Re: swastika

From: Arne Goetje (arne@linux.org.tw)
Date: Tue Jun 05 2007 - 18:12:15 CDT

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    Mahesh T. Pai wrote:
    > William J Poser said on Tue, May 08, 2007 at 02:11:55PM -0400,:
    >
    >
    > > Hunh? The swastika is already in Unicode. U+534D is the "left-facing
    > > swastika", U+5350 the "right-facing swastika". This is entirely
    > > appropriate. To begin with, swastika has many uses other than as a
    > > symbol of Nazism.
    >
    > The swastika is a Hindu motif. (would not call it a ``symbol'' - it
    > the sense that there is nothing holy about it, at least, for me, and
    > no body is going to accuse of scarilege if you deface it).
    >
    > > For example, on Japanese and Taiwanese maps it
    > > is used to mark the position of temples. Moreover, even as a symbol
    > > of Nazism it is neutral - that is, it can be used to promote Nazism
    > > or to condemn it.
    >
    > Hmmm.... in the Hindu tradition within India, you will find only the
    > right facing swastika.
    >
    > The left facing swastika seems to be a non-Indian aberration. (As a
    > kid, when I drew a swastika for the first time, it was a left facing
    > one, and I was corrected - and no, I was NOT told that it was bad or
    > inauspicious - I was simply told that the left facing swastika is an
    > aberration introduced by the Nazis.).
    >
    > See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika . Except for description of
    > the left facing swastika, I agree with most of the article. Well, I
    > may be wrong, or have a plain ``closed mind'' about the left handed
    > swastika.
    >

    The left handed swastika is a symbol for Buddhism, while the right
    handed one is used for Hinduism.

    Cheers
    Arne
    - --
    Arne Götje (高盛華) <arne@linux.org.tw>
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