Flag of India

What the flag of India looks like

The national flag of India is a horizontal rectangular tricolor. The top band is saffron (a deep orange), the middle band is white and the bottom band is India green. The three bands are of equal height, and the flag's width-to-height ratio is 2:3.

In the center of the white band is a wheel in navy blue. This is the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Lion Capital of Ashoka. The wheel has 24 spokes, evenly spaced, and is printed or painted in navy blue on both sides of the flag.

The flag is the same on both sides, and the chakra is printed or embroidered so that it looks identical from front and back. Flags were traditionally required to be made from hand-spun, hand-woven cotton or silk called khadi; in December 2021 the Flag Code was amended to allow machine-made flags and materials such as polyester. Colors and sizes for official flags are set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. You can see the flag in small sizes as the India flag emoji, or get an image from the download page.

Indian flag meaning and symbolism

The most widely quoted explanation comes from Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became India's second president. He explained the adopted flag after the Constituent Assembly chose it in July 1947. In his reading:

• Saffron stands for renunciation or disinterestedness: leaders should be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work.
• White stands for light, the path of truth to guide conduct.
• Green stands for the relation of people to the soil and the plant life on which all other life depends.
• The Ashoka Chakra is the "wheel of the law" (dharma). It shows that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

The Flag Code specifies 24 evenly spaced spokes. In the 1921 Gandhi design, red stood for Hindus and green for Muslims, with white added for other religious communities; to avoid sectarian associations, the three bands of the later flag were reassigned meanings such as courage and sacrifice (saffron), peace and truth (white) and faith and chivalry (green).

History of the Indian flag

India did not have a single national flag before independence. One of the first nationalist flags was raised in Calcutta in 1906, with green, yellow and red bands, eight lotuses and the Vande Mataram slogan. In 1907 Madam Bhikaji Cama used a slightly modified version at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. In 1916 Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak adopted another flag for the Home Rule movement, and it still had the British Union Jack in the corner.

The idea of a flag based on a spinning wheel came from Mahatma Gandhi, who saw the charkha as a symbol of self-reliance and of the swadeshi movement. In 1921 Gandhi commissioned Pingali Venkayya to design a flag with a spinning wheel on red and green bands; Gandhi then added white to represent all other religions. The Swaraj flag, with the spinning wheel, became the official flag of the Indian National Congress at its 1931 meeting.

When independence approached, a committee led by Rajendra Prasad, set up on 23 June 1947, recommended the Congress flag with suitable modifications so that it would have no communal undertones. It kept the three colors but replaced the spinning wheel with the Ashoka Chakra from the Lion Capital of Ashoka. Radhakrishnan said the chakra represents dharma and law, while Nehru explained the change was practical, as the new design would appear symmetrical. Nehru proposed the flag to the Constituent Assembly on 22 July 1947 and it was approved unanimously. It was the flag of the Dominion of India from 15 August 1947. Some accounts also credit Surayya Tayyabji with the final form of the flag, but the role of individual designers is still discussed. The flag stayed unchanged when India became a republic on 26 January 1950.

Rules for flying the Tiranga

For many years only government bodies could fly the flag on most days. The original code barred private citizens from flying it except on national days. After industrialist Naveen Jindal challenged this, the Supreme Court asked the government to reconsider, and the Flag Code was amended from 26 January 2002 to let citizens fly the flag on any day. Today the Flag Code of India (2002) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act (1971) govern its use, and insults to the flag are punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, or both. The flag must not touch the ground or water or be used as drapery, and use on clothing is limited (not below the waist). When shown with other flags, it takes the position of honor. Flags are flown on Independence Day (15 August) and Republic Day (26 January).

India is in Asia, and you can compare the flag with others in the list of Asian flags.

Flags that look like the Indian flag

Several flags use orange, white and green. The flag of Niger has the same order of horizontal bands, but it has an orange disc in the center instead of a blue wheel and its proportions are 6:7. The flag of Ireland uses green, white and orange in vertical bands. The flag of Ivory Coast is the Irish flag reversed.