Dai Bendu

The Dai Bendu, also known as the Bendu, were a religious group that were the precursors of the Jedi Order. The first holocrons were attributed to the Dai Bendu. The Order also shared its name with an ancient being known as the Bendu.

The symbol of Galactic Republic that adorned the starfighters of the Jedi Knights dated back to the Bendu monks' study of numerology, in which the number nine—symbolized by eight spokes joined to one disk—signified the benevolent presence of the Force in a united galaxy. In the galactic standard calendar, the fifth and final day of the week "Benduday" was named for the Bendu monks of the planet Coruscant.

They constructed a monastery in what became Kijimi City on the planet Kijimi around 965 BBY. The existence of the temple prompted the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance to make a pilgrimage to Kijimi, inhabiting the Quarter of the Beatific. It was believed locally that Skordu had originally been invented by the Dai Bendu monks back when the city was still a religious stronghold.

After the fall of the Republic and its replacement by the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, the self-appointed Emperor Palpatine personalized the ancient icon of the Bendu by removing two spokes, thus creating the Imperial crest.

Text and facts from the “Dai Bendu” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.