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India: Historical Flags from Anand Bhawan

Bharat

History of the flag

In Anand Bhawan, the home of the Nehru's, in Allahabad (=city of God), U.P., there is an annex to the main building. On the wall of this annex there is a fairly small information board, telling visitors about the evolution of the Indian national flag in Hindi and in English. Neither the author nor the translator of the English version is given and, I believe so, even no author of the original Hindi text. I'll start with the English text on that information board:

THE FLAG: A flag is necessity of all nations. Millions have died for it. It is no doubt a kind of idolatry. A flag represents an ideal. The unfurling of a national flag evokes in human breast sentiments, whose strength it is difficult to measure. "It will be necessary for us Indians, Hindus, Moslems, Christians, Jews, Parsis and all others to whom India is their home, to recognize a common flag to live and die for." Mohandras Karamchand Gandhi The evolution of the Indian National Flag reflects the political developments in the country during the 20th century. The various political trends, communal tensions, waves of enthusiasm, can all be seen in the people's attitude to the flag. The 1st national flag in India is said to have been hoisted on August 7th 1906 in the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park) in Calcutta. The flag was composed of horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green. The red stripe at the top had 8 white lotuses embossed on it in a row. On the yellow stripe the word "Vande Mataram" were inscribed in deep blue in Devanagari characters. The green stripe had a white sun on the left an a white crescent and star on the right. The 2nd flag was hoisted in Paris by Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries 1907 (according to some in 1905). This was very similar to the 1st flag, except that the top strip had only one lotus and 7 stars depicting the Saptarishi. The flag was also exhibited at a socialist convention in Berlin. By the time our 3rd flag went up in 1917, our political struggle had made a definitive turn. Dr. Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak hoisted it during the Home Rule movement. The flag had 5 red and 4 green horizontal stripes arranged alternately, with 7 white stars in the Saptarishi configuration superimposed on them. In the left hand top corner (the pole end) was the Union Jack. There was also a white crescent and a star in one corner. This indicated the aspirations of the time. The inclusion of the Union Jack symbolized the goal of Dominion Status. The presence of the Union Jack however made the flag generally unacceptable. The political compromise, that it implied, was not popular. The call for a new leadership brought Mohandras Karamchand Gandhi to the fore in 1921 and through him, the first tricolour. During the session of the All India Congress Committee, which met in Bezwada (now: Vijayawada) on March 31st 1921, an Andhra youth prepared a flag and took it to Gandhi. It was made of two colours red and green, representing the two major communities. Gandhi suggested the addition of a white strip to represent the remaining communities of India and a Charkha (= spinning wheel) to symbolize progress. Thus was the tricolour born, but it had not yet been officially accepted by the AICC.Gandhi's approval however made it sufficiently popular to be hoisted on all Congress sessions. In March 1931, when the AICC met at Karachi, a resolution was passed stressing the need for a flag which could be officially acceptable to the Congress. The