swastika clarification

From: Dictionary of Symbols by Carl G. Liungman  c1991  pp. 178-181
   __
|_|_	(abbreviated as "[")	
__| |

__
 _|_|	(abbreviated as "]")
| |__

	"The Swastika is a very old ideogram.  The first examples are found in
Sumeria and earlier cultures that existed in what is now Pakistan about 3000 
BC.  Yet it was not until around the year 1000 BC that the swastika became a 
commonly used sign.
	"Neither the Assyrian-Babylonian nor the Egyptian cultural spheres
seem to have used the swastika as a symbol.  Most other ancient cultures 
in Eurasia, however, did use it...
	"The swastika was used before the birth of Christ in China, India,
Japan, and Southern Europe.  Whether it was used in the Americas, however, is 
not clear.  There are no examples of it on the oldest rock carvings there,
and neither the Mayans, the Incas, nor the Aztecs used it.  It did, however,
appear a couple of hundred years ago among many of the Indian tribes and was
probably brought over by the Spanish and Portuguese colonists.
	"The swastika is often associated with Buddha in India, China, and 
Japan.  In the earliest Chinese symbolism "[" was known as wan and was a 
superlative of the highest degree.  In Japan it was said to be a sign for 
the magnificent number 10,000.  In Japan of the Middle Ages "]" was manji, 
a sign for enormous luck and protection against evil powers.  In India, 
according to d'Alviella, the swastika was given its name from su = good, and 
asti = to be, with the suffix ka.  Its were angled in a clockwise direction
(from the center).  The reversed swastika, "]", known as sauvastika, was 
associated with misfortune and bad luck.
	"...Although it was not common in Europe during this time [0-1800s],
it was not totally unknown.  It had many different names:  Hakenkreuz in 
Germanic princedoms, flyfoot in England, Crux gammata in Rome, and 
tetraskelion or gammadion in Greece.
	"...There is some confusion as to whether the clockwise angled 
swastika, "[", or the counter-clockwise angled variation, "]" is the most 
positive.  Both types have appeared quite regularly in many different 
contexts, except when the sign is used as an official or national symbol,
in which case "[" is always preferred.

__   ___
|   |   |
|___|___	An ancient Greek variation of the swastika
    |   |
|___| __|

 __
 \    /|
  \  / |
   \/
   /\		An ancient Greek variation of the swastika
| /  \		[an "X" instead of a "+"]	
|/  __\
   
    _	
   |_
     |   _	
   __|__| |
|_|  |		A variation of the swastika found on a runic stone
     |_		from the time of the Norwegian Vikings.
      _|	

____
__  |_| |
 _|_|___|	A variation of the swastika used in Christian symbolism. "
|  _| |__
| | |____


On page 368, the nazi swastika is explained.

     /
     \/\	"This form of the swastika, the closed, diagonally positioned, 
    \/\		square-formed variation, was the emblem used by Nazism and
      /		the men around Hitler.  It was in 1920 that the swastika was
		officially recognized and used in the party banner.
			"It had already appeared earlier in the twentieth 
		century as an anti-Semitic and uniting symbol in Germany and
		Austria..."

Torsten Adair	tor...@cwis.unomaha.edu	Omaha, NE, USA