- Pingali Venkayya designed early versions of India’s national flag and inspired its creation
- He was born in 1879, served in the British Indian Army, and met Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa
- Venkayya studied flags worldwide and proposed a tricolour with red, white, green, and a charkha
Every August, as the Tricolour rises across India on its Independence Day, one name returns to the national conversation: Pingali Venkayya, the freedom fighter whose flag designs helped shape one of the country's most recognisable symbols. On August 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Venkayya on his 150th birth anniversary, remembering his "invaluable role" in giving India the Tricolour and saying the flag continues to fill Indians with pride. Home Minister Amit Shah and other political leaders also marked the occasion.
But the flag that flies today was not simply Venkayya's original design.
Born on August 2, 1879, in Andhra Pradesh, Venkayya was a soldier, freedom fighter and an avid student of subjects ranging from geology to agriculture and languages. His quest for knowledge took Venkayya to Cambridge University. He served with the British Indian Army in South Africa during the Second Boer War, where he met Mahatma Gandhi. The association between the two would last for decades.
Venkayya's fascination with national flags became a serious pursuit after he saw British Union Jack being hoisted at a Congress session. The sight of Indians saluting the British flag hurt him deeply. In 1906, he proposed the idea of a national flag at All India Congress Committee session and dedicated his life to studying flags of 30 nations, analysing colours, symbols and patterns. He documentd his research in a booklet titled A National Flag For India.
The decisive moment came in 1921, at the Indian National Congress meeting in Vijayawada when Venkayya's design caught Gandhi's attention. The proposed flag featured red (sacrifice), white (purity) and green (hope), with a central Charkha symbolising India's unity amid diversity.
The design evolved further. In 1931, the Congress formally adopted a Tricolour with saffron, white and green, with the spinning wheel at its centre. Sixteen years later, the Constituent Assembly made another crucial change.
On July 22, 1947, it adopted the national flag in its present form: Saffron, white and green, with the navy-blue Ashoka Chakra replacing the charkha.
So when India celebrates Independence Day, the flag flying above the Red Fort is not exactly Venkayya's flag. But its story is deeply connected to his experiments, persistence and belief that a free India needed a symbol of its own.
Venkayya died in 1963. His contribution was formally remembered with a commemorative postage stamp in 2009.
