Metamorphosis of the Saffron in the Tricolor

I wonder if the deep saffron in our Tri-color is shameful.

The deep saffron today has metamorphosed to a rigid meaning and association. It is associated with people like Pramod Muthalik (and the likes) who think this color is theirs, and is symbolic of their pig-headedness of a “monophonic” culture. Through this color, they have taken our country to ransom.

I wonder if the Green in our tri-color represents the Muslims – a people that make this land.

I wonder if the white in our tri-color represents all the other people, believers and agnostics’, men and women, the first sex, second sex and the third, straight and gay, and every other combination.

I wonder if the Asoka Chakra – the wheel of Righteousness is still the essence of what the Buddha preached of right action, right speech, right thought, truth, and dharma.

It must be known that when the Tri-colour was designed by Pingali Venkayya, the tri-colour was not saffron (as it is today), but was Red, to represent Hindus. It should also be noted that all religions other then Muslims and Christian are termed as “Hindu”. This includes Jain, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Daliths). To ensure the India’s Tiranga should not divide the country on communal lines, the Red was changed to saffron – to denote truth that is ingrained in all religion and renunciation Hindu-Buddhist goal for each individual in pursuit of happiness and salvation.

I wonder if I am momentarily ashamed to call myself a Hindu the way the Saffron Brigade defines a Hindu.
I am glad that the Hindu religion’s innate distinction is questioning of the I. It has always allowed debates and discussions – a part of the religion is the discourse of the atheistic and agnostic.
I continue to be a Hindu despite my atheist or agnostic debates. I still am a Hindu.
I am not stripped of my identity.
I continue to be a Hindu, through the worship of not one god or prophet.



I continue to be Hindu, through the reverence of the Female strength that is personified through the spirits of Kali – the goddess who garlands herself with the skull of demon heads who have terrorized the earth (like the men who have today manifested into forms like Muthalik and the likes).

I am glad to call myself a Hindu, because being a Hindu does not define me to a universally accepted definition. There is no one definition. There is no one god. There is no one dictum.

"When we think of the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one god; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion or creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more." Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar (1999)

When that is the case, why is it that our land is allowed to be colonized by people who create the communal divide?
Why is it that stricter laws are not slapped on offenders who break this fabric that has triumphed through centuries of co-inhibiting the earth?
Why do the offenders like Muthalik get bail soon after they have instigated the blinded to burn down places of gatherings (schools, pubs, economic establishments, houses where human flesh and blood reside, monuments that have historical significance of a bygone era, places of worship) in places like Gujarat, Mysore, Mangalore, Orissa…(the list is endless).

Would a time come when we re-claim our flag?
Would a time come when the flag would not be called a Tiranga anymore?
Would a time come when it would metamorphose to one color with a one “Hitlerian” symbol?