The national flag of India features a navy blue wheel (Ashoka Chakra) placed at the center of a Tiraṅgā (rectangular tricolour), with the colours saffron, white and green. The flag was first adopted during a constituent assembly meeting on July 22, 1947, and later on August 15, 1947, it was officially approved as the flag of India. The Indian flag is based on the Swaraj flag, which was designed by Pingali Venkayya for the Indian National Congress.
Before the rebellion of 1857, several flags with a variety of designs were employed in the period prior to the Indian independence movement by different states. The aspect of a distinct Indian flag was hence brought up by the British rulers of India during this time which led to the creation of direct imperial leadership.
The pioneer flag’s design centered on Western heraldic standards, like the flags of other British colonies, such as South Africa and Canada. The flag featured a red field which contained a star of India capped by the royal crown and a Union flag in the upper-left quadrant. During the early 20th century, deliberations on the need of a heraldic symbol to represent the Indian realm by William Coldstream was turned down because this would lead to a multiplying of flags. However, during this period, nationalist sentiments in the realm started representing India using religious tradition with symbols such as Ganesha, Kali, and the Gau Mata. However, these representations were more Hindu-centric and failed to highlight the unity with India’s dominant religion, Islam.
In 1905, following the division of Bengal, a new flag was introduced to represent the Indian independence movement that aimed to unify the races and social groups of India. Therefore, the Vande Mataram flag, which comprised of sacred symbols depicted in a western heraldic manner, was produced. This flag was tricolored and encompassed eight white lotuses on the topmost green stripe which represented the eight provinces, a Vande Mataram slogan in Hindi on the central yellow band, and a sun and a crescent on the bottom red band. The flag was briefly adopted in Calcutta (also referred to as Kolkata) during mourning ceremonies. However, the flag failed to generate enthusiasm among Indian nationalists which meant going back to the drawing board to come up with the perfect design.
As a result, a second suggestion for the flag was launched by Sister Nivedita, a Hindu reformist, the flag was composed of a thunderbolt in the center and 108 oil lamps for the border with the Vande Mataram caption spilled around the thunderbolt. This design was showcased during the National Congress meeting in 1906. Following this, numerous other flag designs were submitted to the nationalist movement, but none were selected. In 1916, Pingali Venkayya proposed 30 fresh designs which only kept the flag movement alive. Ensuing from the peace agreement among Britain and Ireland, the need for a national flag gained prominence once more and in April 1921, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi wrote about the need for an Indian flag, preferably with a spinning wheel at the center.
The new flag designed by Pingali Venkayya, featuring an Ashoka Chakra on a red and green banner failed to be delivered on time and hence wasn’t presented at the Congress session of 1921. However, upon its delay, Gandhi realized that other religious movements were not represented on the flag and included white to the banner colors to symbolize the other religious groups present in India. On April 13, 1923, the new flag with Chakra was hoisted while commemorating the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the local congress volunteers in Nagur.
a) Colour
The Indian national flag was proposed by Gandhi in 1921 and designed by Pingali Venkayya which featured a navy blue traditional spoke wheel at the center representing Gandhi’s objective to depict Indians as self-sufficient. Later the colours were altered to include a white band at the center to serve as representations of other religions. Subsequently, saffron, white and green were the three chosen bands. These colors represent:
b) Shape
According to Indian law, the flag should be prepared from Khadi which is a particular kind of hand-spun material or silk made famous by Mahatma Gandhi. Based on the flag code of India and Bureau of Indian standards, the manufacturing process and standards of the Indian flag should follow the guidelines below in the production of flags:
Do you know any other interesting facts about the flag of India? Share your thoughts below.
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