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Repaid in Kind: Venkayya’s 2009 Stamp

India Independence Day design — deep green and tricolour waves rolling beneath an India heading and the navy Chakra

The maker, franked

Picture 73 rolls the flag beneath a printed masthead — India, Independence Day — laid out like the front of an envelope, which is exactly where this page is headed.

The flag has long travelled by post; in 2009 its designer finally did too. India Post issued a commemorative stamp honouring Pingali Venkayya, whose 1921 design gave the freedom movement its banner — his portrait beside the tricolour he shaped, the maker honoured eighty-eight years after the design.

Frequently asked questions

How was Pingali Venkayya honoured philatelically?

With a commemorative postage stamp issued by India Post in 2009, bearing his portrait beside the flag.

What had Venkayya given the flag?

The 1921 design offered to Gandhi — the ancestor of today’s tricolour — for which the 2009 stamp was the nation’s printed thank-you.

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