70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

Flag of 1857: The idea of a single flag for the whole of India was raised by the British rulers. After the revolution of 1857, the first Indian flag was designed in blue colour. The design of it was based on western heraldic standards with Union Flag in the upper-left quadrant and a Star of India enclosed in the royal crown in the middle of the right half. It was a symbol of the direct imperial rule in India.

Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years:

Sister Nivedita's flag, 1904-06 : It was in 1904 that the first Indian flag was design. The design was given by sister Nivedita, an Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda. The phrase 'Vande Mataram' is written in Bengali on it.

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

Calcutta flag, 1906: This flag introduced the idea of a tricolour flag for the first time. It had three equal strips of blue, yellow and red with eight differently shaped star aligned in a straight line across the blue strip.

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

Berlin Committee flag, 1907:The Berlin committee flag was collectively designed by Madam Bhikaji Cama, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Veer Savarkar) and Shyamji Krishna Varma. It was first unfurled by Madam Cama on 22 August 1907 at Stuttgrat, Germany.

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

Home Rule flag, 1917: Bal Gangadhar Tilak adopted a new flag in 1917 to voice the demand for the status of a Dominion within the British Empire. One can see the 'Saptarishi' constellation here in the flag.

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

Official flag of India, 1931: Dharma Chakra depicted the wheel of the law in the Sarnath Lion Capital made by the 3rd-century BC Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The chakra intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation

70th Independence Day: Pictorial look back at how our Indian national flag was evolved over the years

The present flag of a free India: After India’s Independence, a committee headed by Rajendra Prasad was formed to discuss the National Flag of India and they adopted the 1931 flag with a little modification. On 26th January 2002, the Indian flag code was modified.
Pingali Venkayya first conceived the idea of a National Flag. The version which he presented was a saffron and green flag