Surayya Tyabji

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Surayya Tyabji
Born
Surayya Tyabji

1919
Died1978
Nationality Indian
Known forDesign of today's Indian National Flag
Spouse Badruddin Tyabji (diplomat)
Children Laila Tyabji
Familysee Tyabji family

Surayya Tyabji (born 1919 in Hyderabad, British india) was an Indian artist, who designed the current Indian National Flag. Designer of the modern flag of India, the most prominent contribution of Surayya Tyabji is the addition of the Ashoka Chakra from the Lion Capital of Ashoka replacing the Charkha or the spinning wheel of the Congress flag.

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Current national flag of India (finally designed by Surayya Tyabji) Flag of India.svg
Current national flag of India (finally designed by Surayya Tyabji)

Mrs. Suraya Badruddin Tayyabji, was the ICS Officer in the PMO in 1947. She designed the flag & it was approved on July 17th, 1947.

The flag which had flew on the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru's car on the day of India's Independence (August 15th, 1947) had been specially made by Badruddin Tyabji's wife Surayya Tayabji."

Surayya Badruddin's husband Badruddin Tyabji was the first Indian Solicitor & the first Chief Justice of Mumbai/Bombay in 1902. Surayya was the niece of Sir Akbar Hydari of Hyderabad & Maulvi Allauddin, the first martyr in 1857 who was transported for life to "Kalapani Jail" in Andamans by british & Abdul Hasan Safrani a Hyderabadi who coined 'Jai Hind slogan. She designed designed the final flag of India. The most prominent contribution of Surayya Tyabji is the addition of the Ashoka Chakra from the Lion Capital of Ashoka replacing the Charkha or the spinning wheel of the Congress flag.

[1]

Work

Historian Trevor Royle wrote in his book The Last Days of the Raj that Badruddin Tyabji designed the final form of the current Indian national flag, the Ashoka's Wheel with in the centre. Surayya Tyabji made the first copy that flew on Jawahar Lal Nehru's car on the night of independence:

By one of those contradictions which run through Indian's history, the national flag was designed by a Muslim, Badr-ud-Din Tyabji. Originally the Flag was to have contained the Charka symbol used by Gandhi. but this was a party symbol, which Tyabji thought might strike the wrong note. After much persuasion Gandhi agreed to the verse because the Emperor Asoka was venerated by Hindu and Muslim alike. The flag which flew on Nehru's car that night had been specially made by Tyabji's wife." [2]

She also served as the member of various committees under the Constituent Assembly. [3]

Surayya Tyabji's daughter, social worker, designer and activist Laila Tyabji wrote in 2018 that both her mother and her father were involved in the design of the flag, having been commissioned by Nehru to do so, [4] [5] as a development of a design by the soldier, scientist and lecturer Pingali Venkayya. [6]

Family and ancestry

She belonged to Tyabji clan who trace their ancestry to Bhoymeeah. [7] She was the niece of Sir Akbar Hydari who served as the Prime Minister of Hyderabad from 1937-1941, and granddaughter of Lady Amina Hydari who championed the cause of Muslim women's education in Hyderabad. [6] She was married to Badruddin Tyabji, a civil servant and later the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. [8] [9]

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References

  1. Dawar, Nikhil; Kundu, Chayan (14 September 2018). "Fact Check: Did a Muslim woman design Indian National Flag?". India Today.
  2. Royle, Trevor (1989). The Last Days of the Raj. p. 172. ISBN   9780718129040.
  3. Sourav, Suman (9 December 2018). "Surayya Tyabji: The Woman Who Designed Indian's National Flag'". Feminism in India.
  4. Tyabji, Laila (14 August 2018). "How the Tricolour and Lion Emblem Really Came to Be". The Wire.
  5. "Who designed the National Flag: Gandhi's friend or Nehru's follower?". Firstpost. 9 August 2022.
  6. 1 2 Tyabji, Laila. "Growing Up in a Muslim Family That Didn't Fit Any Stereotypes". The Wire. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  7. Karlitzky, Maren (2004). "Continuity and Change in the Relationship Between Congress and the Muslim Elite: A Case Study of the Tyabji Family". Oriente Moderno. 23 (84): 161–175. doi:10.1163/22138617-08401011. JSTOR   25817923.
  8. Saxena, Akanksha (3 April 2022). "Overlooked Personalities: How Surayya Tyabji Finalised The Design Of Indian National Flag". The Logical Indian. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  9. "Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour but one woman also contributed: Who is Surayya Tyabji". Times Now News. 13 August 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.