What Is It?

[terpkristin]

I just parked my car in the lot for my apartment complex, and I happened to look at the car next to me. When I did that, I noticed that it had what appeared to be a swastika hanging from the rear-view mirror. I did a bit of a double-take, as this isn't something I'd typically expect to see hanging from a rear-view mirror. On closer inspection, it was a swastika with some sort of symbol/letter in the middle. The symbol/letter looked like something I'd associate with Middle-Eastern or possibly Indian writing. It didn't look quite like Arabic, but I'm really no expert. Also, it had bells hanging from it.

Any idea what this is a symbol for/of? I was going to take a picture of it with my camera phone but a guy was hanging out in the parking lot nearby and I didn't want him to think I was a total freak, so I didn't. I wanted to, though.

/tk

[cougarfreak]

Perhaps a descendant was a native american basketball star.

[EagleFan]

I don't know the particulars of i but that symbol has a lot of other meanings to it other than the Nazi picture that it now gives us. I saw it all over the place when I was in India and it had nothing to do with Nazis. If I can find the particulars I will post them here.

[JonInMiddleGA]

There's a whole bunch of possibilities (as you can see from the variety of pics at) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

[terpkristin]

I don't know the particulars of i but that symbol has a lot of other meanings to it other than the Nazi picture that it now gives us. I saw it all over the place when I was in India and it had nothing to do with Nazis. If I can find the particulars I will post them here.

Very true, I didn't jump to the conclusion that I was living near a Nazi sympathizer or anything, but I was sort of curious what the symbol meant. :) If you find any of the pics from your trip to India, I'll let you know if they're like what I saw.

Edit to add: actually, cuing in on the Indian reference and also using JIMGA's link, it seems it's tied to Hinduism, as this is the symbol that was in the middle:
http://kristin.seidelmann-owners.com/fofc/356px-Om.svg.png

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Hinduism), this seems the most likely description of the meaning:

In Hinduism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism), the two symbols represent the two forms of the creator god Brahma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma): facing right it represents the evolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_%28philosophy%29) of the universe (Pravritti), facing left it represents the involution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involution_%28metaphysics%29) of the universe (Nivritti). It is also seen as pointing in all four directions (north, east, south and west) and thus signifies stability and groundedness. Its use as a sun symbol can first be seen in its representation of the god Surya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya). The swastika is considered extremely holy and auspicious by all Hindus, and is regularly used to decorate items related to Hindu culture. It is used in all Hindu yantras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yantra) and religious designs. Throughout the subcontinent of India, it can be seen on the sides of temples, religious scriptures, gift items, and letterheads. The Hindu god Ganesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh) is often shown sitting on a lotus flower on a bed of swastikas.
The swastika is found all over Hindu temples, signs, altars, pictures and iconography where it is sacred. It is used in Hindu weddings, festivals, ceremonies, houses and doorways, clothing and jewelry, motor transport and even decorations on food items such as cakes and pastries. Among the Hindus of Bengal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal), it is common to see the name "swastika" (Bengali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language): স্বস্তিক sbastik) applied to a slightly different symbol, which has the same significance as the common swastika, and both symbols are used as auspicious signs. This symbol looks something like a stick figure of a human being.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference">[13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#cite_note-12)</sup> "Swastika" (স্বস্তিক Sbastik) is a common given name amongst Bengalis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_people)<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference">[14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#cite_note-13)</sup> and a prominent literary magazine in Kolkata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkata) (Calcutta) is called the Swastika.
The Aum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum) symbol is also sacred in Hinduism. While Aum is representative of a single primordial tone of creation, the Swastika is a pure geometrical mark and has no syllabic tone associated with it. The Swastika is one of the 108 symbols of Lord Vishnu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Vishnu) and represents the sun's rays, without which there would be no life.

/tk

[Dr. Sak]

I thought you broke another bone!

Good to hear you didn't!

[Pyser]

this isnt about faith no more at all.

not at all.

[lighthousekeeper]

terpkristin: look at the trouble you caused by starting this innocent thread!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/07/swastika-tops-g.html

[terpkristin]

Wow. I really have no idea what to say. I did Google "swastika" when I had asked this.

Well, I guess my priest has called me a troublemaker, and he's not allowed to lie, so...

/tk