#596 - The Story of India’s National Emblem
by Kavitha Mandana and illustrated by Dhwani Ved
“The Story of India’s National Emblem” by Kavitha Mandana and illustrated by Dhwani Ved. Published by Talking Cub, the children’s imprint of Speaking Tiger. An insightful book chronicling the story of how the National Emblem of India came into being.
In the tumultuous period leading up to independence of India in 1947, the new constitution of India was being drafted. During this time, the members of the constituent assembly came across an important issue to be addressed. The envelopes being used by the assembly office for their correspondence still had the words “On His Majesty’s Service”. Not just the envelopes but all official letterheads, postage stamps, currency notes and other official documents had the same problem. It was time for India to have her own national emblem as a replacement for these words.
The national emblem would have to be an apt representation of India’s constitutional philosophy. It would represent India’s new status as a free nation. The constituent assembly had to dig deep into India’s rich ancient heritage for inspiration for finding an emblem. Finally, Emperor Ashoka’s ancient lion capital was chosen as our national emblem. How did this happen? What do the words “Satyameva Jayate” mean and where have they been taken from? Read the interesting book to know all of these along with some stories about the Indian republic.
The book proved to be a treasure trove of facts for me as well as my almost eleven year old son. While we knew just some of the facts about our emblem, most of the facts and stories behind how it came to be were new for us. This made the book quite interesting and engrossing. The illustrations and photographs brought the narrative to life. Having seen the original lion capital in Sarnath a couple of years back and a replica recently near Dhauli Stupa in Odisha, it was good to know more about its significance and how it became our national emblem. Broken down into sections, the book presents the information in an engaging manner for children to understand easily. The entire history of how Ashoka’s edicts and pillars were found by archaeologists and the manner in which they came to be adopted as our national emblem has been portrayed wonderfully. Having read a book on the story of India’s national flag by the author recently, this was a perfect follow up read to know about another of our national symbol.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 10 and above.
Where to buy from?
The publishers Talking Cub here.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Talking Cub, for review. Thank you to the folks at Talking Cub, for sending across the book!