SWASTI. SANSK. A compound of Su. well, and Asti, it is ; meaning It is well, or, as Wilson expresses it, So be it ; and implying complete resignation under all circumstances. Tho Swasti of Sanskrit is tho Suti of Pali, and the mystic cross or Swastika +, is only a monogrammatic sym1;o1 formed by the cotnbination .of the two syllables sutti = suti. It is the Sutya of Gujerat. The Greeks adopted thc Indian symbol of Swastika, as the pottery from the Karniras and thcprototype of Crete show. It is said to be the filfat of the Buddhists, often found on Buddhist images, which Iluddhists themselves regard as the ernblem of the seal of Buddha's heart. It is conjectured that this symbol must have been brought to China, Japan, and 3fongolia by I3uddhist priests, and its origin is therefore to be looked for in India. It appears there on the most ancient Buddhist coins, and has been noticed on the walls of all the rock cut temples of Western India. Even the Ramayana mentions domestic ntensils as marked with the same figure. The Swastika. appears in ancient Teutonic and Scandinavian mythology under the name of Thor's hammer, as the sceptre of Thor, the god of thunder. It has also been discovered on ancient coins of Indo-Germanic nations. From
all this it is concluded that the Swastika was the common symbol and chief magic charm of the Aryan races before they seyarated. To the present day this hammer of Thor is used among the Ger man peasantry and in Ireland a,s a magical sign to dispel thunder. 3foreover, as in the middle aivcs bells used to be rung to drive away thunder, die Swastika of the east used to be engraved on church bells, and to the present day many bells in England bear the symbol.
3Ir. E. Thomas is of opinion that the inystic cross, being the counterpart of the ancient Swas tika, originated in the idea of solar 'notion, the orb of the chief luminary being considered as the circumference of a wheel, within which the Swas tika formed four regular spokes. The hymns of the Veda speak of the sun as travelling by an upward and a downward path,' and at evening unyoking his horses,' exactly in the same style as Plmebus or Phmton may be supposed to have done at the configuration not only of the Swastika or four-pointed cross, but also of the Triquetra ' or three-footed revolving device, so commonly found on the coins of Asia 31inor, Crete, and Sicily. The Swastika is a symbol of the Tantrica sects.