Swastika | Wikipedia audio article
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Date: 2018-11-25

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Swastika

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SUMMARY
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The swastika (as a character 卐 or 卍) is a geometrical figure and an ancient religious icon from the cultures of Eurasia, where it is a symbol of divinity and spirituality in some Eastern religions. In the Western world it was a symbol of auspiciousness and good luck until the 1930s, when it became a feature of Nazi symbolism as an emblem of Aryan race identity and, as a result, was stigmatized by association with ideas of racism and antisemitism.The name swastika comes from Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक),  pronounced swastika in Sanskrit and swastik in Hindi and other languages which drop a short final ‘a’.  and denotes "conducive to well being or auspicious". In Hinduism, the clockwise symbol is called swastika, symbolizing surya (sun), prosperity and good luck, while the counterclockwise symbol is called sauvastika, symbolizing night or tantric aspects of Kali. In Jainism, a swastika is the symbol for Suparshvanatha—the seventh of 24 Tirthankaras (spiritual teachers and saviours), while in Buddhism it symbolizes the auspicious footprints of the Buddha.

The swastika is an icon widely found in human history and the modern world. In various forms it is alternatively known in various European languages as the Hakenkreuz, gammadion, cross cramponnée, croix gammée, fylfot or tetraskelion and in East Asia as the wàn 卐/卍/萬, meaning "all things", and the manji. A swastika generally takes the form of a cross whose arms are of equal length and perpendicular to the adjacent arms, each bent midway at a right angle. It is found in the archeological remains of the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia as well as in early Byzantine and Christian artwork.The swastika was adopted by several organizations in pre–World War I Europe and later, and most notably, by the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany prior to World War II. It was used by the Nazi Party to symbolize German nationalistic pride. To Jews and the enemies of Nazi Germany, it became a symbol of antisemitism and terror. In many Western countries, the swastika is viewed as a symbol of racial supremacy and intimidation because of its association with Nazism. The reverence for the swastika symbol in Asian cultures, in contrast to the stigma in the West, has led to misinterpretations and misunderstandings.