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NRI Worldwide > India Official Insignia

India Official Insignia

What is India's official name?

Is India officially called Bharat, Hindustan or India. This is the question RTI activist Manoranjan Roy put forward when he filed a query with the Union Home Ministry, wanting to clear his doubts on the subject.

The Home Ministry told Mr Roy they had 'no information on the subject'!

Roy now plans to move the courts by filing a PIL, saying the government does not know the official name of the country that in English is called India, in Hindi Bharat and in Urdu is Hindustan.

Roy also wants to know what the national language of the country is especially as there is no mention of national languages in the Constitution.

Most experts say 15 languages are categorised as official languages in the Constitution.

The National Song

The National Song, Vande Mataram, composed by Bankimchandra Chatterji, inspired freedom fighters in their struggles to achieve India's independence. It was initially sung during the 1976 session of the Indian National Congress and now carries the same feeling of awe as the National Anthem.

Vande Mataram
Sujalam, suphalam, malayaja shitalam
Shasyashyamalam, Mataram
Shubhrajyothsna pulakitayaminim
Phullakusumita drumadala shobhinim
Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim
Sukhadam varadam, Mataram

India's National Anthem

The song 'Jana Gana Mana' composed by Rabindranath Tagore was adopted as the Indian national anthem on 24 January 1950. It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. The approxmate playing time of the full version of the National Anthem is 52 seconds.

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.
Tava shubha name jage,
Tava shubha asisa mage,
Gahe tava jaya gatha,
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he!

India's National Emblem
The National Emblem of India is a replica of the Lion of Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The Lion Capital was erected in the third century BC by Emperor Ashoka to mark the spot where Buddha first proclaimed his gospel of peace and emancipation to the four quarters of the universe. The National emblem is thus symbolic of contemporary India's reaffirmation of its ancient commitment to world peace and goodwill. The four lions (one hidden from view) - symbolising power, courage and confidence - rest on a circular abacus. The abacus is girded by four smaller animals - guardians of the four directions: the lion of the north, the elephant of the east, the horse of the south and the bull of the west. The abacus rests on a lotus in full bloom, exemplifying the fountainhead of life and creative inspiration. The motto 'Satyameva Jayate' inscribed below the emblem in Devanagari script means 'truth alone triumphs'.

Flag of India
The Indian flag was designed as a symbol of freedom. The flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the centre of the white band, there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital. Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation, the white for purity and truth, the green for faith and fertility. The flag was designed by Pingali Venkaiah, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He was never offered a freedom fighter's pension and died in 1963 in abject poverty.

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