Jhanda Uncha Rahe Hamara - Indian National Flag

The ancient Indians worshipped the flag or Dhvaja. A seal from Mohenjo-daro shows four men in a file, each carrying a standard. The great epic Mahabharata describes the various dhvajas and the ceremonies and rituals associated with the flag and staff. The dhvaja has three basic parts (1) the pataka or the triangular or rectangular part that is free (2) the yasti or the staff and (3) the ketu or the emblem on the pataka. Arjuna the great warrior in Mahabharata had a kapi dhvaja on his chariot with the monkey or kapi. Hanuman the Hindu God with the face of a monkey was supposed to have been residing on the pataka during the Mahabharata War.

The French revolution and its slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" acquainted the Indians with the idea of nationalism. It is said that when Raja Ram Mohan Roy was sailing to England in January, 1831 he went across to the French ship to greet the French flag. For him the French tricolour was not a mere National - Flag but the symbol of French revolution. In the French tricolour, the great nationalist saw the dream of India's Independence. The uprising of 1857 intensified the spirit of nationalism in the people of India and they felt a need to gather around a national symbol, a National Flag.

The quest for the national flag assumed great urgency with the rise in the Swadeshi Movement in 1900s. Sister Nivedita, an Irish disciple of Swami Vivekananda, was one of the first to conceive of a National - Flag for India. In 1904, while on a visit to Buddha Gaya with Rabindranath Tagore and JC Bose, she saw the Vajra - Chinha (symbol). Vajra is a sign of strength being the celebrated weapon of Lord Indra, the war god. She designed a National Flag for India which was square in shape, with a red field. It had a hundred and one jyotis all along the border and Vajra in yellow at the centre. Vande was inscribed on the left and Mataram on the right of it in yellow colour in Bengali script. She wrote ".. red implies struggle for freedom, yellow means victory, and the white lotus denotes purity..".

On August 7, 1906, the first anniversary of the anti-partition movement, a big rally was organized at Parsi Bagan Square (Green Park) in Calcutta. This day was known as the Boycott Day in protest against the partition of Bengal. A tricolour flag was unfurled for the first time during the rally. The flag was designed by Schindra Prasad Bose, a close follower of Sir Surendranath Banerjee. It had eight half open lotuses on the green stripe, Vande Mataram in blue on the middle yellow stripe, and the sun and moon (crescent) in white on the bottom red stripe. Sir Surendranath Banerjee hoisted this flag with the bursting of a hundred and one crackers.

Flame of Martyrdom

In the history of the India's National Flag, the name of Madame Bhikhaji Rustom Cama should be inscribed in letters of gold. She was the first Indian to have raised an Indian flag on foreign soil and announced to the world our political flight with the British for the country's Independence. Madame Cama's flag had green on the top, golden saffron and red at the bottom. Eight lotuses, representing the eight provinces, were lined on the flag. Vande Mataram was written in gold with the Crescent towards the hoist of the flag and the Sun on the other side.

At an international forum at Stuttgart, Germany on August 22, 1907 she said, "This flag is of Indian Independence. Behold, it is born. It is already sanctioned by the blood of martyred Indian youth. I call upon you gentlemen, to rise and salute this flag of Indian Independence. In the name of this flag, I appeal to lovers of freedom all over the world to co-operate with this flag in freeing one-fifth of the human race." The flag is preserved at the Maratha and Kesari Library in Pune, India.

Madame Cama quietly died in Bombay, unwept and unsung on August 16, 1936.