This is the present Indian flag which was designed by Pingali Venkayya and was adopted in its present form during a meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on July 22, 1947. It became the official flag on August 15, 1947.
The Asoka Chakra replaced the spinning wheel in the middle of the flag. The chakra was taken from the Lion Capital of Asoka which is located at the top of the Asoka pillar at Sarnath.
The official flag specifications state that the flag should be made out of khadi, which is a special type of handmade cloth that Mahatma Gandhi used to make himself.
History of the Indian Flag
1906
The first flag of India was unfurled in Kolkata. The slogan – Vande Matram – Prayer to the Motherland, was the war cry of the Swadeshi movement. The slogan is from a novel called “Anand Math” आनंद मठ . The book was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya and was published in 1882.
The flag had three horizontal bands of equal width with the top being orange, the center, yellow and the
bottom green in colour. It had eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe, a picture of the sun and
a crescent moon on the bottom stripe and the words ‘Vande Mataram’ inscribed in the center.
The eight lotuses on the green band represented the eight provinces of British India.
1907 – The Berlin Committee Flag
On August 22, 1907, Madame Cama unfurled another tricolour flag in Stuttgart, Germany. This flag had a green stripe on top, saffron in the centre and red at the bottom. The green stood for Islam and the saffron for both Hinduism and Buddhism.
The eight stars on the top row stood for the eight British provinces.
Madame Cama, Veer Savarkar, and Shyamji Krishna Varma jointly designed the flag. After the outbreak of World War I, this flag became known as the Berlin Committee Flag.
1917 – Home Rule Movement
This flag was used during the Home Rule Movement in 1917. It was adopted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant. The seven white stars signified the Saptarishi constellation which is sacred to the Hindus.
The crescent represented Islam.
The British flag on the top left reflected the objective of the Home Rule Movement – autonomy for India within the overall British empire.
However, this flag was not adopted by many political parties of the time.
1921 – Vijaywada session of the Indian National Congress: All India Congress Committee
This flag was unofficially adopted in 1921 by the All-India Congress Committee. The white, green and red colours represented the minority religions, Muslims and Hindus respectively and was widely used even though it wasn’t officially adopted by the Indian National Congress.
We can see here the beginning of the influence of Mahatama Gandhi’s thoughts of using khadi and non-violence as a resistance approach.
The two important communities are represented by their colours rather than symbols, and Vande Mataram, the slogan of the revolutionary movement, is entirely missing.
This flag was designed by a young freedom fighter – Pingali Venkaiah and presented to Mahatma Gandhi.
1931 – Indian National Congress
The year 1931 was a landmark in the history of the flag. A resolution adopting a tricolour flag as the National Flag was passed by the Indian National Congress. It had a spinning wheel symbolising the progress of the nation and the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.
This flag was a modification of the original Pingali Venkaiah’s flag.
While the white and green remained, the red was replaced by saffron. The saffron was for courage, white for peace and green for fertility and growth.
The final flag was the one we see today. It came to be known as the Tiranga.
Really good article