8, The Svastika and the Omkara. 
By Harit KrisHna Drs. 
[With Plates II-IV.] 
On these two themes there exists a considerable body of 
literature with very little of which I can cl 
in any degree. But, so far as I know, scholars are not yet 
unanimous regarding the origin and significance of the sacred 
symbol called svastika ; and no one seems to have connected the 
symbol with the mystic syllable om. I propose to show that 
there are indications enabling us to identify the symbo! with the 
syllable ; that, in fact, the sign of svastika represents the sound 
of omkara. 
The syllable om, also called udgitha or pranava, is part and 
parcel of the Vedic religion, and the question of its origin early 
occupied the minds of. the Indo-Aryans. In Aitareya Brah- 
mana V. 32, for example, it is related that Prajapati, after his 
meditation had brought into existence the three Vedas, medi- 
tated again on them with the result that from the Rgveda arose 
bhur, from the Yajurveda bhuvak, from the Samaveda svah. 
Upon further meditation on these three products, three letters 
were brought forth. namely, a. vu, and ma. - Prajapati com- 
bined the letters, and Om was born. The Gopatha Brahmana 
(Chap. 1) has much to say regarding the mystic syllable, and, 
looking at it more from the viewpoint o meaning than 
from the viewpoint of grammatical form, connects it with V/ ap, 
so that the syllable is held to signify ‘attainment of everything 
nediyas—tasmad-—aper—omkarah 
meditation on that word which “all the Vedas proclaim to 
us” (sarve veda yatpadam-anamanit) , the pranava, 1.e. the 
sacred syllable om.’ ! eae : 
e antiquity of the svastika-mark in India likewise goes 
back at least to the days of Panini, who 1s now thought by 
! Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, p- 392. 
