Hello everyone,
I’m Swastika Yadav, a Developer Advocate at ChiselStrike and a technical blog writer. But, today I wanna talk about something different: My name.
Apparently, there are two contradicting meanings of my name which I did not know about. I have always loved my name, it is unique and has significant meaning in Hinduism. Things have not been the same since I discovered that the name I am so proud of has another meaning for so many people. This alternate meaning is hurtful to many and therefore hurtful to me as well.
One can imagine my surprise when I discovered all of it. But how? What happened? What did I do after that? How am I handling the situation? What does SWASTIKA mean in Hinduism and how does it affect my life?
To answer all these questions, here I am writing my first-ever non-technical blog.
Meaning of Swastika in Hinduism and India
I was born and brought up in a Hindu family in Delhi, India. Every Indian name has a story and meaning behind it, the same goes for me. The name Swastika has a very profound and pure meaning for us.
According to the ancient Indian scriptures and Hindu mythology, ’Swastika’ has great significance, it is taken up from the ancient Sanskrit word स्वस्तिक. A sign (right-facing Swastik) that symbolizes the Sun God, prosperity, and good luck. It also has great significance in the Jain and Buddhist religions. For the Jains, it represents the seventh spiritual teacher out of all twenty-four. While for Buddhists, it symbolizes the auspicious footprints of Lord Buddha himself.
Swastika is a symbol that is made on every auspicious day in every Hindu family. Even in some places, if people get something new like a vehicle or a gadget, you might find the actual Swastika printed on it.
The symbol or the word Swastika is not only limited to these three religions. Many Indo-European religions continue to preach the meaning of Swastika as a sign of good luck and prosperity. The archaeological remains of the Indus Valley Civilization, Byzantine, and Samarra are proof that the Swastik held a pure and loving meaning in all these religions and civilizations.
In the Western world, the swastika is synonymous with fascism. I’ll not go into the details here of how Swastika was used, how they took the symbol, and what happened in the past. Here are some references to go through if you’re interested to learn more:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29644591
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_use_of_the_swastika_in_the_early_20th_century
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/swastika-is-pre-aryan-dates-back-11000-years/articleshow/53090079.cms
My reaction after learning the alternate meaning
I’m a very active Twitter user. When Covid hit in 2020 and we all were stuck in our homes, I thought to give Twitter a try. To my surprise, I found it a lot more interesting than any other social media.
Once I crossed 2k followers on Twitter, my DMs were filled with negative comments that I should be banned from Twitter, change my username, etc. I literally had zero idea about why this was happening. I remember a DM I received: “What’s with the username?” to which I replied, “What? That’s my name like everyone else”.
This is how I began to learn how my name is perceived in some parts of the world. I’d be lying if I say it didn’t make me sad or if I wasn’t affected a great deal. I still am.
After that, I knew this is not going to stop in a day or a year and I will have to explain this to most people. I have not done anything wrong but I do owe an explanation to people who do not know about the meaning of “Swastika” in Hinduism.
In the whole situation, I found three types of people:
- Fake accounts, trollers, whatever we call them. These people don’t bother me at all.
- People who were open to hearing my side. Unfortunately, I didn’t find many but these few people are my strength and support.
- People who asked me to change my name. Will I listen to them? You’ll find out that later in the blog.
Dealing with the situation
It took some time to accept the fact that my name has been used in a way that can hurt people. Many people suggested changing my name. Some even said I should and I have to. That part was scary. I thought about it for weeks — I imagined the worst that could happen because of my name.
One thing which I was and will always be certain of is that I will never change my name. Never. Yes, I will do my best to explain to people what my name means and signifies in Hinduism. But I do not give anybody the right to come and tell me to change my name. There have been times when I lost opportunities because of my name and I have made peace with it now. I’d rather lose a project than my name.
I wish “Swastika” was never used to refer to controversial things. I wish that everyone knew only one meaning of Swastika: the one I know, the one my country knows. But this is not the reality. I wish I could change it but I can not.
I don’t know exactly what I will do in the future to deal with this. I plan to try my best to help people understand what Swastika means to me. But maybe sometimes I will not. I can not waste all my time and energy fighting people who don’t want to listen and will write whatever the hell they want.
Until now, I’ve been mostly reactive about this, but I’ve learned that this can result in many assumptions and judgments. If I am being proactive and tell everyone I meet, “Hey, I’m Swastika but my name does not mean what you are thinking!” Then they may wonder why I am answering a question that was never asked.
Having said that, I neither want nor expect all people to love Swastika for its Hindu meaning. I understand why the alternate meaning can be downright horrific for many and I have immense empathy for them.
I know how it feels to live in fear and terror of other people because India has seen a lot too and we have a lot of history too. The more I read about history, the more I’m able to feel the horror and fear of that time. So, I definitely do not expect anyone to forget what happened years ago and just accept my name without a politically charged meaning.
I just hope that others can be a little open-minded and hear me out, and at a minimum, we can agree to disagree, as they say.
My expectations
A few days back, someone DMed a list of countries I should never go to because I might get killed. I don’t know how much truth that holds but it does scare me. I am left thinking, “Do I deserve this? Do I really deserve the hate I am getting? Do I deserve to answer every single person on this planet?”
I love traveling or I could say- I live for traveling. But now I have a new underlying fear that I will carry with me every time I step out of my country. I feel I do not deserve the hate I have received. I have not done any wrong to anyone nor did I decide to use this name to hurt anyone. I just want people to know that Swastika comes in many other forms. In fact, Swastika has been used for many good things beginning with ancient times.
I do not expect people to believe in what I believe in. I only hope people understand that there will always be two utterly different interpretations of Swastika: one symbolizing the best, and the other the worst. I am doing my best to understand and have accepted the alternate meaning. I hope that those on the other side can try to understand, and maybe even accept my side as well.
