History of Indian National Flag

What is it about?

This book is a study of the national flag of India, delineating history and ways of seeing it. An attempt has been made to understand the politics that go into the making of the tricolour flag as probably the most revered among symbols, icons and markers associated with nation and nationalism in the Twentieth century India. In this journey, the flag has shared a unique camaraderie with other such markers (i.e. the map, the icon of mother India and the spinning wheel). Caressed like a beloved, adored like a mother and worshipped with offerings of supreme sacrifices—a distinction not availed by any other markers—the flag has enjoyed an enamouring that is unparalleled in the hierarchy of signs and symbols in India. The question is how to look at this history of fascination, of reverence and of processes that transform a piece of cloth into a sacred symbol. Being a product of historical and social processes, the national flag is also a political symbol and not merely an object of veneration in the eyes of citizens. This makes it pertinent to examine this symbolic space as a contested field and to get an analysis of ‘cultural practices’ addressing some of the conventional political questions in colonial and post-colonial India. At this level, history of this symbol reveals that the flag does not merely act as an entry point to unearth meanings of political-cultural practices but also becomes a site where claims of nationhood and citizenship are made, resisted and negotiated. The dynamics of this resistance has been approached through a number of events and debates—colonial as well as post-colonial—revealing the multifaceted dimension of the conflict. At one level, it is semiotic.At another level, it is the fight over the ‘hierarchical order of cultural symbolic constitution’ encompassing a whole range of issues i.e. worldviews, ideologies, rituals, ideas of past and history, the mannerism of display and practices of viewing it that defied regulatory regimes and rules of etiquette associated with the flag. The focus is at this second level. The multilayered field is fraught with conflict between the colonial state and nationalist position; between dominant and dominated positions within the nationalist domain; between state defined rituals of ‘flag code’ and popular practices and between dominant caste and dalit sarpanchs in post-colonial India to name a few.

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