ABSTRACT
This book begins with a warning against the consequences of misappropriation. It was a warning which came too late, but which nonetheless is still relevant today. This caveat was issued in 1880 by the philologist Max Müller in a letter to the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, then known throughout Europe as the excavator of Troy. In his letter, Müller warned Schliemann that he should be wary of confusing the word ‘swastika’ with an archaeological ‘found image’, and that to do so would sever the links between the symbol and tradition:
I do not like the use of the word Svastika outside India. It is a word of Indian origin, and has its history and definite meaning in India. I know the temptation is great to transfer names, with which we are familiar, to similar objects which come before us in the course of our researches. But it is a temptation which the true student ought to resist, except, it may be, for the sake of illustration. The mischief arising from the promiscuous use of technical terms is very great.1
