The Possible Origin of the Swastika Symbol and the Tibetan Term གཡུང་དྲུང་ Yung-drung (Swastika) in Tibet by Tibetan writer Ta Bha བཀྲ་བྷ།

In Brief:

1. Origin of the Swastika Symbol: The Swastika figure is believed to represent the mythical bird Garuda. The author presents several reasons to support this theory. He explains that the horizontal line with the left-end corner facing down and the right-end corner facing up represents the bird's body. Meanwhile, the vertical line with the upper-end corner facing left and the lower-end corner facing right symbolizes the bird's wings.

2. Origin of the Tibetan Term Yung-drung: The author suggests that the Tibetan word གཡུང་ (Yung) may have originated from the Tibetan word for Garuda (khyung). The Tibetan word དྲུང་ (Drung) means root, basis, or home. Based on this, he concludes that the Tibetan term Yung-drung signifies the basis or home of the mythical bird Garuda, reinforcing the idea that the swastika symbol represents this powerful creature.

Note: The title of the Tibetan book is བོན་གྱི་ལྷ་རབས་ལ་དཔྱད་པ

Image: Swastika petroglyph from the Northern Plains of Tibet. Iron Age (ca. 700-100 BCE) Credit: Tibet Archaeology by John Vincent Bellezza