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Symbols
In the novel, the color saffron represents the violence of conservative, Hindu extremist political parties. This is a loosely veiled reference to the political party of India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi, who has pushed a neo-fascist Hindu nationalist agenda, erasing religious minorities from public school history books and turning the other cheek to lynch mobs that terrorize Muslim and lower-caste communities. Modi supporters often wear the color saffron, which is a special color in the Hindu religion, in protests. In the novel, when Anjum is involved in a massacre of Muslim pilgrims to Gujarat, Roy refers to the attackers as “saffron parakeets with steel talons and bloodied beaks, all squawking together.” While saffron is a sacred color for the Hindu extremist groups, in the novel it appears only to symbolize religious violence, or the trauma that Anjum experiences as a survivor of religious violence.
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The Color Saffron Symbol Timeline in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Color Saffron appears in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...equal and opposite reaction.” This triggers an unprecedented chain reaction of Hindu extremist groups wearing saffron headbands murdering Muslims, attacking them in their homes and shops and on pilgrimages and even...
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...to her and Zakir Mian, but is unable to. She remembers how the Hindu extremists, “saffron parakeets with steel talons and bloodied beaks,” murdered everyone around her, tore them limb from...
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Over the years, Anjum’s grief subsides—her memories of the saffron parakeets of Gujarat dim and of Zakir Mian “will not go away” but become “a...
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...why he calls himself Saddam Hussain. He reveals that the story has to do with “saffron parakeets and a dead cow.” His real name is Dayachand, and he comes from a...
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Chapter 3
...Hindu millionaires, they distribute free food to the poor. They do not wear their signature saffron clothing, nor do they even mention their leader by name. And their subtle strategy works:...
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Chapter 7
...the futility of religion, for instance, and observes that in the current political climate—"as the saffron tide of Hindu Nationalism rises in our country like the swastika once did in another”—Naga...
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Chapter 10
Encouraged by seeing a Prime Minister who aligns with their political beliefs, the “saffron parakeet” Hindu fundamentalists that Anjum so fears have infiltrated “university campuses and courtrooms” alike. Centuries...
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