indian flag

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does the saffron color on the indian flag represent Hindus or Sikhs. I have heard that there was going to be a main protest against the British where they would form jathas and walk in protest while being shot at. All three religious groups were involved, and there was indecision over who would lead (because the leading groups would be the ones shot at) eventually it came down to it that only the Sikhs were willing to lead, but baba Kharak Singh ji made an agreement that since the Sikhs will lead, they're color will go at the top of the Indian flag. But after looking at some websites, they say that the saffron color is traditionally that of hindus, green muslims and white representing peaceful coexistence... so is the story just a myth or what?

[Guest SikhForLife]

ur right.. its prob a myth to win support of sikhs.. heres a quote from a site

theres nothin india has done for the sikhs..

On 15 August 1947 the dominions of India and Pakistan were established. India adopted the familiar horizontal tricolor of orange, white, and green with a blue Ashoka Chakra at the center. The tricolor had been used, unofficially, since the early 1920s as the flag of the Indian National Congress, with the colors representing Hinduism (orange), Islam (green), and a hoped-for unity and peace (white). More unofficially, the flag was patterned on the other example of struggle against British imperialism, Ireland. Most often, a blue spinning wheel was shown in the center, derived from Gandhi's call for economic self-sufficiency through hand-spinning. It was this flag that was first hoisted as the "official" Indian flag in Berlin on 3 December 1941.

[ms514]

Sat Sri Akal:

The Kesri color of the Indian Flag was insisted upon by the Sikhs. Origionally, the flag was supposed to be RED, white and green with blue wheel in center. Sikhs appealed (or insisted) to Gandhi to change the red to Kesri. Gandhi assured that he would set up a committee to put off the issue (documentation for this is in G.D. Tendulkar's Mahatma (Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) Volume 3 Pg. 195).

Despite Gandhi's passiveness (gee, what a surprise), Congress did change it to Kesri, but insisted that the colors have nothing to do with religions or communities. Nehru wrote a letter to one Maulana Azad stating that Kesri was Hindus, White was Christians and Green was Islam.

Goes to show you how much respect these peeps had for Sikhism.

Summary of info from Prof. Sahib Singh's The Sikhs in History, Pages 199-200 (minus the smart remarks...those are added by this moorakh).

[Guest mehtab]

There is a joke bout this, and i m gonna derive a great conclusion out of the joke.

here it is

Once a Sikh was passing by the indian flag, and as a mark of respect (he was indian sikh ) he saluted the flag (ok now wait...before getting mad at me, realize that this is a joke, and this probably happened in india ). Another person who saw this asked the Sikh "Sardarjee, the saffron represents Hindus, the green represents Muslims, the white represents every1 else, why do u salute the flag? The Sikh answers oye khamba tere pyo da hai? does the pole (on which the flag was tied) belong to your dad?

Rochak's derivation : Exactly! If there was no pole, where would the flag be tied? Therefore, if it wasn't for the Sikhs, would there be India??? In other words, if it wasn't for the Sikhs, would Hindus and Muslims have a country???

[GABROO KHALISTAN DAH]

only think india represents for sikhs is gulami and death

[pritam]

Waheguru.

[khalsacrazed]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

Listen to kirtan!

[Niranjana]

Gur Fateh!

As far as Sikh colours are concerned, there are many, however Khalsa Singhs (and following from this Nihangs, Bhujangi and Akali Nihang Singhs, however they may be referenced in accounts) are 'typically' seen to have always been attired in Blue. Indeed, so was (and in some cases still is) the Nishan Sahib (incidently, the Khanda was never in the form it exists today, it was traditionally just the Khanda -double edged sword with a circle, representing the top of the Degh, behind it).

As per colours, Blue and Kesri were adopted by Guru Gobind Singh from the ruling Moghul and Rajput classes as a way of challenging and also uplifting the downtrodden masses into the elite overnight (same with the adoption of the 5 Ks -nobility and knighthood in a symbolic and mystical sense...not, unfortunately, identity as we are so often told today!)

So as per the question, yes kesri does traditionally belong to the Hindoos (or more appropriately the Vaishnavs), however during the dark 80's in particular, the Khalistanis chose to adopt this further as a hall mark of their campaigns and the emphasis on 'identity' reached phenomenal heights as a result (unfortunately, in my humble opinion, to the gradual disregard and misunderstanding of the other more important aspects of the 5Ks).

Similarly Blue is the colour of the Muslim classes and also associated closely with Shivates. The Naamdharis are correct in pointing this out, although they take a little too far in totally disregarding the colour altogether. White has traditionally always been a colour of passiveness, which certainly explains the recent state of affairs for the Naamdharis, despite

their illustrious past and glories under Baba Ram Singh and shortly afterwards when they were the truest of Saint Soldiers...

...interestingly though, on this point, blue being associated with Shiva and the Muslims, is that the latter too are associated with Shiva (have a look at some of the pratices,especially around the time of Hajj and one can see the influence of Shivaim on the Muslims)...nonetheless BLUE is also the colour of the Khalsa, in my personal opinion over and above Kesri...please refer to the late "SARDAR KAPUR SINGH" in his text "PARASARAPRASNA" in which he discusses at length the importance of Blue under the chapter "The Archetypal Form of Guru Gobind Singh"...

Forgive any foolish comments in the foregoing...

GUR BAR AKAAAAAL!!!!