Remembering the architect of India's national flag: Pingali Venkayya

New Delhi, Aug 14: Every free country has a national flag. The rectangular-shaped National Flag or the Tricolour reflects the idea of secularism that India was built upon.

Our National Flag is based on the Swaraj flag - flag of the Indian National Congress which was designed by Pingali Venkayya. It was first hoisted in 1923.

So who was Pingali Venkayya?

Pingali Venkayya was an Indian freedom fighter who the nation remembers proudly for reasons more than his struggle for our independence. It was his design on which India's national flag was based upon.

Born on 2 August 1876, Venkayya was a Gandhian ideologist. He was also a linguist, geolist and a writer. Venkayya was born in Bhatlapenumarru near Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He joined the British Army with a patriotic zeal in the age of 19 and took part in the Anglo-Boer war in Africa. It was during his stint with the British Army that the 19-year-old met Mahatma Gandhi in Africa lasted over 50 years.

Venkayya's design for the National Flag was finally approved by Mahatama Gandhi in a Congress meeting in Vijayawada in 1921.

In fact, in 1913, he delivered a full-length speech in Japanese. Such credentials gave him interesting titles like 'Japan Venkayya', 'Patti (cotton) Venkayya' and 'Jhanda Venkayya'.

He, however, died in poverty in 1963 and was largely forgotten by the society and by his own party, the Congress.