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From: pingali%gaia@cs.umass.edu (Sridhar Pingali)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Swastika
Message-ID: <Apr.21.01.29.27.1991.19183@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 21 Apr 91 05:29:28 GMT
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Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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In article <Apr.18.03.24.00.1991.7342@athos.rutgers.edu> sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes:

>A German man once explained to me the difference between the swastika and
>the American Indian symbol (fylfot, thanks James) as follows: when turned
>in the "natural" direction of rotation, i.e., clockwise, the American Indian
>symbol has a "stroking" effect, whereas the swastika has a "tearing" effect.

The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit (su (good) + asti (is) ).
The swastika in India rotates clockwise (as, apparently, does the
Native American one) and is a symbol of beneficience. "Swasti" is a
Sanskrit word that appears frequently in chants as a blessing and the
symbol has been widely used for centuries now.

Sridhar Pingali