For example, it is believed that it stands for the eternal cycle of life and death. There are various interpretations of kolovrat apart from it being the sun symbol. Eight – rayed and six – rayed kolovrat are the most common, but those with only three or four rays can be found as well. Some of those arches are directed clockwise and others counter-clockwise. The number of kolovrat’s rays differs, but they are all arched at the top. Etymology of the world, which would translate as the “rotating circle” confirms this visual impression. The movement of the sun is indicated by the rotation of the symbol’s rays which look as if they’re spinning. It is an attribute of the Slavic solar deity, Svarog, appropriately represented by the cyclic shape of the motif. Slavic Kolovrat can be considered a variant of the “original” swastika and it shares the latter’s solar symbolism. Kolovrat inscribed on a wooden statue of a Slavic god Rather, we are interested in describing the Slavic adoption of this emblem. Since the myth of the “Aryan race” has been deconstructed and refuted by the modern scholarship, we will not pay attention to the misusage of swastika as the “shield of the Aryan man”. This non-academic interpretation was initiated by Michael Zmigrodski in Paris, 1889 at the art exhibition, and later adopted by Hitler. Swastika as a symbol of the “Aryan race” was constructed, or rather invented, in the nineteenth century. It appeared in both, clockwise and anti-clockwise directions, and symbolized the Sun. It was considered sacred and connected to benediction. In India, swastika was an auspicious symbol, which brought blessings of long life, fortune and good luck. Swastikas figure on the oldest coinage in India…Sanskrit swastika meant “so be it” or “amen”. Swastikas appear on Paleolithic carvings on mammoth ivory from the Ukraine, dated 10 000 BC. Those who know the swastika only as the Nazi Hakenkreuz (Hook Cross) may be surprised to learn that it is one of the oldest, most widely distributed religious symbols in the world. British archaeologist and Stanford University professor, Ian Hodder, writes: One of the first prehistoric occurrences of swastika was found in Ukraine, which will later become territory inhabited by the Slavs. It appears on pottery, bronze fibulae and golden objects from the ancient Troy and the ancient Greece. From the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean, the symbol was used in the Bronze Age as a common decorative device. The word “swastika” is of an Indian (Sanskrit) origin, but the visual symbol seizes even further in history.
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