A Flag To Live And Die For: A Short History Of India�S Tricolour
The Indian tricolour�tiranga�has fluttered over battlefields and Olympic arenas, at the Red Fort and in the smallest village squares; it has wrapped the bodies of martyrs and been carried in protest and in prayer. Its colours are steeped deep in India�s essential values�saffron denotes renunciation and sacrifice, white peace and truth, and green represents life and growth. Its very presence recalls India�s long struggle for freedom, the triumph of an inspired people against colonial domination and the resilience and sacrifice that goes into building a remarkable nation.<br><br> In this deeply illuminating book, award-winning writer and former diplomat Navtej Sarna traces the extraordinary journey which turned an ordinary piece of cloth into a sacred national symbol. Beginning with ancient dhvajas and ketus mentioned in the Mahabharata and <i>Arthashastra</i>, he explores the emergence of early nationalist flags�from Sister Nivedita�s scarlet banner and Annie Besant�s Home Rule flag to Mahatma Gandhi�s Swaraj flag, designed by Pingali Venkayya. <br><br> Through momentous events such as the Nagpur Flag Satyagraha, 1923; the Purna Swaraj declaration at Lahore, 1929; and Gandhi�s Salt March, 1930, Sarna shows how the tricolour became a rallying standard for freedom. The book charts the adoption of the national flag by the Constituent Assembly in 1947 and how the various elements of its final design came together�such as the Ashoka Chakra replacing the charkha�and its codification under the republic. <br><br> The book also describes the flag�s journey into law and everyday life: from the Flag Code of 1950 to the citizen�s fundamental right to fly the national lag, won after Naveen Jindal�s campaign, and finally to the Har Ghar Tiranga celebrations of the twenty-first century. <i>A Flag to Live and Die For</i> is an unsurpassable tribute to the revered national symbol that continues to unite and define India.
Categories: History/Region & Countries
