harsh.ag
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
In December of 2014, the Board for Control of Cricket in India issued a rather stern diktat to the domestic circuit umpires and officials. It was to ensure that no player sported the board logo on any of their playing gear while competing in a domestic game. This led one to think of a parallel with the logo’s origins.
In the dying days of 1927, delegates from cricket clubs across the length and width of British India came together in Delhi, under the mentorship of then Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh. A year earlier, representatives from the Calcutta Cricket Club had travelled to London to attend meetings held by the ICC, then an acronym for Imperial Cricket Conference. While Lord Harris, then chairman of ICC, allowed them to represent India, a need was felt for a pan-Indian body to be formed for formal representation in the ICC.
So, in December 1928, BCCI was formed under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. The board being formed in the times of the British Raj led to its logo being derived from a prominent symbol of colonial rule in India – the Star of India.
The Order of the Star of India was an order of chivalry founded in 1861 by Queen Victoria, following the events of India’s First War of Independence in 1857 and the subordination of East India Company’s rule in the subcontinent with that of British Raj. The motto of the order was ‘Heaven’s Light Our Guide’. Its emblem, the Star of India, appeared in the flag of the Viceroy of India inscribed with said motto, below the Tudor crown –
Cricket enthusiasts will immediately recognize the many similarities between the Star of India and BCCI’s logo. The sunburst on the Star was made up of alternate placements of 26 large and 26 small sun-rays. This was replaced with a decorative design repeated sixteen times, most likely to represent the sixteen provinces of India carved out by the British Raj until that point. The five pointed star was kept, albeit in a simpler fashion. The motto was replaced with the expansion of the board’s acronym. And in a rather winsome move, a little heart was placed below the five pointed star.
While the Star of India was the emblem of the Order, there was still a rank and file associated with it. The Order included members of three classes – Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander, and Companion. Only the first two were accorded the privilege of wearing the Star of India, in gold and circular for the former and in silver and eight-pointed for the latter. It is rather a fitting parallel that the BCCI logo is also the privilege of the national squad members.
In the dying days of 1927, delegates from cricket clubs across the length and width of British India came together in Delhi, under the mentorship of then Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh. A year earlier, representatives from the Calcutta Cricket Club had travelled to London to attend meetings held by the ICC, then an acronym for Imperial Cricket Conference. While Lord Harris, then chairman of ICC, allowed them to represent India, a need was felt for a pan-Indian body to be formed for formal representation in the ICC.
So, in December 1928, BCCI was formed under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. The board being formed in the times of the British Raj led to its logo being derived from a prominent symbol of colonial rule in India – the Star of India.
The Order of the Star of India was an order of chivalry founded in 1861 by Queen Victoria, following the events of India’s First War of Independence in 1857 and the subordination of East India Company’s rule in the subcontinent with that of British Raj. The motto of the order was ‘Heaven’s Light Our Guide’. Its emblem, the Star of India, appeared in the flag of the Viceroy of India inscribed with said motto, below the Tudor crown –
Cricket enthusiasts will immediately recognize the many similarities between the Star of India and BCCI’s logo. The sunburst on the Star was made up of alternate placements of 26 large and 26 small sun-rays. This was replaced with a decorative design repeated sixteen times, most likely to represent the sixteen provinces of India carved out by the British Raj until that point. The five pointed star was kept, albeit in a simpler fashion. The motto was replaced with the expansion of the board’s acronym. And in a rather winsome move, a little heart was placed below the five pointed star.
While the Star of India was the emblem of the Order, there was still a rank and file associated with it. The Order included members of three classes – Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander, and Companion. Only the first two were accorded the privilege of wearing the Star of India, in gold and circular for the former and in silver and eight-pointed for the latter. It is rather a fitting parallel that the BCCI logo is also the privilege of the national squad members.
