swastika, equilateralcross with arms bent at right angles, all in the same rotary direction, usually clockwise. The swastika as asymbol ofprosperity and good fortune is widely distributed throughout the ancient and modern world. The word is derived from the Sanskritsvastika, meaning “conducive to well-being.” It was a favourite symbol on ancientMesopotamian coinage. In Scandinavia the left-hand swastika was the sign for the godThor’s hammer. The swastika also appeared in early Christian andByzantine art (where it became known as the gammadion cross, or crux gammata, because it could be constructed from four Greek gammas [ Γ ] attached to a common base), and it occurred in South and Central America (among theMaya) and inNorth America (principally among theNavajo).

In India the swastika continues to be the most widely usedauspicious symbol ofHindus,Jainas, andBuddhists. Among the Jainas it is the emblem of their seventhTirthankara (saint) and is also said to remind the worshiper by its four arms of the four possible places of rebirth—in the animal or plant world, in hell, on Earth, or in the spirit world.

The Hindus (and also Jainas) use the swastika to mark the opening pages of their account books,thresholds, doors, and offerings. A clear distinction is made between the right-hand swastika, which moves in a clockwise direction, and the left-hand swastika (more correctly called thesauvastika), which moves in a counterclockwise direction. The right-hand swastika is considered a solar symbol and imitates in the rotation of its arms the course taken daily by theSun, which in the Northern Hemisphere appears to pass from east, then south, to west. The left-hand swastika more often stands for night, the terrifying goddessKālī, and magical practices.

In the Buddhist tradition the swastika symbolizes the feet, or the footprints, of theBuddha. It is often placed at the beginning and end of inscriptions, and modern Tibetan Buddhists use it as a clothing decoration. With the spread ofBuddhism, the swastika passed into the iconography of China and Japan, where it has been used todenote plurality, abundance, prosperity, and long life.

InNazi Germany the swastika (German:Hakenkreuz), with its oblique arms turned clockwise, became the national symbol. In 1910 a poet and nationalist ideologistGuido von List had suggested the swastika as a symbol for all anti-Semitic organizations; and when theNational Socialist Party was formed in 1919–20, it adopted it. On September 15, 1935, the black swastika on a white circle with a red background became the national flag of Germany. This use of the swastika ended inWorld War II with the German surrender in May 1945, though the swastika is still favoured by neo-Nazi groups.