Kharagpur: Swastika - the Indian symbol of peace and continuity which was hijacked by Adolf Hitler for his twisted Aryan supremacy theory is much older than perceived.
According to a 'Times of India' report, it has now come to light that 'Swastika' is much older than the Aryans and even the Indus Valley Civilization.
A team of top-notch researchers from several prestigious institutions from across the country have found that the 'Swastika' dates back at least 11,000 years and have traced its spread to western and Middle-Eastern civilizations.
In fact, one of their key findings is that a Ukranian 'Swastika', believed to date back 12,000 years to the Paleolithic Age, may not be this old, said the report.
The team is set to make an announcement on their findings on 'Swastika' and various other interesting facts related to it at the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) on July 8.
They will also exhibit all the evidence they have gathered and answer queries.
For them, the research was no less than solving a jigsaw puzzle in the maze of history, involving study of codes and symbols that would excite Dan Brown.
Based at IIT-Kharagpur and led by one of its most senior professors, it was conducted by Sandhi, an HRD Ministry-sponsored effort to amalgamate ancient Indian knowledge systems with contemporary science.
The team included many scholars from several IITs, NITs, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology-Ahmedabad, School of Planning and Architecture-Bhopal, and Jadavpur University .
While tracking the antiquity of the 'Swastika', the team came across a staggering discovery - that the Rig Veda, generally associated with Aryan civilization, existed much before that, dating back to the pre-Harappan times in the form of Shruti that were orally handed down through the Indus Valley civilization.
The team will show how the 'Swastika' migrated from India - through the Tartar Mongoloid route via Kamchatka to the Americas (reason for plethora of 'Swastikas' in the Aztec and Mayan civilisations), and through the Western land route to Finland, Scandinavia, British Highlands and Europe where the symbol is present in varying shapes of the cruciform.
