Historical Indian flags

Before the independence of India, the Indian subcontinent did not have a single national flag but rather several political entities of varying sizes had their own flags. Historic polities usually did not have a national flag but rather flags for their dynasty, state and armies.

Flags of historical polities

Medieval and early modern India

Flag	Duration	Use	Description	References
	1320–1413	Flag of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate according to the Catalan Atlas, but there is no evidence this was actually used by the Delhi Sultanate.	A gray flag with a black strip left of center.	[1]
	1320–1323 1339–1589	Flag of the Kashmir Sultanate.	A red rectangular flag.	[2]
	1518–1687	Flag of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty of the Sultanate of Golconda.	A teal rectangular flag.	[3]
	?	The various flags of the Mughal Empire.	Sun and Tiger flag of the Mughal Empire.
	?		Alam of the Mughal Empire.
	?		Flag of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.
	c.1699–1818	Flag of the Kingdom of Amber.
	1674–1818	The Bhagwa Dhwaj , Flag of the Maratha Empire.	A saffron colored swallowtail flag.	[4]

Modern India

For the flags of princely states, see Flags of Indian princely states.

Flag	Duration	Use	Description	References
	1880–1947	Civil Ensign of India used sometimes to represent India internationally.	A Red Ensign with the Union Jack at the canton, defaced with the Star of India emblem displayed in the fly.	[5]
	1943–1945 [a]	The Swaraj Flag, de facto flag of the Azad Hind.	Three horizontal strips of saffron, white and green with a blue chakra in the centre.

Flags of military of historical polities

Modern India

British Raj (1858-1947)

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1863–1947	1877–1892 Ensign of Her Majesty's Indian Marine. 1892–1928: Ensign of the Royal Indian Marine. 1928–1934: Naval jack of the Royal Indian Marine. 1934–1947: Naval jack of the Royal Indian Navy.	A Blue Ensign with the Union Jack at the canton, and the Star of India displayed in the fly.
	1878–1947	Flag of the Indian Army Service Corps.	A Blue Ensign with the Union Jack at the canton, and the Star of India crossed by two swords displayed in the fly.
	1884–1928	1884–1892 Naval jack of Her Majesty's Indian Marine 1892–1928: Naval jack of the Royal Indian Marine	The Union Jack with blue border.
	1928–1950	1928–1934: Ensign of the Royal Indian Marine 1934–1950: Ensign of the Royal Indian Navy	The White Ensign of the Royal Navy.
	1928–1958	1928–1932: Flag of the Flag Officer Commanding and Director, Royal Indian Marine 1934–1950: Flag of a Flag Officer, Royal Indian Navy 1950–1958: Flag of a Flag Officer, Indian Navy	Ensign of a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy.
	1934–1958	1934–1948: Flag of the Flag Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Navy 1948–1950: Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy 1950–1954: Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy 1955–1958: Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy	Ensign of a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy.
	1942–1947	Ensign of the British Indian Army.	Red field emblazoned with Star of India crossed by two swords and beneath the Tudor Crown.
	1945-1947	Ensign of the Royal Indian Air Force	A field of air force blue with the United Kingdom's flag in the canton and the Royal Indian Air Force's roundel in the fly.
	1954–1955	1954–1955: Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy 1955: Flag of the Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy	The St George's Cross. Ensign of an Admiral in the Royal Navy.

Azad Hind (1943-1945)

Flag	Date	Use	Description
	1942-1945	Flag of the Indian Legion, in Nazi Germany. Part of the German Wehrmacht and later the Waffen SS.	3 horizontal strips, top being saffron, middle being white and lowest being green with a sprinting tiger in center and Azad Hind written on the flag.

Proposed flags of Indian polities

Flag	Date	Use	Description	References
	1902	Design reported in the Daily Express to have been proposed as part of a series of Empire flags that would replace the Union Jack in representing individual territories of the British Empire	The Cross of Saint George and the crown in the canton would have been present on all Empire flags to represent the English. In the top right would have been the emblem of the territory flying the flag, and in this case, the Star of India. A large sun in the centre symbolizes "the empire on which the sun never sets."	[6]
	Proposed in 1904, used in April 1910	Flag proposed in an issue of an Anglo-Indian weekly.	Dark blue, green and light blue triband with a purple band at the hoist depicting the Orion constellation. A thin red border surrounds the whole flag.	[7]
	1921	Mahatma Gandhi's Original Proposal.	Two strips of Green and Red with a spinning wheel in center.
	1921	Gandhi's flag, introduced at the Indian National Congress meeting in 1921.	Three strips of White, Green and red with a spinning wheel in center.
	1932	Proposed flag of Portuguese India.	Designed by Afonso de Ornelas.
	1947	Louis Mountbatten's proposed flag for India.	The Swaraj flag with a small Union Flag in the canton.	[7]
	1965	Proposed official flag for Portuguese India in 1965. The proposal came after the annexation of the territories in 1961 and was part of a series of similar flags for the other colonies.	Proposal by F. P. de Almeida Langhans. Never actually used.

Flags used in the Indian Independence Movement

Flag	Date	Use	Description	References
	1906	The Calcutta Flag, used in the Swadeshi Movement.	Three horizontal bands of equal with the top being orange, the centre yellow, and the bottom green. It had eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe, and a picture of the sun and a crescent moon on the bottom stripe ( Vande Mātaram ) was inscribed in the centre in Devanagari. [8]	[8]
	1907	Alternative versions of the Calcutta Flag .	Three horizontal bands, top being green, middle being yellow and lowest being red. It has lotus flower on the top stripe.
			Three horizontal bands, top being blue, middle being yellow and lowest being red. It has stars on the top stripe.
	1917	Flag of the Home Rule Movement	Five red and four green horizontal stripes On the upper left quadrant was the Union Jack, which signified the Dominion status that the movement sought to achieve. A crescent and a star, both in white, are set in top fly. Seven white stars are arranged as in the Saptarishi constellation (the constellation Ursa Major), which is sacred to Hindus.
	1931–1947	The Swaraj Flag, officially adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931. Also used by Azad Hind.	Three horizontal strips of saffron, white and green with a blue chakra in the centre.

Notes

1. Used from 1931–1947 by the Indian National Congress.

References

1. Kadoi, Yuka (2010). "On the Timurid flag". Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie. 2. Wiesbaden: Reichert: 143–62. doi:10.29091/9783954909537/009.
2. Dutt, Jogesh Chunder (1898). Rajatarangini Of Jonaraja.
3. "Editorial Board". Journal of Islamic Law and Culture. 12 (3): ebi–ebi. October 2010. doi:10.1080/1528817x.2010.643589. ISSN   1528-817X.
4. "File:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg – Wikipedia". commons.wikimedia.org. 2006-12-01. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
5. "Flag – Indian flag, 1945 circa". Victorian Collections. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
6. "A British Empire Flag" . The New York Times. The London Express. 9 February 1902. p. 3. Retrieved 20 August 2023– via The New York Times Archives.
7. Dipesh Navsaria (July 27, 1996). "Indian Flag Proposals". Flags of the World. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
8. Virmani, Arundhati (August 1999). "National Symbols under Colonial Domination: The Nationalization of the Indian Flag, March–August 1923". Past & Present (164): 175–176. doi:10.1093/past/164.1.169. JSTOR   651278.