In "The Times" on 8th November the columnist Mary Kenny wrote about her
attitude to wearing the poppy as a remembrance symbol; including the
comparison that "a swastika is nothing more than an ancient Sanskrit
symbol which, incidentally, adorns the early works of Rudyard Kipling."
The text of the letter I sent to The Times is:-
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Sir
Mary Kenny wrote, in her article re the wearing of a poppy, November
8, "" Objectively...a swastika is an ancient Sanskrit emblem which adorns
the early works of Rudyard Kipling"
Kipling indeed used the symbol, as an emblem of the god Ganesha, opposite
the title pages of his MacMillan prose editions, and together with the
elephant head on the covers of these books. This was not just on early
editions but from 1899 until the rise of Nazism in the early1930s. The
combined device was used on the Scribner's Outward Bound edition from 1897;
there the choice is explained as representing"the god of auspicious
beginnings (with special reference to books); the Svastika, the symbol of
good luck, is found over most Hindoo doorways." The Ganesha elephant head
with spray of lotus flower was retained by MacMillan after the swastika was
removed.
Moreover, Kiping's Hindu symbol has its cross portion with limbs vertical
and horizontal; the Nazi symbol is reversed and rotated through 45 degrees.
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This has been published today, 11thNov., the opening sentence modified, at
page 18 with three other letters re the Kenny article.
My quote from the Outward Bound edition I took from the Dictionary by W A
Young, 1911. I could not readily find the actual year in the 1930s when
Kipling removed his swastika.
Bryan Diamond
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