National Flag of Bhutan

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Kingdom of Bhutan
Flag of Bhutan.svg
UseNational flag
Proportion2:3
DesignDivided diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner; the upper triangle is yellow and the lower triangle is orange; centered along the dividing line is a large black and white dragon facing away from the hoist side
The national flag of Bhutan (Dzongkha: ཧྥ་རན་ས་ཀྱི་དར་ཆ་; Wyliehpha-ran-sa-kyi dar-cho) is one of the national symbols of Bhutan. The flag is based upon the tradition of the Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and features Druk, the Thunder Dragon of Bhutanese mythology. The basic design of the flag by Mayum Choying Wangmo Dorji dates to 1947. A version was displayed in 1949 at the signing of the Indo-Bhutan Treaty. A second version was introduced in 1956 for the visit of Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuk to eastern Bhutan; it was based upon photos of its 1949 predecessor and featured a white Druk in place of the green original.
The Bhutanese subsequently redesigned their flag to match the measurements of the flag of India, which they believed fluttered better than their own. Other modifications such as changing the red background color to orange led to the current national flag, in use since 1969. The National Assembly of Bhutan codified a code of conduct in 1972 to formalize the flag's design and establish protocol regarding acceptable flag sizes and conditions for flying the flag.


Historically Bhutan is known by numerous names, but the Bhutanese call the country Druk after the name of the Bhutanese thunder dragon. This tradition dates to 1189 when Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje, founder of the Drukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, was in Phoankar (Tibet) where he reportedly witnessed the Namgyiphu valley glowing with rainbow and light. Considering this an auspicious sign, he entered the valley to choose a site for the construction of a monastery, whereupon he heard three peals of thunder – a sound produced by the druk (dragon) according to popular Bhutanese belief. The monastery that Tsangpa Gyare built that year was named Druk Sewa Jangchubling, and his school of teaching became known as Druk. The Druk school later split into three lineages. One of these three, Drukpa, was founded by Tsangpa Gyare's nephew and spiritual heir Önrey Dharma Sengye and afterward spread throughout Bhutan. The nation itself would also later become known as Druk. This legend offers one explanation for how the symbolism of the dragon came to form the basis of the national flag of Bhutan. An alternative hypothesis maintains that the notion of symbolizing sovereign and state in the form of a dragon emerged in neighboring China and was adopted by the rulers of Bhutan as a symbol of royalty in the early 20th century.

According to The Legal Provisions of the National Flag of the Kingdom of Palden Drukpa as Endorsed in Resolution 28 of the 36th Session of the National Assembly held on June 8, 1972, and as restated in the Constitution of 2008, the yellow signifies civil tradition and temporal authority as embodied in the Druk Gyalpo, the Dragon King of Bhutan, whose royal garb traditionally includes a yellow kabney (scarf). The orange half signifies Buddhist spiritual tradition, particularly the Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma schools. Druk, the Thunder Dragon, spreads equally over the line between the colors. The placement of Druk in the center of the flag over the dividing line between the flag's two colors signifies the equal importance of both civic and monastic traditions in the Kingdom of Druk (Bhutan) and evokes the strength of the sacred bond between sovereign and people. The white color of Druk signifies the purity of inner thoughts and deeds that unite all the ethnically and linguistically diverse peoples of Bhutan. The jewels held in Druk's claws represent Bhutan's wealth and the security and protection of its people, while the dragon's snarling mouth symbolizes Bhutanese deities' commitment to the defense of Bhutan.

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