- HOMEGROWN WORLD
- #HGCREATORS
- #HGEXPLORE
- #HGVOICES
- #HGSHOP
- CAREERS
- ABOUT US
- CONTACT US
The history of India's struggle for freedom is not a straight line from colonial subjugation to self-governance, but the complex, multifaceted story of many intertwined struggles towards the same goal. The freedom movement was never a single, unified uprising; it was a series of overlapping ruptures — some militant, some political, and some cultural — each shaped by its own leaders, ideologies, and visions of the nation-to-be.
Across four decades from 1906 to 1947, different factions, regions, and political movements each imagined their own banners to rally behind. Each iteration of the Indian flag — from the Calcutta Flag of 1906 to the tiranga adopted in 1947 — carried the colours, symbols, and aspirations of its time. Some were born in exile, while others unfurled in the heat of protest and riots; some reflected the desire for self-ruled dominion within the British Empire, while others called for complete independence; some foregrounded communal harmony, and others industrial self-reliance.
In 1906, during the Swadeshi and Boycott movement, a flag of India was hoisted for the first time in the Parsee Bagan Square in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). Often referred to as the Calcutta Flag, it was designed by Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Kanungo, and featured three horizontal stripes of green, yellow, and red. The green stripe at the top featured eight white lotuses representing India’s provinces; the yellow in the middle had Vande Mataram written in Devanagari script; and the red at the bottom displayed a sun and a crescent moon representing Hindu and Muslim unity. Though the Calcutta Flag was never officially adopted, it set the tone for using symbolic colours and motifs in later Indian flags.
In 1907, Madam Bhikaji Cama raised a slightly altered version of the Calcutta Flag at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Designed by Madam Cama and other exiled revolutionaries in Paris, this flag was also exhibited in Berlin at a socialist conference and came to be called the Berlin Committee Flag. This was the first Indian flag to be displayed on an international platform.
In 1917, Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak adopted another proposed flag of India as part of the Hind Swaraj or Home Rule Movement. This flag broke from the tradition of horizontal stripes and featured the British Union Jack in the top left corner — a sign of the political demand for self-ruled dominion status within the British Empire; a constellation of stars representing the Saptarshi, or seven seers of ancient Indian mythology; and alternated red and green stripes, symbolizing Hindus and Muslims — India's two major communities. Though controversial for its inclusion of British symbolism, it marked an important political step towards the demand for self-governance in India.
In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi wrote about the need for a unifying national flag for India in the Young India journal and proposed a flag with the charkha or spinning wheel — a symbol of Indian self-reliance and progress — at the centre. A young Congress worker and freedom fighter named Pingali Venkayya was commissioned to design and make this proposed flag with the spinning wheel on a red and green banner, signifying the unified Hindus and Muslims of India.
Between 1921 and 1929, the flag designed by Venkayya, known as the Swaraj flag, became the most-used flag of the Congress-led Indian nationalist movement. By 1929, however, Gandhi moved towards a more secular interpretation of the flag's colours, stating that red stood for the sacrifices of the people, white for peace and purity, and green for hope. This was the first tricolor format resembling today's tiranga.
By 1931, debates over the flag's communal interpretations led the Congress to adopt a modified tricolor featuring saffron at the top — for courage and sacrifice; white in the middle — for truth and peace; and green at the bottom — for faith and chivalry. The charkha — Gandhi's enduring symbol of Indian self-sufficiency remained at the center. This 1931 version was officially adopted by the Indian National Congress and became the widely recognized symbol of the Quit India movement.
On June 23, 1947, the Constituent Assembly of India established an ad hoc committee to select a national flag, headed by Rajendra Prasad and including notable members such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu, C. Rajagopalachari, K. M. Munshi, and B. R. Ambedkar. The committee recommended on July 14, 1947, that the Swaraj flag of the Indian National Congress be adopted as the National Flag of India, with modifications to ensure it was acceptable to all parties and communities. The spinning wheel from the Swaraj flag was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra from the Lion Capital of Ashoka, and it was also resolved that the flag should not have any communal undertones.
On 22 July 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru proposed the national flag at the Constituent Assembly. The design features a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron, white, and dark green in equal proportions, with the Ashoka Chakra in blue positioned at the center of the white band. This resolution was unanimously approved, and the Tiranga, or tricolor, served as the national flag of the Dominion of India from 15 August 1947 until 26 January 1950, and it has continued to be the flag of the Republic of India since then.
Together, these six flags of India, spanning four decades of the struggle for freedom, reveal not a single story of Indian nationalism, but a many-layered history in which the idea of India was negotiated, contested, and reimagined again and again — until it found a form that could belong to all, a banner under which Indians of all castes, creeds, and communities could come together.
