A national flag is more than fabric—it is memory, sacrifice, protest, prayer and pride stitched into colour. In A Flag to Live and Die For, award-winning writer and former diplomat Navtej Sarna tells the extraordinary story of how the Indian tricolour—the tiranga—came to embody the soul of a nation.

From ancient dhvajas and ketus described in the Mahabharata and the Arthashastra to the charged symbolism of modern nationalism, Sarna traces the long and often turbulent journey of India’s flag. He brings alive the early experiments with national banners—from Sister Nivedita’s scarlet flag and Annie Besant’s Home Rule standard to Mahatma Gandhi’s Swaraj flag designed by Pingali Venkayya—showing how ideas of freedom gradually found visual form.

Moving through landmark moments such as the Nagpur Flag Satyagraha (1923), the Purna Swaraj declaration at Lahore (1929), and Gandhi’s Salt March (1930), the book reveals how the tricolour emerged as a rallying symbol of resistance and unity. Sarna then chronicles the decisive moment of 1947, when the Constituent Assembly adopted the national flag, refining its design by replacing the charkha with the Ashoka Chakra and giving it constitutional sanctity.

Equally compelling is the flag’s post-Independence journey into law and everyday life—from the Flag Code of 1950, through the landmark legal battle that established a citizen’s fundamental right to fly the flag, to the contemporary Har Ghar Tiranga movement. Throughout, Sarna combines historical depth with narrative elegance, illuminating how the tricolour continues to evolve while remaining rooted in India’s core values: sacrifice, truth, peace, life and growth.

A Flag to Live and Die For is a definitive, deeply moving tribute to India’s most powerful national symbol—and to the generations who lived, struggled and sometimes died under its colours.

About the Author
Navtej Sarna is a former Indian Ambassador to the United States, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and Ambassador to Israel. A distinguished diplomat and acclaimed author, his literary work spans novels, non-fiction, short stories and translations. He is also a widely read columnist on foreign policy and cultural affairs.