About the Book: Is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh a guardian of Indian tradition, or a threat to the country’s democratic, pluralist, secular fabric? Much of the existing scholarship on the Sangh divides sharply into praise or critique, often focusing only on select events and leaving large portions of its century‑long history unexamined. As a result, informed public opinion remains thin. Many Shades of Saffron offers a fuller account: tracing the Sangh’s leadership, political posture across decades, ideological shifts, and the ways it negotiated official hostility and changing social landscapes.