Shib Narayan Das (16 December 1946 – 19 April 2024) was a Bangladeshi designer and vexillographer, best known for designing the first iteration of the national flag of Bangladesh. His design also inspired the country's current flag.[1][2] Das died in Dhaka on 19 April 2024, at the age of 77.[3]

Shib Narayan Das
শিব নারায়ণ দাস
Born(1946-12-16)16 December 1946
Tongibari, Bengal Province, British India
(now Tongibari Upazila, Bangladesh)
Died19 April 2024(2024-04-19) (aged 77)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
NationalityBritish Indian (1946–1947)
Pakistani (1947–1971)
Bangladeshi (1971–2024)
Alma materComilla Zilla School
OccupationStudent leader

Designing the national flag of Bangladesh edit

 
The first variant of the Bangladesh flag with the country's geopolitical outline

As desired by the then NUCLEUS (Shadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad) by a match stick and yellow-coloured paint, he marked the map of Bangladesh over the red circle of the proposed flag in the room numbered 108 of the then Iqbal Hall of Dhaka University (DU) from midnight of 6 June until dawn of 7 June 1970. A. S. M. Abdur Rab, Shajahan Siraj, Kazi Aref Ahmed, Manirul Islam, Swapan Kumar Choudhury, Quamrul Alam Khan (Khasru), Hasanul Haq Inu, Yousuf Salahuddin Ahmed and some others were also involved in it and present at that time.

On behalf of the NUCLEUS, the same flag was unfurled by Abdur Rab along with AFM Mahbubul Haq, Das and other student league leaders from the roof top of the western porch of the Arts Faculty of DU, on 2 March 1971, shortly before the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the map of Bangladesh was removed from the flag as it had difficulty for rendering the map correctly on both sides of the flag. Artist Quamrul Hassan was asked to report on the design, colour, shape and explanation. On 17 January 1972, the new design was made the official national flag of Bangladesh.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Uddin, Sufia M. (2006). Constructing Bangladesh: religion, ethnicity, and language in an Islamic nation. The University of North Carolina Press. p. 130. ISBN 0-8078-3021-6.
  2. ^ Punny Kabir (13 December 2013). "Shib Narayan Das: The flag redesign was pre-planned". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Shib Narayan Das passes away". Rising BD. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  4. ^ Rabishakar Moitri (15 December 2013). আমাদের জাতীয় পতাকা. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.