The evolution of the Indian Tricolour

The white is in the center, symoblizing the hope for unity and peace, and in the centre of the white band is a blue wheel with 24 spokes. This is the Ashoka Chakra or "Wheel of Law".

The Chakra represents the continuing progress of the nation and the importance of justice in life. It also appears on the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.

Before being adopted in its present form, the Tricolour passed several phases.

According to historians, Pingali Venkayya, the designer of the national flag, had after researching into 30 kinds of flags from all over the world, conceived the design of a flag which became the forbearer of the Indian national flag.

However Pingali is given all the credit for having conceived the national flag in its present form, its antecedents can be traced back to the Vande Mataram movement.

On August 1, 1906 to the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) KolKata, the first national flag of India was hoisted.

This flag was composed of horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green. The strip on the top had eight white lotuses embossed in a row. On the yellow strip were the words Bande Mataram in deep blue Devanagari script.

Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries hoisted the second flag in Paris around 1907.

This was similar to the first flag except that the top strip had only one-lotus and seven stars denoting the saptarishis. This was exhibited at a socialist conference in Berlin.

By the time the third flag went up in 1917, the political struggle had taken a definite turn.

Annie Besant and Tilak hoisted the flag during the Home Rule Movement with an addition in the left hand corner (the pole end), the stamp of the Union Jack.

There was also a white crescent and star in one corner indicating the aspirations of people of those years. The inclusion of the Union Jack symbolised the goal for dominion status.

However, the presence of the Union Jack indicating a political compromise, made the flag unacceptable to many.

The call for new leadership brought the Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi to the fore in 1921 and through him the first tricolour flag.

The All India Congress Committee met at a two-day session at Bezwada on March 31 and April 1, 1921.

It was at this session that Pingali approached Gandhi with the flag he designed for India. It was made of two colours, red and green representing the two major communities of the country.

Thus the Indian flag was born, but it was not officially accepted by any resolution of the All India Congress Committee.

Gandhi's approval made it popular and it was hoisted at all Congress sessions. Hansraj of Jallandar suggested the representation of the charkha, symbolising progress and the common man. Gandhi amended, insisting on the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining minority communities of India.

A consensus could not be reached until 1931. The designing of the colours in the flag ran into rough weather even as communal tension broke out on the issue of its interpretation.

The final resolution was passed when the AICC met at Karachi in 1931.

The flag was interpreted as saffron for courage, white for truth and peace, and green for faith and prosperity.

The dharma chakhra which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath at the capital of Emperor Ashoka was adopted in the place of spindle and string as the emblem on the national flag.

Interpreting the colours chosen for the national flag, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan explained the saffron colour denoted renunciation or disinterestedness of political leaders towards material gains in life.

The white depicted enlightenment, lighting the path of truth to guide our conduct.

The green symbolised our relation to the soil, to the plant life here on which all other life depends. The Ashoka wheel in the centre of the white strip represented the law of dharma.

Speaking philosophically, he remarked that the national flag ought to control the principles of all those who worked under it.

The wheel denoted motion, and India should no more resist change as there was death in stagnation.

The flag in its present form was officially adopted as the national flag on July 22, 1947 by the Constituent Assembly.

Its code states that the flag should have a width to length ratio of 2 to 3. The saffron band must be on the top. In addition, the code requires that official Indian flags be made of handspun cloth. (ANI)

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