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.

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 Arthashastra, 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.

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