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Madam Cama
मैडम कामा
The revolutionary who unfurled Bhārat's first flag on foreign soil
Years
1861 – 1936
Known as
Bhikaiji Cama — the mother of the revolution
Birthplace
Mumbai (then Bombay)
Field
Freedom Fighters
“Here is the flag of independent Bhārat! I appeal to lovers of freedom all over the world to aid this flag.”
— Madam Cama, Stuttgart, 1907
The Story
Born into a prominent Parsi family of Bombay, Bhikaiji was drawn to the movement by the plague of 1896 and the partition of Bengal. She moved to London with her husband, and there joined the revolutionary circles of Bhārat House — where she met and worked with the great patriots of the diaspora, including Dadabhai Naoroji and Shyamji Krishna Varma.
At the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart in 1907, she rose before the world's delegates and unfurled a green, saffron, and red flag bearing 'Vande Mataram' — a flag designed with the pioneer revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Varma and others. It was the first flag of independent Bhārat raised anywhere, and the gesture made her an international symbol of the struggle.
Forced into exile, she never returned to Bhārat for over thirty years, living in Europe and publishing revolutionary journals — including Bande Mataram — while the British watched her every move. When she finally returned to Bombay in 1935, she was received as a national heroine, and she died the following year, in 1936.
Core Ideas
The First Flag
She raised Bhārat's flag in Stuttgart in 1907.
The Revolutionary Journalist
Her journal Bande Mataram spread the call abroad.
The Exile
Thirty years abroad in service of the revolution.
The International Voice
She carried Bhārat's cause to the world's socialists.
The Homecoming
Bhārat welcomed its heroine home in 1935.
Why it matters today
Madam Cama is honoured with a portrait in the Indian Parliament and a place in the pantheon of the revolution. Her flag — the seed of the tricolour — is preserved in Pune, and her life is the proof that a woman's voice carried Bhārat's freedom to the world.