STAMP
COLLECTING-
POST INDEPENDENCE INDIA
POST INDEPENDENCE INDIA
POST
INDEPENDENCE INDIAN STAMPS-1
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE
On 15 August 1947. India attained independence following an Independence Movement noted for largely nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress (INC). Independence coincided with the partition of India, in which the British Indian Empire was divided along religious lines into the Dominions of India and Pakistan; the partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, and the displacement of nearly 15 million people due to sectarian violence. On 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian national flagabove the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. On each subsequent Independence Day, the prime minister has raised the flag and given a speech.
Asokan Capital(State Emblem Of India)
India attained her independence on 15th
August 1947, but
The
three stamps illustrated below were issued later. The
One with National Flag on 21st November and
the other two
With Ashokan Capital and Modern Aircraft on
15th December
1947.
Asokan Capital(State Emblem Of India)
An emblem by definition is “a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization, or family”. The national emblem of a country is a seal that is reserved for official use by the state. For a country, the national emblem is a symbol of authority and represents the basis of its constitutional philosophy.
The national emblem of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital atop the Ashoka Pillar of Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, and is combined with the National Motto Satyameva Jayate. The Lion Capital was adopted as the National Emblem of India on January 26, 1950. It was a declaration of the newly acquired Republic status of India. The National Emblem is used for official purposes only and demands sincere respect from the citizens of India. It acts as the official seal for all national and state government offices and is the compulsory part of any letterhead used by the government. It features prominently on all currency notes as well as on diplomatic identification documents like the passports issued by the Republic of India. The national Emblem is the symbol of sovereignty for India.
Description
The National Emblem is the graphic representation of the Lion Capital that originally graced the top of the Ashok Stambh or Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath, along with the National Motto written below it. The Lion Capital crowning the Ashok Pillar is carved out of a single block of yellow sand stone and features four Asiatic Lions sitting back to back, but the two dimensional representation of National Emblem depicts only 3, the fourth lion is hidden from view. The four lions stand on a short cylindrical base that has four Ashok Chakras corresponding to each lion bust and reliefs of four more animals in between them – the lion, the bull, the elephant and the galloping horse. In the 2D form of the National Emblem, only one Ashok Chakra is visible in the front with the galloping horse on the left and the bull on the right of it.The Ashok Chakra is actually a form of the Buddhist Dharma Chakra. The actual Lion Capital sits on an inverted lotus abacus which has not been included in the National Emblem representation. Instead, below the representation of the Lion Capital, the words Satyameva Jayate is written in Devnagari Script, which is also the National Motto of India. The words are a quote from Mundaka Upanishad, the last and most philosophical of the four Vedas and is translated as ‘Truth alone triumphs’.
National Flag
National Flag of India
Title: Tricolour / Tiranga
Colors: Saffron, White and Green; Navy Blue in the Askoka Chakra
Dimension ratio: 2:3
Material: Khadi Cotton or Silk
Adopted on: July 22, 1947
Designed by: Pingali Venkayya
Manufactured by: Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission
Image Credit:
Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘A flag is a necessity for all nations. Millions have died for it. It is no doubt a kind of idolatry which would be a sin to destroy. For, a flag represents an Ideal.’ The national flag is the banner that imparts a nation its own unique identity, proclaims to world of its sovereignty, and announces the principles on which lies the country’s foundation.
The National flag of India is rectangular in shape and consists of three colors – saffron, white and green. The present form of the flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July, 1947 - 24 days prior to the formal declaration of Independence.
Design
The rectangular tricolor flag consists of three equal horizontal segments, with saffron on top, white in the middle and green at the bottom. At the center of the white stripe is a depiction of Ashok Chakra in navy blue. It is round hollow wheel and has 24 spokes radiating from the center. The RGB values for referring to the colors of the Indian National flag are India saffron #FF9933, white #FFFFFF, India green #138808, and navy blue #000080. The dimension of the flag should be of 2:3 ratio, i.e. the length should be 1.5 times the breadth. The flag is to be made from Khadi, hand-woven cotton or silk, following the manufacturing protocols laid out by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The Khadi Development and Village Industries Commission hold the right to manufacture the Indian National flag and as of 2009, the responsibility lies with the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoga Samyukta Sangha.
Image Credit:
Symbolism
The colors and symbols of the Indian National flag hold deep philosophical meaning. Each color represents a specific aspect of Indian culture that resonates deeply within the hearts of the citizens. The saffron stands for sacrifice and renunciation, the white stands for peace and the green stands for courage and immortality. The Ashok Chakra is a depiction of Dharma Chakra. It has 24 spokes radiating from the center. It represents righteousness, justice and forwardness. The symbolism of wheel is that of constant movement that heralds progress and repels stagnation.
Another underlying symbolism of the three colors is based on the secular principles of India as a country. The saffron represents Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, the white is for Christianity and the green stands for Islam. The flag as a whole represents a confluence of all religious principles, but above all a philosophy of tolerance and righteousness as depicted by the Ashok Chakra in the middle.
Philosopher and Vice President of India, Dr. Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan put forward to the world the interpretation of the Indian Flag in an eloquent expression, “Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. The "Ashoka Chakra" in the centre of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principle of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change”
Evolution of the Indian Flag
Prior to the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the fragmented nation of India was represented by the individual flags of the various princely states. Post the Sepoy Mutiny, the British established Imperial rule in India and a flag was introduced to represent the British colony of India. The flag was blue, with the Union Jack on the upper left corner, and a star enclosed by a crown on the down right corner.
The first unofficial flag to be hoisted by the Indians happened on August 7, 1906, in Parsee Bagan, Calcutta. The rectangular flag consisted of three horizontal stripes of green, yellow and red from top to bottom. The uppermost green segment contained 8 lotuses representing 8 provinces, the middle yellow segment bore the words Bande Mataram in Sanskrit and the bottom red band had a crescent on the left and a sun on the right hand side.
A slightly modified version of the previous flag was hoisted in 1907 by Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries in Paris. The uppermost strip had 7 lotuses instead of 8 and it was the first time the color saffron was used in the flag.
In the next decade, several other concepts for the flag were proposed but they did not gain popularity. In 1921, Gandhi proposed a tricolored flag with the symbol of the spinning wheel at its center. The colors of the flag represented the dominant religions of the Indian subcontinent with clear message of promoting religious harmony. But growing demands for further modification led him to change the interpretations of the colors into something more secular. The lowermost strip of red represented sacrifice, middle green stripe represented hope and the topmost white stripe represented peace.
The version of the flag closest to the current one came into existence in 1923. It was designed byPingali Venkayya and had the saffron, white and green stripes with the spinning wheel placed in the white section. It was hoisted on April 13, 1923 in Nagpur during an event commemorating the Jallianwallah Bagh Massacre. It was named the Swaraj Flag and became the symbol of India’s demand for Self-rule led by the Indian National Congress.
The resolution to adopt the tricolor as the National Flag of India was passed in 1931. On July 22, 1947, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Swaraj Flag as the National Flag of Sovereign India with the Ashok Chakra replacing the spinning wheel.
Douglas Dc-4
The third stamp, Douglas DC-4 aircraft, meant for foreign airmail, 12 annas.
The history of the DC-4 dates back to when United Airlines devised a requirement for a four engine long range airliner. <p>United looked to Douglas to fulfil the requirement, who devised the highly ambitious DC-4E (where the E stood for experimental). This four engined behemoth was flight tested in 1939. It was roughly three times the size of the DC-3 (its wingspan was 42.17m/138ft 3in, and length 29.76m/97ft 7in), had triple tail surfaces, tricycle undercarriage, was pressurised and potentially could fly nonstop from Chicago to San Francisco. <p>However all the ground breaking new technology on the DC-4E meant that it was costly, complex and had higher than anticipated operating costs, so Douglas thoroughly revised the design, resulting in the smaller and simpler definitive DC-4. <p>The new DC-4 was developed under the darkening clouds of WW2, and upon the USA's entry into war all DC-4s then on the production line were requisitioned for the US military. The result was that the first DC-4 flew for the first time on February 14 1942 in military markings (as the C-54 Skymaster). The DC-4 was found to admirably suit the USAAF's requirement for a long range cargo transport, and 1162 were built through the war years. <p>As was the case with the DC-3, the end of war meant that much of that number were surplus and sold to the world's airlines. Further to this Douglas built an additional 78 DC-4s to new orders. Over the years the survivors have been passed down to charter and freight airlines, and today small numbers survive in service as freighters. <p>Notable developments of the DC-4 include Aviation Trader's much modified Carvair freighter (described separately) while Canadair built a number with RollsRoyce Merlin engines and pressurised fuselages. The DC-4 also formed the basis for the larger DC-6 and DC-7 which are described separately (the DC-4 was the first airliner to introduce a circular section, constant diameter fuselage which made stretching the basic aircraft relatively simple).
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