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In Mongolian it is called хас ( khas) and mainly used in seals. In various European languages, it is known as the fylfot, gammadion, tetraskelion, or cross cramponnée (a term in Anglo-Norman heraldry) German: Hakenkreuz French: croix gammée Italian: croce uncinata Latvian: ugunskrusts. It is also commonly used in Hindu marriage ceremonies and Dipavali celebrations. However, the swastika remains a symbol of good luck and prosperity in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain countries such as Nepal, India, Thailand, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, China and Japan, and by some peoples, such as the Navajo people of the Southwest United States. As a consequence, its use in some countries, including Germany, is prohibited by law. As a result of World War II and the Holocaust, in the West it continues to be strongly associated with Nazism, antisemitism, white supremacism, or simply evil. Cuza as a symbol of international antisemitism prior to World War I, it was a symbol of auspiciousness and good luck for most of the Western world until the 1930s, when the German Nazi Party adopted the swastika as an emblem of the Aryan race.
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Īlthough used for the first time by far-right Romanian politician A. The symbol is found in the archeological remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation and Samarra, as well as in early Byzantine and Christian artwork. In several major Indo-European religions, the swastika symbolises lightning bolts, representing the thunder god and the king of the gods, such as Indra in Vedic Hinduism, Zeus in the ancient Greek religion, Jupiter in the ancient Roman religion, and Thor in the ancient Germanic religion. In Jain symbolism, it represents Suparshvanatha – the seventh of 24 Tirthankaras ( spiritual teachers and saviours), while in Buddhist symbolism it represents the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. In Hinduism, the right-facing symbol (clockwise) ( 卐) is called swastika, symbolizing surya ('sun'), prosperity and good luck, while the left-facing symbol (counter-clockwise) ( 卍) is called sauwastika, symbolising night or tantric aspects of Kali. The word swastika comes from Sanskrit: स्वस्तिक, romanized: svastika, meaning 'conducive to well-being'. It generally takes the form of a cross, the arms of which are of equal length and perpendicular to the adjacent arms, each bent midway at a right angle.
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It continues to be used as a symbol of divinity and spirituality in Indian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The swastika ( 卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. The appropriation of the swastika by the Nazi Party and neo-Nazis is the most recognisable modern use of the symbol in the Western world.
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