What is the sign on the flag of India?
The current official flag of India was approved in 1947. It depicts three stripes of different colors and some kind of round thing in the center. What is this mysterious object? The sun? Wheel? Or some Hindu symbol?
Modern Flag of India
In general, the flag of India is quite unique, it is unlikely to be confused with the flag of any other country. Although something similar to the flag of Niger, Miami, Florida in the United States.
But let’s get back to the Indian flag. On the rectangular panel, there are three colors, like many others, but the colors themselves are quite unusual: the upper stripe is colored in “deep saffron” (in other words, orange), the middle stripe is white, and the lower one is green. I will tell you what these colors mean a little later, but now let’s figure out what is this dark blue circle with 24 stripes inside?
Here’s a closer picture.
Flag of India
Some people think it’s the Sun. But if I were to draw the Sun, I would only draw the central little circle and the rays radiating from it, kind of like the flag of Argentina. I wouldn’t go around it any more.
Flag of Argentina
So maybe it’s not the Sun? What then? Wheel? Let’s talk about the evolution of the Indian flag and then everything will become clear.
India’s first flag appeared in 1904. It bore stripes of orange, yellow, and green, a sun, a crescent moon with a star, eight lotus flowers for the number of provinces in British India, and an inscription in Hindi: “I worship you, mother.”
In 1907, the flag was slightly adjusted. The colors have changed: green at the top, then yellow and red stripes, the symbols of the sun, crescent moon and flowers have remained, but have changed.
The crescent moon, by the way, was a symbol of Islam on these flags, since at that time about half of the population professed Islam. Then the Muslim parts of India broke away long ago, forming separate states – Bangladesh and Pakistan, so this symbol disappeared.
Before that, India did not have its own flag. During the East India Campaign, the flags of trade campaigns were flown over the lands of India. Since 1858, when British India was established, the Union Jack has fluttered over what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma.
So maybe the Sun is left? Does the symbol on the modern flag still symbolize it? Or is it a very stylized lotus flower?
Everything will soon become clear, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and follow how the Indian flag has changed further. And it changed quite often, and at the same time there were several versions of the flag, which was recognized by some forces, but not by others, and vice versa. So let’s go straight back to 1917.
At that time, India had the status of a British colony, its flag consisted of a small image of the flag of Britain, located on a “striped” red-green background, as well as a white triangle, a star with a crescent moon, and seven other stars.
The flag of India from 1917, although there were others in parallel with it
As you can see, the Sun has already disappeared here.
Three years later, the picture on the flag was simplified: a white stripe was placed on top, a green stripe in the center, a red stripe at the bottom, and an image of a spinning wheel made with a blue outline was placed on top of all three stripes. At that time, the spinning wheel symbolized the developed textile industry of the country.
Flag of 1920. The drawing on the flag is not a badge of pacifism, it is a schematic image of a spinning wheel.
This was followed by the flag of 1931. It was completely saffron-orange in color, and in the upper corner there was the same symbol of a spinning wheel. Apparently, there was a fashion for plain flags with some kind of pattern in the upper left corner. At the same time, the USSR had red with a hammer and sickle, and India had an orange one with a spinning wheel.
Flag of India in 1931. Notice that this spinning wheel has no spokes inside the wheel at all.
The modern version of the flag was approved in July 1947, almost a month before the country’s independence from Great Britain.
Flag of India, 1947. Spokes and wheels appeared, but there are 14 of them.
The prototype of the Indian tricolor was a version of the artist Pingali Venkaiyi, consisting of two stripes: the upper orange, which symbolized Hinduism (it is practiced by up to 80% of the population), and the lower green one, the symbol of Islam (about 13%). These two religions are still considered to be the main ones in India. Later, Mahatma Gandhi proposed adding a white stripe in the center, which symbolized all the other religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, animism, and others) existing in India. At the same time, a spinning wheel was depicted in the center of the flag.
Then the spinning wheel was modified, leaving only a 24-spoke wheel. Moreover, now it is not just a spinning wheel, but also a religious symbol – the Ashoka Chakra.
It was repainted on the flag from the “Lion Capital” (the national Indian symbol) in Sarnath, which depicted another similar Buddhist sign, the Dharmachakra, symbolizing the path to enlightenment.
Dharmachakra at one of the Indian temples
The difference was that in the Dharmachakra there are only eight spokes, while in the Ashoka Chakra there are as many as 24. It was the Ashoka Chakra that replaced the image of the spinning wheel on the flag, thereby playing on both the religious symbol of the drachma wheel and the spinning wheel of “old” India.
Well, as promised, I will tell you what the colors of the Indian tricolor symbolize today: the saffron-orange color of the upper stripe is the high spirituality of the country’s inhabitants, the white stripe in the middle is their peaceful disposition, and the color of the lower stripe, designated as “Indian green”, is a symbol of fertility. Well, you already know about the circle with spokes.
Something else interesting about the Indian flag
It is noteworthy that not every fabric is suitable for sewing an official flag in India. Only a special material is used – “hadi”. This is a homespun fabric made of cotton or silk, the use of which was bequeathed by Gandhi. Synthetics are not allowed. This fabric is produced at only two factories in the country, and flag is produced by only one enterprise.
The size of the flags is also strictly regulated, there are only 9 of them. From a small 150 by 100 millimeters to a huge 6.3 by 4.2 meters. For the use of flags made of other fabrics, with symbols, so to speak, not according to GOST, he faces up to three years in prison.
Interestingly, until 2002, ordinary people could only use and fly the flag during the holidays. It wasn’t until 2002 that an Indian businessman won permission to hoist and fly the Indian flag on any day under strict rules.
This is the flag of the Indians (not to be confused with the Indians), one of the most deeply symbolic, which has changed almost 10 times in half a century.