{"id":8057,"date":"2021-11-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=8057"},"modified":"2022-01-07T14:07:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T13:07:43","slug":"why-is-there-a-wheel-on-indias-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/2021\/11\/23\/why-is-there-a-wheel-on-indias-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is there a wheel on India\u2019s flag?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Q&A<\/span><\/h1>\n\n

Why is there a wheel on India\u2019s flag?<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"
MAKING A REVOLUTION<\/strong> A 1927 snap of Gandhi at a spinning wheel \u2013 a symbol he wanted on India\u2019s national flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
SHORT ANSWER<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Before the Buddhist symbol seen today, the flag featured a spinning wheel inspired by Gandhi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

LONG ANSWER<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

In the early 1920s, the <\/span>independence movement to end British rule in India found a figurehead in a lawyer named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Committed to non-violent civil disobedience, which set an example for the world throughout the 20th century, Gandhi understood the vital importance of symbols. He dressed in a loincloth and shawl to identify with India\u2019s traditional culture and rural poor, and he vehemently promoted the use of a spinning wheel, or charkha, <\/em>as a way of boycotting British goods. To the movement, the charkha <\/em>embodied India\u2019s economic freedom and self-reliance.<\/p>\n\n

So when a man named Pingali Venkayya designed a new flag for an independent India, it inevitably featured a spinning wheel on top of two bars, one red to represent Hindus and one green for Muslims. Gandhi modified the flag to include a white bar to stand for the other religions, and this flag (with the red changed to a deep saffron) was then adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931.<\/p>\n\n

When the final flag was designed in 1947, in time for independence, the charkha <\/em>was replaced by the Ashoka Chakra, a 24-spoked wheel that was a key Buddhist symbol. Gandhi wasn\u2019t that happy about losing the spinning wheel, but accepted it.<\/p>\n\n

PICTURE CREDIT: ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q&A Why is there a wheel on India\u2019s flag? SHORT ANSWER Before the Buddhist symbol seen today, the flag featured a spinning wheel inspired by Gandhi LONG ANSWER In the early 1920s, the independence movement to end British rule in India found a figurehead in a lawyer named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Committed to non-violent civil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"75","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"75","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_75-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_75-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"Christmas-2021","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"Christmas-2021","purple_external_id":"Christmas-2021-75-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"Christmas-2021-75-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000090391||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000090391||","purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.102","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.102","purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.102","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.102","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"a2288b80-d22c-492c-8b11-acb0804789ee","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2021-12-06T14:22:02Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"898ff09d-fa62-4b1b-8fea-b37d55d92ade","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-01-07T13:07:48Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AiY_wnfpiSxuP6rN9Vdkq3g","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[18],"tags":[55],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d.jpg",1823,1343,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d-300x221.jpg",300,221,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d-768x566.jpg",768,566,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d-1024x754.jpg",800,589,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d-1536x1132.jpg",1536,1132,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/11\/bc8655c7-05ca-4ccd-817b-06c6b779de4d.jpg",1823,1343,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Q&A Why is there a wheel on India\u2019s flag? SHORT ANSWER Before the Buddhist symbol seen today, the flag featured a spinning wheel inspired by Gandhi LONG ANSWER In the early 1920s, the independence movement to end British rule in India found a figurehead in a lawyer named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Committed to non-violent civil…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8990,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057\/revisions\/8990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}