Pingali Venkayya

Remembering Pingali Venkayya – the man who designed the Indian national flag

As Independence Day draws closer, the PM has changed his social media profile picture to the Indian flag. The Indian tricolour represents the nationalist fervour of over a billion Indians. Pingali Venkayya — the man who designed the Indian national flag — was a freedom fighter, educationist, author and a true patriot.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed his profile picture on his social media handles to ‘Tiranga’ on Tuesday, ahead of Independence Day celebrations in the country. “It is a special 2nd August today! At a time when we are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, our nation is all set for #HarGharTiranga, a collective movement to celebrate our Tricolour. I have changed the DP on my social media pages and urge you all to do the same,” PM Modi tweeted today.

It is indeed a special day, as today marks the 146th birth anniversary of Pingali Venkayya — the man who designed the Indian national flag. Born on August 2, 1876, Venkayya was a freedom fighter, educationist, writer and polyglot besides being a nationalist and true patriot. Such was his patriotism that he reportedly said that his last wish was to be draped in the Indian national flag.

Paying him respects, the PM tweeted, “I pay homage to the great Pingali Venkayya on his birth anniversary. Our nation will forever be indebted to him for his efforts in giving us the Tricolour, which we are very proud of. Taking strength and inspiration from the Tricolour, may we keep working for national progress.”

Who was Pingali Venkayya?

Pingali Venkayya was born to Hanumantaraidu and Venkatratanama and belonged to a traditional Telugu Brahmin family. Born in a small village near Machilipatnam, Venkayya studied in a Hindu high school in Madras. He would go on to pursue his further education at the University of Cambridge in England.

He developed a taste for geology and agriculture but was keenly interested in being an educationist, linguist and writer. In fact, Venkayya was fluent in many languages, including Sanskrit, Urdu and Japanese. His fluency in Japanese earned him the name of “Japan Venkayya.”

At the age of 19, Venkayya joined the army during the Boer war. It was during this stint in the British Army that Venkayya met Mahatma Gandhi in Africa. Their association would last over 50 years.

The evolution of the Indian flag’s design

From 1913 onwards, Venkayya used to regularly attend Congress sessions and actively participate in them. He even presented the leaders with a possible design of what would eventually become the Indian national flag.

He wrote a book titled “National Flag for India,” which was published in 1916. The book showcased thirty designs of what could make the Indian flag. Throughout all Congress sessions between 1918 and 1921, he relentlessly put forth the idea of having a flag of our own since that would resonate with the people and develop our own identity. Back in the days of the freedom struggle, the flag would also give rise to the spirit of independence.

In 1921, Venkayya presented the first draft design of the flag to Mahatma Gandhi at the AICC session held at Bezwada. Besides Gandhi, several other national leaders attended the event, which is often described as a turning point in the history of India’s freedom movement. After a few rounds of changes, Venkayya’s design was adopted as the final Indian national flag just before independence in 1947.

The first draft designed by Venkayya had two predominant colours: green and red. On top of them was a spinning wheel of the Gandhi Chakra in blue. Before being accepted as the Congress party's flag, the colour red was replaced with saffron and the colour white was also added. The design of the Chakra was also changed, and it now sat on the white strip between the saffron and green bands. Later, the Gandhi Chakra was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra when the design for the tricolour was finalised.

A decision couldn’t be reached on this design in the CWC meeting since it was hectic. But Gandhi took the design with him and acknowledged it in one of his editorials in Young India in 1921.

“At Bezwada, I asked Mr Venkayya to give me a design containing a spinning wheel on red (Hindu colour) and green (Muslim colour) background. His enthusiastic spirit enabled me to possess a flag in three hours. It was just a little too late for presentation to the All India Congress Committee. I am glad it was so,” Gandhi wrote.

With the new colours, the flag was called the Purna Swaraj. The colours now stood for qualities and not communities. For instance, the saffron stood for courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace and green for faith and strength. The chakra stood for the welfare of the masses.

The legacy

Venkayya was posthumously honoured with a postage stamp in 2009 for his contribution to the Indian freedom struggle. In 2014, his name was also brought up for the Bharat Ratna. In 2015, the then Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, renamed the AIR Vijaywada after Venkayya and unveiled a statue on its premises.

Now the Vice President of India, Naidu reportedly once said that Venkayya was an unsung hero of the freedom struggle who devoted his entire life to the nation and worked ceaselessly to make India a free country. On July 4, 1963, Venkayya breathed his last. Even as he was drawing his last breaths, his patriotism was very much alive. His last wish was that his body be covered with the Indian flag.