My OperaHistory Indian flags
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 1:42:10 PM
At the beginning of the 20th century, as the Indian independence movement seeking freedom from British rule gained ground, the need was felt for a national flag that would serve as a powerful symbol of these aspirations. In 1904, Sister Nivedita, an Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda, came up with the first flag of India, later referred to as Sister Nivedita's Flag. It was a red square-shaped flag with a yellow inset; it depicted a «Vajra Chinha» (thunderbolt) with a white lotus alongside it in the centre. The words «বন্দে মাতরম» (Vande Mataram meaning «Hail the Mother[land]!») were inscribed on the flag in Bengali. The red colour signified the freedom struggle, yellow signified victory, and the white lotus signified purity.
The first tricolour was unfurled on 07 August 1906, during a protest rally against the Partition of Bengal, by Schindra Prasad Bose in Parsi Bagan Square in Calcutta. This flag came to be known as the Calcutta Flag. The flag had three horizontal bands of equal width with the top being orange, the centre yellow and the bottom green in colour. It had eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe, and a picture of the sun and a crescent moon on the bottom stripe. The words Vande Mataram were inscribed in the centre in the Devanagari script.
On 22 August 1907, Bhikaiji Cama unfurled another tricolour flag in Stuttgart, Germany. This flag had green at the top, saffron in the centre and red at the bottom, the green standing for Islam and the saffron for both Hinduism and Buddhism. The flag had eight lotuses in a line on the green band representing the eight provinces of British India. The words Vande Mataram, in the Devanagari script, were inscribed on the central band. On the lowest band, towards the hoist of the flag was a crescent, and towards the fly a sun. The flag was jointly designed by Bhikaiji Cama, Veer Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma. After the outbreak of World War I, this flag became known as the Berlin Committee Flag after it was adopted by the Indian Revolutionaries at the Berlin Committee. This flag was actively used in Mesopotamia during the First World War. The Ghadar Party flag was also used in the United States as a symbol for India for a short period of time.
The Home Rule Movement formed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant in 1917 adopted a new flag, one which featured five red and four green horizontal stripes. On the upper left quadrant was the Union Jack which signified the Dominion status that the movement sought to achieve. A crescent and a star, both in white, are set in top fly. Seven white stars are arranged as in the Saptarishi constellation (the constellation Ursa Major), which is sacred to Hindus. This flag could not become popular among the masses, probably due to their repugnance for the Union Jack.
A year earlier in 1916, Pingali Venkayya, from Machilipatnam in present-day Andhra Pradesh tried to devise a common national flag. His endeavours were noticed by Umar Sobani and SB Bomanji, who together formed the Indian National Flag Mission. When Venkayya sought Mahatma Gandhi's approval for the flag, the Mahatma suggested the incorporation of the «Charkha» or spinning wheel on the flag, symbolising «the embodiment of India and the redemption of all its ills». The humble spinning-wheel had become a hallowed symbol of the economic regeneration of India under the Mahatma's championship. Pingali Venkayya came up with a flag with the charkha on a red and green background. However, Mahatma Gandhi found that the flag did not represent all the religions of India.
To address Mahatma Gandhi's concerns, another new flag was indeed designed. This tricolour featured white on top, green in the centre and red at the bottom, symbolising the minority religions, Muslims and Hindus respectively, with a «Charkha» drawn across all three bands. Parallels were drawn with the fact that it closely resembled the Flag of Ireland, symbol of the other major freedom struggle against the British Empire. This flag was first unfurled at the congress party meeting in Ahmedabad. Although this flag was not adopted as the official flag of the Indian National Congress party, it was nevertheless widely used during the freedom movement.
However, there were many who were not satisfied with the communal interpretation of the flag. The All India Sanskrit Congress that convened in Calcutta in 1924 suggested the inclusion of saffron or ochre and the «gadha» (mace) of Vishnu as the symbol of the Hindus. Later that year, it was suggested that geru (an earthy-red colour) «typified the spirit of renunciation and symbolised an ideal common to the Hindu yogis and sanyasis as well as the Muslim fakirs and darveshes». The Sikhs also stepped up the demand to either include a yellow colour that would represent them, or abandon religious symbolism altogether.
In light of these developments, the Congress Working Committee appointed a seven member Flag Committee on 02 April 1931 to sort out these issues. A resolution was passed noting that «objection has been taken to the three colours in the flag on the ground that they are conceived on the communal basis». The unlikely result of these confabulations was a flag featuring just one colour, ochre, and a «Charkha» at upper hoist. Though recommended by the flag committee, the INC did not adopt this flag, as it seemed to project a communalistic ideology.
Later, the final resolution on a flag was passed when the Congress committee met at Karachi in 1931. The tricolour flag then adopted was designed by Pingali Venkayya. It featured three horizontal strips of saffron, white and green, with a «Charkha» in the centre. The colours were interpreted thus: saffron for courage; white for truth and peace; green for faith and prosperity. The «Charkha» symbolised the economic regeneration of India and the industriousness of its people.
At the same time a variant of the flag was being used by the Indian National Army that included the words «Azad Hind» with a springing tiger in lieu of the «Charkha» signifying Subhash Chandra Bose's violent methods as opposed to Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence. This tricolour was hoisted for the first time on Indian soil in Manipur by Subhash Chandra Bose though it was not the official version.
A few days before India gained its freedom in August 1947, the Constituent Assembly was formed to discuss the flag of the India. They set up an ad hoc committee headed by Rajendra Prasad and consisting of Abul Kalam Azad, KM Panikar, Sarojini Naidu, C. Rajagopalachari, KM Munshi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as its members. The Flag Committee was constituted on 23 June 1947 and it began deliberations on the issue. After three weeks they came to a decision on 14 July 1947, being that the flag of the Indian National Congress should be adopted as the National Flag of India with suitable modifications, to make it acceptable to all parties and communities. It was further resolved that the flag should not have any communal undertones. The «Dharma Chakra» which appears on the abacus of Sarnath was adopted in the place of the «Charkha». The flag was unfurled for the first time as that of an independent country on 15 August 1947.
The first tricolour was unfurled on 07 August 1906, during a protest rally against the Partition of Bengal, by Schindra Prasad Bose in Parsi Bagan Square in Calcutta. This flag came to be known as the Calcutta Flag. The flag had three horizontal bands of equal width with the top being orange, the centre yellow and the bottom green in colour. It had eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe, and a picture of the sun and a crescent moon on the bottom stripe. The words Vande Mataram were inscribed in the centre in the Devanagari script.
On 22 August 1907, Bhikaiji Cama unfurled another tricolour flag in Stuttgart, Germany. This flag had green at the top, saffron in the centre and red at the bottom, the green standing for Islam and the saffron for both Hinduism and Buddhism. The flag had eight lotuses in a line on the green band representing the eight provinces of British India. The words Vande Mataram, in the Devanagari script, were inscribed on the central band. On the lowest band, towards the hoist of the flag was a crescent, and towards the fly a sun. The flag was jointly designed by Bhikaiji Cama, Veer Savarkar and Shyamji Krishna Varma. After the outbreak of World War I, this flag became known as the Berlin Committee Flag after it was adopted by the Indian Revolutionaries at the Berlin Committee. This flag was actively used in Mesopotamia during the First World War. The Ghadar Party flag was also used in the United States as a symbol for India for a short period of time.
The Home Rule Movement formed by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant in 1917 adopted a new flag, one which featured five red and four green horizontal stripes. On the upper left quadrant was the Union Jack which signified the Dominion status that the movement sought to achieve. A crescent and a star, both in white, are set in top fly. Seven white stars are arranged as in the Saptarishi constellation (the constellation Ursa Major), which is sacred to Hindus. This flag could not become popular among the masses, probably due to their repugnance for the Union Jack.
A year earlier in 1916, Pingali Venkayya, from Machilipatnam in present-day Andhra Pradesh tried to devise a common national flag. His endeavours were noticed by Umar Sobani and SB Bomanji, who together formed the Indian National Flag Mission. When Venkayya sought Mahatma Gandhi's approval for the flag, the Mahatma suggested the incorporation of the «Charkha» or spinning wheel on the flag, symbolising «the embodiment of India and the redemption of all its ills». The humble spinning-wheel had become a hallowed symbol of the economic regeneration of India under the Mahatma's championship. Pingali Venkayya came up with a flag with the charkha on a red and green background. However, Mahatma Gandhi found that the flag did not represent all the religions of India.
To address Mahatma Gandhi's concerns, another new flag was indeed designed. This tricolour featured white on top, green in the centre and red at the bottom, symbolising the minority religions, Muslims and Hindus respectively, with a «Charkha» drawn across all three bands. Parallels were drawn with the fact that it closely resembled the Flag of Ireland, symbol of the other major freedom struggle against the British Empire. This flag was first unfurled at the congress party meeting in Ahmedabad. Although this flag was not adopted as the official flag of the Indian National Congress party, it was nevertheless widely used during the freedom movement.
However, there were many who were not satisfied with the communal interpretation of the flag. The All India Sanskrit Congress that convened in Calcutta in 1924 suggested the inclusion of saffron or ochre and the «gadha» (mace) of Vishnu as the symbol of the Hindus. Later that year, it was suggested that geru (an earthy-red colour) «typified the spirit of renunciation and symbolised an ideal common to the Hindu yogis and sanyasis as well as the Muslim fakirs and darveshes». The Sikhs also stepped up the demand to either include a yellow colour that would represent them, or abandon religious symbolism altogether.
In light of these developments, the Congress Working Committee appointed a seven member Flag Committee on 02 April 1931 to sort out these issues. A resolution was passed noting that «objection has been taken to the three colours in the flag on the ground that they are conceived on the communal basis». The unlikely result of these confabulations was a flag featuring just one colour, ochre, and a «Charkha» at upper hoist. Though recommended by the flag committee, the INC did not adopt this flag, as it seemed to project a communalistic ideology.
Later, the final resolution on a flag was passed when the Congress committee met at Karachi in 1931. The tricolour flag then adopted was designed by Pingali Venkayya. It featured three horizontal strips of saffron, white and green, with a «Charkha» in the centre. The colours were interpreted thus: saffron for courage; white for truth and peace; green for faith and prosperity. The «Charkha» symbolised the economic regeneration of India and the industriousness of its people.
At the same time a variant of the flag was being used by the Indian National Army that included the words «Azad Hind» with a springing tiger in lieu of the «Charkha» signifying Subhash Chandra Bose's violent methods as opposed to Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence. This tricolour was hoisted for the first time on Indian soil in Manipur by Subhash Chandra Bose though it was not the official version.
A few days before India gained its freedom in August 1947, the Constituent Assembly was formed to discuss the flag of the India. They set up an ad hoc committee headed by Rajendra Prasad and consisting of Abul Kalam Azad, KM Panikar, Sarojini Naidu, C. Rajagopalachari, KM Munshi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar as its members. The Flag Committee was constituted on 23 June 1947 and it began deliberations on the issue. After three weeks they came to a decision on 14 July 1947, being that the flag of the Indian National Congress should be adopted as the National Flag of India with suitable modifications, to make it acceptable to all parties and communities. It was further resolved that the flag should not have any communal undertones. The «Dharma Chakra» which appears on the abacus of Sarnath was adopted in the place of the «Charkha». The flag was unfurled for the first time as that of an independent country on 15 August 1947.
