right was commonly understood by the Hebrews was something which should not metaphorically be done to friends, only to adversaries. In other words, 'turning' to the Left or to the Right can be seen as an ultimate sign of contempt and perhaps even arrogance.

The angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the Right hand or the Left

- Numbers 22:26