Dear Friends,

I'm conducting a geneological study of the bhagwa dvaj flag, and would appreciate any assistance in this matter.

I'm reading about the significance of the flag. As I'm sure many of you are aware, it is the flag of choice for the RSS. They consider it their 'guru', and have only recently hoisted the tricolour flag at their Nagpur headquarters, after several decades of saying they never would. However, it also happens to sit upon just about every Hindu temple I've ever seen. I'm curious, then, if this could mean that every temple/ashram supports the RSS, or that the RSS has simply co-opted the flag, and interpolated their own political imagination onto the symbology inherent in the flag.

Either way, it is conveniently confusing, as it happens to also represent sanātana dharma, which is equated with Hinduism. But, then, I would argue that sanātana dharmic ideology rests at the core of the hindutva project. Therefore, I'm quite confused about the semiotic entanglement of this one sign, and its multiple semantic valencies.

I ask these questions because I figure that, if I have trouble disambiguating these things, what is the chance of success for the recently minted 200-hr yoga teacher graduate, or casual yoga practitioner?

I'm writing these days about the entanglement of global yoga practitioners and their potentially unwitting, tacit support of hindutva ideology. As an example, Stephen Knapp, a prominent ISKCON-wallah, and head of the VFA (vedic friends association), whom some of you might be familiar with, controversially suggests the following:

"The Bhagwa flag has existed and guided the Vedic society right from its origin. It has inspired and has been honored by the Vedic Saints and heroes. In ancient times, the warriors used to put on saffron robes and go to the battlefield. If they are victorious, they will rule and if vanquished, they might die on the battlefield and thus go to heaven--such was the motivating force for the heroes."

I find this appeal to a (martial) tradition somewhat perplexing. Aside from what a lot of Knapp says, this is possibly less controversial; however, for the uncritical mind, who is expected to unquestionably accept the truth claims of certain gurus, this type of triction (truth+fiction), is a prime example of how global yoga practitioners potentially come to unknowingly support a hindutva world view, which, as Ramdev explains, seeks to create a hindutva alternative to an ISIS caliphate. This, by the way, is his solution. By creating a global, Vedic theocratic state we can apparently stop a global Salafist caliphate from succeeding...

Knapp has not responded to my question regarding the textual, historical or archaeological source of his claims. I'm wondering, then, if anyone is able to point me towards the earliest mention, perhaps, of the bhagwa dvaj, anywhere, in a primary, or secondary, text.

Thank you.