Question

Trace the origin of the Indian National Flag and the Indian National Anthem

Answer 1

On August 15, 1947, when the country attained independence after years of struggle, the Father of the Nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Gandhi had spent his day immersed in prayers, fasting and spinning, in protest of the sectarian hatred that had engulfed the land.

What we identify today as our nation had undergone a series of transformations.

A flag — that was then touted as the national pennant — was hoisted on August 7, 1906 in Calcutta’s Parsee Bagan Square.

The flag comprised horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green. The red strip at the top had eight white lotuses embossed on it. The green strip had a white sun on the left and a white crescent and star on the right.

It is said the first version of the current national flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya at Bezwada in 1921. It was made up of two colours — red and green — representing the two major communities.

It was Mahatma Gandhi who suggested the addition of the white strip to represent the remaining communities, and the spinning wheel to symbolise the progress of the nation.

Saffron in the tricolour stands for courage and sacrifice. The white stands for peace, truth and purity, while the green symbolises faith, fertility and chivalry. The Ashok Chakra in the centre, with its 24 spokes, stands for righteousness.

The country’s name too, has a narrative. The name 'India' was coined from Indus — around which the first inhabitants settled and evolved. In Sanskrit, India is known as 'Bharat Ganarajya'. This is the reason why it is also called Bharat.

When the country became independent in 1947, there was no national anthem. The Bengali invocation of Jana Gana Mana was written in 1911 and was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

It became our anthem in 1950. Originally composed by Rabindranath Tagore, it was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on January 24, 1950.

The anthem had its share of controversy as some believed Tagore composed the song for the British monarch.

He later refuted this claim by saying he had written the song on a friend's request, and the anthem pronounced the glory of the motherland and not that of King George V.