Note 18 — Chapter VI

It is nothing but the “cross cramponné” of heraldry, and is generally identified with the mythic “thunderbolt;” hence, probably, the pre-Christian crosses of Scandinavian inscriptions. Of the sacred cross in the Huaca at Cuzco, we learn that the Incas did not worship it, beyond holding it in veneration on account of the beauty of its form, or for some other reason which they could scarcely give expression to (Garcilasso de la Vega, translated, etc., by Clements R. Markham, C.B., for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1869). It may be remarked that the pre-Christian cross, shaped as an ordinary Greek cross, when not connected with the sacred Tan of Egypt, was the symbol of the four quarters; when surrounded by a circle, it denoted the solar path from left to right round the world. A later symbol of the same order was the Hindu Swastika (mystical mark, meeting of four roads, etc.), whose arms, according to Mr Beal, should always be drawn from left to right, and not, as is sometimes done, “widdershins,” or in the reverse way. Finally, the crocheted cross (Cruz ansata at four ends) is the Aryan symbol of the sacred fire lit by Pramatha (Prometheus).