From: Christopher John Fynn (cfynn@gmx.net)
Date: Sun Dec 14 2003 - 11:48:43 EST
At 14:56 +0100 2003-12-14, Philippe Verdy wrote:
>May be the Unicode name should not be swastika but a transliteration of an
>Asian name (Tibetan, Chinese Pinyin...), and all references to "swastika"
>(included in code charts, and the name index) removed if they ever occur
>somewhere in the standard or in a proposal.
"Swastika" *is* an Asian name - from the Sanskrit svastika "prosperity" from
svastik "good-luck". It is still widely used in India, e.g. in the south people
paint it at the entrance to their houses, and it's glyph found in a number of
legacy Indic script fonts.
It is the main symbol of the Tibetan Bon religion which is also called
Yungdrung Bon or (i.e. Swastika Bon).
Banning this ancient symbol would be offensive to Bonpos and many Hindus &
Buddhists.
- Chris
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