Bhutan: the ‘Wheel of Law’
One can observe flags raised on poles everywhere these days, from government buildings and constructions to all kinds of other organizations. Banners and the like are typically purchased and used to commemorate special events, like birthdays. Unlike flags, banners hung from objects and not lifted on flag poles. Flags and standards however are flown at half-mast to honor the dead.
Here is an interesting guide to an interesting flag, indeed the flag of Bhutan. This is one Asian country that I have yet to visit in my lifetime. The background colors of this representation have changed over the years. Flag-designs typically change as people change. This however does not apply to flag poles.
In Bhutan, thunder is thought to be the voice of dragons. Dragons have an important representation in Asia. About the year twelve hundred, a monastery was organized by an individual with the name ‘Tsangha Gyarey Yeshey Dorji’, who name it the ‘thunder dragon’, and his sect was named after it respectively, the ‘Drukpas’. The name and the emblem of the dragon have been associated with the nation of Bhutan ever since.
The part of the flag that is orange still has symbolizes the Drukpa monasteries, and the field in yellow represents the royal dynasty of the ‘Wangchuks’.
The national emblem of Bhutan was redesigned in 1980 to include the Buddhist ‘Wheel of Law’, also symbolic of the monarchy. Dragons protect the Wheel thus representing secular and spiritual authority, and at the base is a lotus flower, which is another commonly used emblem in this region. At the top is the Jewel Umbrella. The corners represent the four parts of the territory.
No other official flags are attached to Asian flag poles in Bhutan.
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