George Fort's priceless possession

 

                          

           The 12 feet long 8 feet wide national treasure in fort St. George museum is one of the first flag that was hoisted on August 15 1947. This is the only surviving flag in the entire nation that exists to this day, encased and dormant yet stays as a testament of the entire struggle that Indians went through to achieve freedom.  The flag is made up of pure silk and measures about 3.50m length and 2.40m wide. The flag was hoisted on 15^th august 1947 at 5.30 A.M in Fort St. George according to the museum records.

             Fig 1: Series of pictures that was published in The Hindu, 1947.

From Left: Tiranga flying on fort St. George’s flag mast, the chief justice of madras administers oath to governor of madras H.E Sir Archibald Nye at the Secretariat; the governor unfurls the national flag at a parade on Island grounds.

                 It is interesting to note that the first Indian flag that was hoisted in Madras was hoisted at the Island grounds by Sir Archibald Nye the then Governor of madras as per newspaper records. But we do not know whether both the flags were one and the same. It is also very ambiguous that the fort museum records do not mention who hoisted the flag in fort St George. Apart from the entry date of record 01.02.1948 and mentioning of the flag being handed over to the museum by the Government there’s not much information on who hoisted the flag or where it was made.  And it is still ambiguous to this day.  The flag was in reserve collection for years and was displayed after conservation in 2013. It was conserved again on 2021.

The flag staff and an unsung hero:

Arya K.Bashyam a sculptor artist and a painter who created pieces like statue of S.Satyamurthi( freedom fighter) which stands in Rippon building to paintings of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar, Gandhi with a Sign ‘Arya’ has something to do with St George fort’s flag post. St. George fort was built in the year 1644 , by 1678 a flag post of 148 ft was erected in the fort which was salvaged from a shipwreck. This flag post was the tallest in the country and was made up of teak wood. It was used by Elihu Yale Governor of madras to hoist union jack. The flag mast was switched with steel replica only in 1944.  Arya k bashyam in January 26 1932 on the day of swarajya wanted fly the tricolor on the fort st George. The whole notion was backed by his frustrations over the disheartening genocide of Jallian Wala Bagh massacre. He was a freedom fighter and the jail nor the british guns scared him. And the flag post which with held union jack symbolized power and the imperialism became his target   On the night before January 26 1932 Arya sneaked into st George fort, climbed the ramparts and shinned his way upto the riggings of the flag mast and removed union jack. He then unfurled the tricolor flag.  For which he was imprisoned and had to endure severe punishments. Even after the independence when the Indian government wanted to give him the pension that was meant for freedom fighters he refused to receive. He sought back to his art passion and lived perusing it. Arya who passed away on 1999 at the age of 93 will always be our brave hero who managed to unfurl the Tiranga even before all the popular leaders could.    

 

  Fig2: Arya K Bhasham with Gandhi Statue that he sculpted