Indians should stop reading too much into the artwork on the Constitution and instead heed its words
There have been alarming attempts to use the drawings in the margins of the document as an authoritative source for constitutional or policy matters. Jan 26, 2021 · 06:30 am
On January 26, 1950, after 165 days of deliberation, 284 members of the Constituent Assembly of India unanimously adopted the Constitution. The original, calligraphed copies of the document were sent to the artist Nandalal Bose and his students at Santiniketan, who decorated each of the 22 parts with elaborate art. When placed in sequence, the art reveals a linear, rather banal, narrative of the Indian subcontinent from the Indus Valley civilisation to the birth of the Republic.