'Swastika recurrence highest in south Asia'

The symbol and pattern of the swastika is more evident in Asia, particularly in India, where its recurrence is highest, experts said here on Friday.

"Swastika from its oldest reference... the highest recurrence of the findings and the richness of the findings from science to heritage is more evident in Asia and more so in south Asia which is India," Joy Sen, IIT-Kgp professor, told IANS at an exploratory exhibition of the pattern and ideogram of swastika.

"This could be because Asia could be more ancient than Europe and America," he said.

The exhibition is part of the Sandhi project, an initiative of IIT-Kharagpur sponsored by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development that seeks to "build a bridge between ancient Indian scientific heritage and modern science".

Sen, the principal investigator of Sandhi, said: "You can see the maximum number of recurrence in the Vedas, maximum number of reflections in religions in India. Even the pattern of swastika is inherent in science itself such as in the thermodynamic cycle called the Carnot cycle."

According to IIT-Kgp intern Atul Kant who was involved in the investigations of swastika in the eastern world, in China and Japan, the pattern is widespread.

"We found evidences of swastika in currency (in China, Wu Zhu coins of the Lao dynasty), architecture (concept of amandalas' in Japan ), ornaments (pendants, bangles). In contrast, in Papua New Guinea and in Australia, the swastika's presence was due to Nazism," said Kant.

--IANS

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