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Karnataka (India)

Last modified: 2011-10-14 by ian macdonald
Keywords: india | karnataka | mysore |
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No state flag

State flags are not found in India - only the national flag is flown on state buildings.
Source: http://kamaths.org/2011/is-it-the-karnataka-flag/
Thanh-Tam Le, 16 April 2007

Yellow-red bicolor

[Kannada Paksha flag] image by Ian MacDonald, 19 May 2007

I don't know the history of Karnataka's flag at all, but I do remember that during the State Day, almost everyone was flying Karnataka's flag (including most of the autorickshaws). It was a two-toned flag, with a red stripe and (I believe) a white stripe. It was not the same colors as the Mysore princely state's flag, which can be found on this website, even though Karnataka is basically the Mysore princely state with a few other "Kannada speaking" areas. In Mysore itself, the royal crest and even pictures of the present Maharaja are everywhere. The Maharaja is still quite respected. He holds no official function, but is consistently elected as Mysore's representative to the state assembly.
Contributed by Bryan Siegfried, 17 March 1999

I visited Karnataka (Bangalore) in mid January and saw many state flags hoisted in buildings. These were red over yellow bicolour flags and people in the state confirmed that it is a current state flag.
Nozomi Kariyasu, 21 March 1999

This is the so-called "Kannada flag": http://kamaths.org/2011/is-it-the-karnataka-flag/:

If you have been to Bangalore and had a look around you will see a peculiar flag (half yellow and half red colour) on the roof tops of all the big buildings. Almost everyone who comes to Bangalore will have a question what is this flag, and most of them think it is the Karnataka Flag. But all of us know that we have one and only flag which is the Indian tricolour Flag which alone can be used, and none of the states are allowed to have their own flag.

So how come Karnataka has its own flag, well I did a bit of searching and found that the flag is not officially or unofficially the Karanataka Flag. It is actually the flag of a political party "Kannada Paksha" which was formed in 1965 by one Mr Ma. Ramamurthy, though the party did not last long, but the flag which is actually the Kannada Flag stayed on, and is now in the sentiments of the people as the flag which represents Karnataka. Hence we now find people using this flag whether for the Karnataka Rajotsava or be it for any protests.

Now are you wondering what is the significance of the yellow and red colours in the flag, well they stand for Arshina and Kumkuma respectively. So hope that clears out any misunderstanding that people may have regarding the flag.

Thanh-Tam Le, 16 April 2007

City Corporation of Bangalore

[City Corporation of Bangalore] by Raamesh Gowri Raghavan

This is a representation of the flag of the City Corporation of Bangalore (Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), capital of Karnataka state in India. The flag has panels of green and yellow, with the Bangalore City Corporation emblem in the centre in a white circle. I have seen this flag flying along with the Indian tricolour over the Corporation headquarters, but nowhere else in Bangalore. I guess it might be an official flag. The emblem represented in the image is as I saw it on the Bangalore Corporation website, but the one on the actual flag might differ.
Raamesh Gowri Raghavan, 27 May 2002