With reference to Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh, which one of the following statements is correct?
- Pingali Venkayya designed the tricolour Indian National Flag here.
- Pattabhi Sitaramaiah led the Quit India Movement of the Andhra region from here.
- Rabindranath Tagore translated the National Anthem from Bengali to English here.
- Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott set up the headquarters of the Theosophical Society first here.
Explanation
Option (c) is correct
- Rabindranath Tagore composed Jana Gana Mana in 1911. During his tour of South India in 1919, he stayed at the Theosophical College in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, from 25 February to 2 March, after being fatigued from travel. While at Madanapalle, Tagore translated Jana Gana Mana into English as Morning Song of India on 28 February 1919. It was here that Margaret Cousins, wife of James Cousins and then principal of the college, set the composition to music, transforming it from a lyric into a song.
- Tagore was deeply impressed by the institution and referred to the Madanapalle Theosophical College as the “Shantiniketan of South India.” Eventually, Jana Gana Mana was officially adopted as India’s national anthem on 24 January 1950.
Option (a) is incorrect
- The design of the present Indian flag is attributed to Pingali Venkayya. In 1921, at the Vijayawada Congress session, Pingali Venkayya presented a flag design to Mahatma Gandhi. The flag consisted of three stripes – red, white and green, representing multiple communities living in harmony in India.
- A spinning wheel was superimposed in the centre, signifying the country’s progress.
- In 1931, a formal resolution adopted Pingali Vekaiah’s flag with a slight modification: it replaced the red strip of Venkayya’s flag with saffron.
- The saffron was for courage, white for peace and green for fertility and growth.
- Finally, on 22 July 1947, the Constituent Assembly adopted the flag of India.
- The spinning wheel was replaced by the Dharma Chakra of Emperor Ashoka, symbolising truth and life.
- This came to be called the Tiranga.
Option (b) is incorrect
- Pattabhi Sitaramayya was an Indian independence activist and political leader in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Serving on the Congress Working Committee when Quit India was launched in 1942, he was arrested with the entire committee and incarcerated for three years without outside contact in the fort in Ahmednagar.
Option (d) is incorrect
- The Theosophical Society was founded in New York (USA) in November 1875 by Madam H. P. Blavatsky, a Russian lady, and H. S. Olcott, an American colonel.
- Blavatsky and Olcott came to India in 1879 and established the society’s headquarters at Adyar, near Madras. Gradually, they established branches across India.
