https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Surayya_TyabjiSurayya Tyabji - Revision history2026-10-28T02:47:55ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Surayya_Tyabji&diff=538529&oldid=prevRaymondbig: Started new post2026-03-15T05:05:44Z<p>Started new post</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Designer of Indian's Modern Flag}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2022}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Surayya Tyabji<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = 1919<br />
| birth_place = [[Hyderabad]], [[Hyderabad State]], [[British Raj|British India]]<br />
| death_date = 1978<br />
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], India<br />
| known_for = Contributing to the design of the [[Indian national flag]]<br />
| spouse = [[Badruddin Tyabji (diplomat)|Badruddin Tyabji]]<br />
| children = [[Laila Tyabji]]<br />
| family = see [[Tyabji family]]<br />
| occupation = <br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Surayya Tyabji''' (1919–1978) was an Indian artist who designed the current [[Flag of India|Indian national flag]] by adding the [[Ashoka Chakra]] from the [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]], replacing the [[Spinning wheel|Charkha]] on the 1931 flag of the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dawar |first1=Nikhil |last2=Kundu |first2=Chayan |date=14 September 2018 |title=Fact Check: Did a Muslim woman design Indian National Flag? |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/fact-check-did-a-muslim-woman-design-Pakistan-national-flag-1317892-2018-08-18 |website=India Today}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Work==<br />
[[File:1931_Flag_of_India.svg|alt=A tricolour flag of saffron, white and green with a spinning wheel in the centre|right|thumb|{{FIAV|historical}} The ''Swaraj flag'', officially adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931]]<br />
[[File:Flag_of_India.svg|thumb|right|Current national flag of India]]<br />
<br />
Historian Trevor Royle wrote in his book ''The Last Days of the Raj'' that [[Badruddin Tyabji (diplomat)|Badruddin Tyabji]] designed the final form of the current [[Indian national flag]]. Surayya Tyabji made the first copy that flew on [[Nehru|Jawahar Lal Nehru]]'s car on the night of independence: {{quote|By one of those contradictions which run through Indian's history, the national flag was designed by a Muslim, Badr-ud-Din Tyabji. Originally the Flag was to have contained the Charka symbol used by Gandhi. but this was a party symbol, which Tyabji thought might strike the wrong note. After much persuasion Gandhi agreed to the verse because the Emperor [[Asoka]] was venerated by Hindu and Muslim alike. The flag which flew on Nehru's car that night had been specially made by Tyabji's wife."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-U9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22By+one+of+those+contradictions+which+run+through+Indian’s+history,+the+national+flag+was+designed+by+a+Muslim%22|title=The Last Days of the Raj|page=172|isbn=9780718129040|last1=Royle|first1=Trevor|year=1989}}</ref>}}<br />
<br />
She also served as the member of various committees under the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Sourav |first=Suman|title=Surayya Tyabji: The Woman Who Designed Indian's National Flag' |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2018/12/10/surayya-tyabji-designed-national-flag|website=Feminism in India|date=9 December 2018 }}</ref><br />
<br />
Surayya Tyabji's daughter, social worker, designer and activist [[Laila Tyabji]] wrote in 2018 that both her mother and her father were involved in the design of the flag, having been commissioned by Nehru to do so,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thewire.in/history/Indian-national-flag-emblem-suraiya-badruddin-tyabji|title=How the Tricolour and Lion Emblem Really Came to Be|first=Laila |last=Tyabji|date=14 August 2018|website=The Wire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/who-designed-the-national-flag-nehrus-friend-or-gandhis-follower-11033361.html|title=Who designed the National Flag: Gandhi's friend or Nehru's follower?|date=9 August 2022|website=Firstpost}}</ref> as a development of a design by the soldier, scientist and lecturer [[Pingali Venkayya]].<ref name=":0"/><br />
<br />
==Family and ancestry==<br />
She belonged to the [[Tyabji family|Tyabji clan]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Karlitzky |first=Maren |title=Continuity and Change in the Relationship Between Congress and the Muslim Elite: A Case Study of the Tyabji Family |journal=Oriente Moderno |year=2004 |volume=23 |issue=84 |pages=161–175 |doi=10.1163/22138617-08401011 |jstor=25817923}}</ref> She was the niece of Sir [[Akbar Hydari]], who served as the Prime Minister of Hyderabad from 1937 to 1941, and granddaughter of Lady [[Amina Hydari]], who championed the cause of Muslim women's education in Hyderabad.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Tyabji |first=Laila |title=Growing Up in a Muslim Family That Didn't Fit Any Stereotypes |url=https://thewire.in/women/muslim-women-stereotypes-laila-tyabji |url-status= |access-date=13 August 2022 |website=The Wire}}</ref> She was married to [[Badruddin Tyabji (diplomat)|Badruddin Tyabji]], a civil servant and later the [[Vice Chancellor]] of [[Aligarh Muslim University]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saxena |first=Akanksha |title=Overlooked Personalities: How Surayya Tyabji Finalised The Design Of Indian National Flag |url=https://thelogicalindian.com/history/surayya-tyabji-indian-flag-34816 |access-date=13 August 2022 |website=The Logical Indian|date=3 April 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/exclusive/pingali-venkayya-designed-the-tricolour-but-one-woman-also-contributed-who-is-surayya-tyabji-article-93536753 |title=Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour but one woman also contributed: Who is Surayya Tyabji |publisher=Times Now News |date=13 August 2022 |access-date=29 September 2022}}</ref><br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
{{Tyabji family}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyabji, Surayya}}<br />
[[Category:1918 births]]<br />
[[Category:1978 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian artists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Artists from Hyderabad, India]]<br />
[[Category:Flag designers]]<br />
[[Category:Tyabji family]]</div>Raymondbig