The New Navy Ensign Of New (And Ancient) India

On 26 January 1950, the British royal symbol that was in the Indian navy crest was replaced with the lions of Sarnath pillar. The emblem of the Indian navy incorporated an invocation from the Rig Veda—Shaṁ No Varuna’—asking the Vedic Deity to protect us and herald auspiciousness.

However, the Indian Navy Ensign still sported the Saint George Cross – symbol of St. George who slayed the dragon – often depicted as a black demon.

The Indian National flag was resting on one of the bars of the cross, in the top left. That this cross was imposed on Indian Navy despite independence speaks a lot about the need to decolonise.

In 2001, under the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee the cross was removed.

Along with the National Flag there was the Ashoka lions, the National Emblem of India with an anchor. However, this was there only for a short time.

In 2004, the ensign was changed again with two red bands cutting each other at right angles and National Emblem was placed at the heart of the intersection of these red beams. It was no longer St George Cross, but nevertheless a cross.

Now Indian Navy Ensign has been changed to reflect the new India.

Each of these elements has a significance.

The National Tricolour shows the sovereignty of India. The cross, a symbol of colonial servitude in Indian historical context, is gone.

The octagonal shape is reminiscent of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s seal as this Swarajya article points out.

Shivaji Maharaj was a visionary who wanted India to have its own navy. Hindavi Swarajya of Chhatrapati Shivaji, even after his time, nurtured the naval force and the Hindus emerged as a force on the western coast of India.

This reached its peak under Kanhoji Angre (1669-1729). Veer Savarkar in his scintillating book on the revival and raise of Hindu Nation under Marathas, which was one of the most favourite books of Bhagat Singh, wrote about this genius of naval warfare.

Today India stands in the middle of various battle grounds.

From civilisational battles to battles of economic domination, battles unleashed by technological apartheid to covert battles of terrorism and internal subversion, India is facing a combined fleet of anti-Indian forces. Amidst all these battles one man has emerged as the modern Kanhoji Angre, holding the fort for us Indians.

The octagonal logo brings this spirit of guarding India against all odds - the spirit of Shivaji Maharaj that was the foundation on which the institution of India's modern navy was built.

Below the three headed lion on the anchor, one finds ‘Shaṁ No Varuna’.

Who is this Varuna? Is he the ‘Aryan’ equivalent of Greek mythology’s Neptune? Why should Indian Navy incorporate an appeal to a mythical God of an ancient time?

The answer is that Vedic Varuna is much more than Neptune.

Prof. Parveen Talpur is a Pakistani archaeologist-historian. She has written books on the Harappan civilisation.

In 2017, she published a book Indus Seals (2600-1900 BCE): Beyond Geometry. In the book she discusses a button seal discovered in a Harappan site. It has a central four-pointed star surrounded by four three-concentric circles with a similar three-concentric circles in the middle of the star.

This may be the eye of Varuna who was to the earlier Iranian religion, Ahura. All the stars are the eyes of Varuna, she points out.

This is quite meaningful. After all, in ancient times to traverse the oceanic waters one needed the stars.

Varuna being the lord of the expanses also guides and protects the sailors through his countless eyes. The ever-watching eyes are today important part of all Hindu Gods and Goddesses so much so that when Rabindranath Tagore wrote ‘Jana Gana Mana’, in the fourth stanza he spoke of the never blinking ever watchful eyes - Nayan Animeshey- of Snehamayi Tumi Mata.

Though Islamised, in rural Pakistan, Varuna worship rituals still exist, states Talpur.

As Ahura, Varuna unites ancient Iran and India. Still living in modified rituals, He asserts the deep spiritual unity of what is today Pakistan and India.

Sri Aurobindo brings out this magnificence of Vedic Varuna in his Secret of the Vedas:

Thus, the qualities of Varuna from time immemorial to the present represent the essence of Indian spiritual traditions, protecting which is the civilisation that is India.

The new ensign combines powerfully two vitals of the modern Indian Navy – the historical-institutional roots and the civilisational spiritual core.