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 at Sarnath, a pillar top that dates from the 3rd century BCE. The wheel has 24 spokes, evenly spaced, and it nearly fills the height of the white band. Unlike the saffron and green, the blue of the wheel is not a main field color, which is why people sometimes describe the flag as having four colors.

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; amendments to the Flag Code in 2021-22 also allow machine-made and polyester flags. 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 presented it to the Constituent Assembly in July 1947. In his reading:

• Saffron stands for renunciation and selfless service. It is often described as courage and sacrifice.
• White stands for light and the path of truth that guides conduct. It is also read as peace and purity.
• Green stands for the relation of people to the soil and the plant life on which all other life depends. It is read as faith, fertility and growth.
• The Ashoka Chakra is the "wheel of the law" (dharma). It shows that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

The 24 spokes are often said to represent the 24 hours of the day, or a set of virtues. These readings are traditional and the government has not fixed an official meaning for the number. Some people also link the colors to religions, with saffron for Hinduism and green for Islam. Official explanations avoid this reading and describe the colors as qualities that apply to all citizens.

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 and eight lotus flowers. In 1907 Bhikaiji Cama unfurled a version of it at a socialist congress in Stuttgart. In 1917 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 Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter from Andhra, presented Gandhi with a design in red and green, and white was added on top for minorities. A flag of saffron, white and green with the spinning wheel (the Swaraj flag) was adopted by the Indian National Congress at Karachi in 1931.

When independence approached, a committee led by Rajendra Prasad worked on the national flag. It kept the three colors of the Congress flag but replaced the spinning wheel with the Ashoka Chakra, so that the flag would not be identified with one party. The Constituent Assembly adopted this version on 22 July 1947, and it was first raised as the flag of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947. Some accounts credit Surayya Tayyabji, the wife of a civil servant who moved in Congress circles, 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. In 2004 the Supreme Court ruled that flying the flag is a form of expression protected by the constitution, and the rules were relaxed. Today the Flag Code of India (2002) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act govern its use. Citizens may display the flag, but it must not touch the ground, be used as clothing or drapery or be used for advertising. When shown with other flags, it takes the position of honor. Flags are flown on Independence Day (15 August) and Republic Day (26 January). Since 2022 the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign has encouraged people to fly it at home around Independence Day.

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.