Sir, who designed our national Flag…….

Courtesy: www.bhutantour.bt

Sometimes, it is a boon to take a subject that you aren’t specialized in. I am a Physics teacher by design, but by accident, I ended up being a Social Studies teacher. It was during one of the periods that one child hesitantly asked, “Sir, we talked of our national symbols. So, can you please tell us who designed our national flag and composed the national anthem?” I was numb to answer instantly. 

Because I have participated in the quiz contest at many levels before, I answered the second question that was quite clear in my mind.

“Dasho Gyaldon Thinley”, the father of our present Prime Minister Lynchhoen Jigme Yoezer Thinley has composed our national anthem. The tune is said to be composed by Druk Thuksey Dasho Aku Tongmi. National Flag, um….I believe….”

“Um….if you give me some time, I will explore and share in more details in the next class”.

“Yes sir”, gave a huge chorus.

“Thank You”

Back in the staffroom, I robed the time of my colleagues to probe the answer but to no avail. Eventually, I decided to surf the internet using my data card, which seldom serves the purpose due to poor network receptivity.

That evening I explored many things. As a matter of sheer luck as one may call it, I caught the resource exactly fitting for my assignment.

The prominent Bhutanese researchers, Dasho Dr Sonam Kinga, the then researcher in Centre for Bhutan Studies (Current NC elect from Trashigang and Chairperson of the National Council) and Dorji Penjore, in their research, has succinctly put in plain words about our national flag and the national anthem. Stories ranging from the genesis to its composure and rationales to its significance are awfully revealed.

Firstly, it is worth understanding the basic visible organs of the flag:

                                          Key terminologies:

1. Bicolour A flag of two colours, usually in equal fields. Bicolours are generally horizontal (Ukraine), vertical (Malta) or diagonal (Bhutan).
2. Charge An emblem, object, device or design superimposed on the field(s) of a flag.
3. Field It is the background (predominant colour) of a flag.
4. Fimbriation It is a narrow line separating two other colours in a flag.
5. Finial The ornament on the end of a flagstaff or flagpole.
6. Fly It is a free end of a flag, farthest from the staff. The term is also used for the horizontal length of the flag.
7. Ground It is the background of a flag.
8. Halyard It is the rope used to hoist and lower a flag.
9. Hoist It is the part of the flag closest to the staff. The term is also used for the vertical width of a flag.
10. Honour point The place on a flag where the colour or charge with the greatest or highest symbolism is placed.
11. Length The maximum length of a flag measured straight from hoist to fly.
12. Staff It is a pole a flag hangs on.
13. Truck It is the wooden or metal block at the top of a flagpole below the filial (staff ornament). It may include a pulley or holes for the halyard.
14. Width It is the height of a flag along the hoist.

[NOTE: Fearing the deterioration of meanings for the jargon used, I have plainly picked up the   words as described by the researchers]

1. The National Flag

1. Why dragon on the flag?

Tsangpa Gyare Yeshey Dorji, the founder of the Drukpa Kagyud School of Buddhism, saw a rainbow and light in the Namgyiphu valley in Tibet. Believing it to be an extraordinary premonition, he visited the site to locate a place to construct a monastery.

During his visit, in the clear winter sky, he heard the dragon thundering repeatedly thrice. He predicted that his teachings would flourish to the places where the noise of the dragon is heard. He constructed a monastery there in 1189 and named it Druk Sewa Jangchubling, widely branded as Druk Ralung.

Tsangpa Gyare’s teachings known as Druk flourished in three branches: Toed Druk, Med Druk and Bar Druk. The Toed and Med Druk has later merged into one and was popular in Bhutan after the arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. He unified our country and the name of our beautiful kingdom was known as Druk or ‘Dragon’. The dragon is used as the main symbol in our national flag today.

   II. First Version of the National Flag

The 2^nd King Jigme Wangchuck initiated designing the national during the signing of Indo-Bhutan Treaty in 1949.

It was a bicolour square flag with fimbriation running from the lower hoist to the upper fly end. The yellow field extended from the hoist to the upper fly end, and the red from the fly end to the lower hoist. It has a green dragon at the centre of the yellow-red fields, parallel to the fly, facing the fly end. It was embroidered by Lharip Taw Taw from Pesiling, Bumthang. He was one of the very few lharip (painter) available in the court at that time. The dragon was painted green in accordance with the traditional and religious reference to dragon as yu druk ngonm གཡུ་འབྲུག་སྔོནམ - turquoise dragon. A sample of this flag is put up behind the throne in the National Assembly Hall in Thimphu although the green dragon is embroidered along the fimbriation, not parallel to the fly. It was the first flag of such design used only for this occasion, and nothing has been heard or known about it since then (Kinga & Penjore. 2002).

III. Second Version of the National Flag

When the Late Majesty, the 3^rd King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck visited eastern Bhutan, officials working in the late His Majesty’s secretariat initiated to use during the journey. They have duplicated the same flag available in the Indo-Bhutan Treaty except for the colour of the dragon which was changed to white.

After the interview with Dasho Shingkhar Lam, the former Secretary to His Majesty and the Sixth Speaker of National Assembly (1971-74), the researchers have managed to record his lines like this:

The flag was square and the dragon, instead of being diagonally placed, was straight. I was later commanded to redesign the flag as it is today. (Kinga & Penjore. 2002).

IV. Description and explanation of the second flag

Every country has a national flag as a symbol of its identity. Hence, the explanation of our national flag is narrated comprehensively.

1. The national flag is half yellow and half red. The yellow spreads from the summit to the base while the red extends from the base and forms the fluttering end.

2. His Majesty, the Dharma King is the summit and root of the Drukpa Kagyud of Palden Drukpa. As he wears the yellow robe, the yellow represents the being of His Majesty.

3. The significance of red is that the Kingdom of Kagyud Palden Drukpa is governed from the foot of the Dharma King His Majesty consistent with dual monastic and civil systems, and therefore, the country's entire borders and centre is consistent with the teachings (Dharma).

4. The red and yellow fields are adjoined. The dragon spreads equally over them. This signifies that ....the people are united in the oneness of speech and mind in upholding the Kingdom's interest. The dragon symbolizes that in the eyes of Palden Drukpa, there is no discrimination against people of any disposition and that they are being governed towards peace and prosperity (Kinga & Penjore. 2002)

V. The present National Flag

The present flag including its dimensions, shape and design was made during one of the Gangtok-based Political Officer of India who visited Bhutan in 1950s. The square Bhutanese flag was found not fluttering. Taking the measurements from the Indian flag, which is nine by six feet, it was redesigned with four significant changes.

1. The colour of the dragon was changed to white.
2. The dragon which was parallel to the fly was embroidered diagonally along the fimbriation.
3. The lower half was changed to orange colour.
4. The shape was changed to a rectangle with nine by six feet.

2. The National Anthem

The Late His Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck issued an order to compose a national anthem for our country.

Aku Tongmi, the country’s first bandmaster trained in Shillong, India has composed the music for the event of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Bhutan. The original anthem was composed by Dasho Gyaldon Thinley with 12 lines as follows:

ལྷོ་ཙན་དན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ན།།

ལུགས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པ་སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན།།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།

སྐུ་བརྒྱུར་མེད་ཞབས་པད་བརྟན་པར་ཤོག།།

ཐུགས་དགོངས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ་འཕེལ་འཕེལ་ནས།།

དཔལ་མངའ་ཐང་དགུང་དང་མཉམ་པར་ཤོག།།

དཔོན་ཆོས་རྗེ་འབྲུག་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་འདིར།།

ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་རྒྱས་རྒྱས་ནས།།

ནད་མུ་གེ་འཁྲུགས་རྩོད་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཡལ།།

བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བར་ཤོག།།

In the southern Kingdom where cypresses grow,

Protector of the Dharma of dual traditions,

The King of Druk, precious sovereign,

May his being remain unchanged, his lotus foot stable.

The wisdom of His heart increases,

Deeds of monastic and civil traditions flourish,

While the glorious power equals the skies,

May the people flourish and prosper.

In the Drukpa Kingdom of Dharma sovereign

The teachings of enlightenment flourish.

Suffering, famine and conflicts disappear

May the sun of peace and happiness shine forth!

[Courtesy: Kinga & Penjore. 2002]

The right hand was raised in a gesture of salute, whenever they sang the anthem. Since 12 line lyrics was found long, it was shortened to six and submitted to the late King for approval and adoption. The original tune of our national anthem was based on a folk song titled Thri nyampa med pa pemai thri, ཁྲི་ཉམས་པ་མེད་པ་པད་མའི་ཁྲི-[The Unchanging Lotus Throne].

 The national anthem today:

འབྲུག་ཙན་དན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ན།།

དཔལ་ལུགས་གཉིས་བསྟན་སྲིད་སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན།།

འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།

སྐུ་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟེན་ཅིང་ཆབ་སྲིད་འཕེལ།།

ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས།།

འབངས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བར་ཤོག།།

In the Kingdom of Druk, where cypresses grow,

Refuge of the glorious monastic and civil traditions,

The King of Druk, precious sovereign,

His being is eternal, his reign prosperous

The wisdom of His heart increases,

The enlightenment teachings thrive and flourish,

May the people shine like the sun of peace and happiness. 
                [Courtesy: Kinga & Penjore. 2002]

Reference:    

Kinga, Sonam & Penjore, Dorji. (2002). The Origin and Description of The National Flag and National Anthem of The Kingdom of Bhutan. The Centre for Bhutan Studies. 
Website: www.bhutanstudies.com 

"I like traditions, and the national anthem is important" Kate Mara.  

To SEPARATE Certificate

Soon after graduating in 2007, my then-girlfriend (now my wife) and I took a bold step that felt nothing short of history in the making. We slipped away from the last day of our Choeshay session, presided over by the venerable Yangpoi Lopen Chhimi, to pen the first page of a new chapter in our lives – our marriage. 

The mission was clear but challenging: to obtain our Marriage Certificate (MC), the legal testimony of our union. 

We were advised that it would take at least 3 official days. As much as love has its own urgency, we needed it for the placement. After relentless pleas and sincere petitions, the High Court of Samtse acknowledged our hope and gave us what we sought – in just a single day.

 

When Placement Became Displacement

Barely 2 days had passed since our MC was issued when the placement orders arrived. I was placed at Samtse while my wife, Sonam, to Mongar, the eastern part of the country. 

The ink on our certificate had hardly dried before it faced its first test. Fearful that the very purpose of our MC would be defeated, I approached the Ministry of Education to place us together. Surprisingly, my appeal was accepted without hesitation, and I was allowed to join her in Mongar.

In that moment, I realised in the strength of our certificate. It was not just as a piece of paper, but as something sacred. Something that mattered.

At the time, I believed our MC was the youngest in the world to have been put to such meaningful use. With reverence, I submitted a copy to the District Education Officer in Mongar. I was certain that age did not define its value. That its truth and its justice would speak for us.

 

The Certificate That Betrayed Us

But life, it seems, had a cruel twist in store. Despite all our efforts, we were placed apart again. I was struck by disbelief. The MC, which once felt like a shield, now seemed hollow. Powerless. It's legal muscle – gone.

The District Education Officer’s words during the time of our placement crushed me further.

“You have provided the legal document as required, but if both of you are placed together [in one school], one of you might be a wastage.”

“Wastage?” I echoed in stunned disbelief. “In what terms?” 

“You both teach the same subject.”

What a devastating blow. Was this really an educated man speaking? Were we truly the first couple in the system to share a profession? 

I responded, though barely holding back the flood of emotion within me.

“Are you suggesting we should have chosen subjects to suit our marriage? Should we have had a subject-based union, not a heart-based one?”

But my words fell flat against his indifference. I watched as his face flushed, his composure fraying at the edges. I could feel his frustration boil over, but even that paled in comparison to the storm inside me.

 

In the Same District But World’s Apart

Despite the ache, I joined the school. Alone. In a separate school. 

A year later, my wife left to pursue further studies. Then I applied for a transfer and I was placed at Kabesa Middle Secondary School in Punakha. Hope glimmered again when, 2 years later, she was placed at Dechentsemo Central School in the same district. We thought perhaps this time, fate would favour us to serve in the same school together. 

But no. Despite our proximity, we continued to live apart. Our MC, once sacred, now mocked us. 

That same year, I applied for an internal transfer– pleading on personal and financial grounds. I poured my soul into every word, every appeal, whenever District Education officials visited. I watched them nod, say the right things. But nothing changed. As usual.  

6 years on, our MC had lost every ounce of legal strength. What once symbolised unity had become the document that ensured our separation.

It whispered 2 painful truths to me:

1.    No matter whether what you hold in your hands is legal or not, when you are under someone’s shadow, there is no right for you. 

2.    If you do not have background or connections, then fairness is just optional and the rules become tools of the powerful. 

Perhaps they will not be bothered by my transfer requests anymore. I will never argue using MC as a legal document to prove my marriage anymore – because it never was. 

I am leaving for further studies this August. My field – Science and Technology Education – promises me a new window for my beginning. A possible escape from the cold, tangled web spun by these human-octopuses. 

I do not wish them harm. But if there is one wish, I carry every day: may I never see them again.

The more I dwell on it, the deeper it hurts. These people, perched on high rungs of authority, preach about service to King, Country, and People. And yet, they cannot even protect the dignity of those who walk within the bounds of the nation’s laws.

 

To Separate Certificate