India’s national flag has horizontal bands of saffron, white, and green, with a navy-blue Ashoka Chakra in the center. The wheel has 24 evenly spaced spokes.
The design was adopted by India’s Constituent Assembly on 22 July 1947, shortly before independence. It became the flag of the Dominion of India on 15 August 1947 and was retained when India became a republic in 1950. The flag is commonly called the Tiranga, meaning “tricolour.”
The Ashoka Chakra is based on the Dharma Chakra associated with the Lion Capital of Ashoka, an ancient monument from the Mauryan period. It replaced the spinning wheel that appeared on earlier nationalist designs. A frequent mistake is to identify the flag as simply orange, white, and green: the official color is India saffron, and the blue wheel is an essential part of the design. The three bands are equal in size, and the flag’s standard proportion is 3:2.